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"Images of Iberville: Place Embodied in Art"

Interactive, Multi-media Program For Iberville Parish Students 

Aaron James Tuley

Center for Landscape Interpretation
Port Allen, Louisiana

Program Description

Context

Iberville Parish is located in the southeastern portion of Louisiana and flanks the eastern edge
of the Atchafalaya Basin, a vast freshwater swamp rich in abundant wildlife and wetland
habitat, aquacultural and petroleum resources, a haven for outdoor recreation enthusiasts; a
major tourist attraction and heritage resource. Another very important landscape element is
the Mississippi River, which forms much of the Parish's eastern boundary. For several thousand
years the Mississippi has been the principal land-building element within the Delta region. The
River's broad western natural levee forms a six to ten mile wide green ribbon of sugar cane
fields, spotted with small settlements at the River's bends. Since the explorations of Pierre
LeMoyne d'Iberville in 1699 to the current petro-chemical industries that now line the River's
edge, the Mississippi has played a powerful role in the cultural development of Iberville Parish.
One of the River's northernmost distributaries, the Bayou Plaquemine, also in Iberville Parish,
opened the Atchafalaya Basin and Bayou Teche region to explorers and settlers from America's
northern and eastern regions. Indeed, Iberville Parish has a rich multi-cultural and natural
heritage of national significance.

But Iberville Parish is not without its problems. An impoverished member of America's Deep
South, located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Iberville Parish has its share of societal
burdens. Extreme racial polarity, abject poverty, social injustice and political corruption have
left their scars. Resources have been squandered. The environment has been neglected or
damaged. People have become disconnected with the land.

In seeking a new paradigm, the people of Iberville Parish must turn to their heritage; to
remember the shared values and land ethics that sustained the cultural landscape for so long.

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This is the mission and message of the Images of Iberville program: to reactivate the collective
cultural memory, in order to foster and inspire a comprehensive and sustainable vision for the
future.

Process

The Images of Iberville has been designed to assist students in developing a heightened

awareness of Iberville Parish's sense of place. In this virtual setting students will experience an
array of spaces, places and elements depicted and communicated through multiple forms of
artistic media indigenous to the area. Paintings, watercolors, and etchings, such as the famous
mud paintings of Henry Neubig, a native of Plaquemine, explores the richness of natural earth
tones and hues found in the region. Indigenous material culture of artistic merit, such as
wildlife carving and taxidermy, found in settlements bordering the Atchafalaya Basin; costumes,
made for the lavish local Mardi Gras balls, traditional quilts and baskets, will be presented. The
work of famous local photographers such as Dr. L.O. Cazes and Mr. Anthony Fama, and
nationally known photographers, like Fonville Wynans (who spent a great deal of time
photographing people and places within Iberville Parish) are also featured in the program.

Accompanying the visual presentation is a compilation of narrated poetry and prose, such as
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's description of Evangeline's voyage down Bayou Plaquemine
into the Atchafalaya Basin. Music, like the rich gospel traditions found within the communities
of Bayou Goula and Dorseyville; oral histories regarding peoples' descriptions of places and
things within Iberville Parish; sounds depicting the natural environment each add breadth and
depth and richness of human experience to the program.

The program focuses on the Parish's current context; living places that can be experienced, not
only through artistic media, but physically visited, and contemplated. Together, images and
sounds will evoke within the audience a heightened awareness of living in and belonging to a
place rich in cultural and artistic traditions.

Synthesis

In order to synthesize what has been learned / experienced from the Images of

Iberville program students will be requested to develop creative representations of outdoors
places, that are important in their lives, where they spend time playing, where they go with
their family during holidays, hunting and fishing season, etc. These representations may be a
painting, a collage of pictures, a poem, any medium that will entice students to creatively
explore and depict place sensations and experiences, so they may develop a greater
appreciation of those components that make up a their regional frame of reference. Students
may ask someone about a place they recollect, that still exists. After visiting the place, the
student can draw a picture of how the place has changed. Engaging a cluster of students, to

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pool their resources and work together with a common goal in mind, such as a "favorite place
mural," would be an effective way to elicit a response based on a particular environment that
holds meaning for them.

Images Of Iberville Student Exhibit

After the program has been reviewed by Iberville Parish students, and they will have had time
to develop creative representations of meaningful places, and an exhibit will be produced for
display within the libraries and schools of Iberville Parish. At the time of the grand opening of
the expected exhibit, people will be presented with the Images of Iberville program, which will
represent first interpretive iteration, and then review the student work, the second iteration.
After touring Iberville Parish and elsewhere, the program and student exhibit may be housed in
either the Plaquemine Lock Museum or the old Iberville Parish Court House, also in
Plaquemine, which is currently being restored for use as the Iberville Parish Resources Center.

Representing the second iteration of the interpretive process, the student exhibit, with
renewed funding support, will be digitized and merged with the Images of Iberville program.
Themes, sub-themes and topical areas will be (hypertext) linked to original chapters, thus
providing additional perspectives about important subject areas. The new information will be
loaded onto the hard drives of schools' and libraries' computers throughout Iberville Parish in
midyear, 1998.

PROGRAMMATIC OBJECTIVES / FEATURES

The Images of Iberville program tests a mode of interpretation that is living, interactive and

cyclic, as compared to a more traditional, linear model that might follow events and historical
themes through chronological time. The result is an interpretive process that is iterative, multi-
dimensional, and ongoing, unfolding over time with increasing layers of richness and
understanding; where citizenship and stewardship values imbedded in the cultural landscape
can be expressed in poetic terms, recorded, and handed down for future generations to
consider (and compare to their own land and community ethics). Through this iterative,
interpretive process people will begin to perceive the interconnectedness between the
individual, the community, the land and the traditional place meanings, values and lifeways
unique to Iberville Parish and the landscape of south Louisiana.

The majority of people, stories and places that make up the Images of Iberville program are
generally not recognized by local people for their heritage value and tourism potential. Tourism
in Iberville Parish has been confined to the few remaining historically significant artifacts, sites
and structures scattered across the landscape. In developing the program we have attempted
to define Iberville Parish's heritage in broad, encompassing terms so as to include the often
obscure and everyday heritage of ordinary people. Given that some places may be more easily

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associated with particular historically significant events or may be better endowed with past
cultural artifacts, all places have a past, whether currently recorded in history or not, and all
peoples a heritage, whether currently presented as distinctive or not (Ashworth, 1997).
The Images of Iberville attempts to construct an authentic heritage context within which
historic sites and objects can be more fully understood and appreciated.

As new chapters are developed and added to the Images of Iberville program, sub-themes will
continue to be identified and (hypertext) linked to previous chapters. In time, patterns will
begin to emerge, commonly held perceptions and values, shared methods of visualizing and
depicting the natural and built environment, will become apparent. From this universal
understanding will sprout forth a common heritage, the first step toward a shared vision for the
future. An important objective, because ultimately, the stewardship responsibilities of
preserving, managing, interpreting and sustaining a place's unique natural and cultural heritage
belongs to its people.

Another objective that directed the design of the Images of Iberville was the program's focus on
the arts and humanities as the main interpretive vehicle. There is a general lack of emphasis on
arts-related programs within Iberville Parish. Art studios or art appreciation classes are not part
of the curriculum in the school system. The result is a reduction in artistic heritage and a
diminished ability to interpret our built environment and cultural landscape in perspectives
other than strictly utilitarian. By providing a virtual laboratory within which children can learn
about Iberville's unique places and peoples, through the eyes and ears and creations of multiple
generations, including their own, students will develop the vocabulary to think and create and
express, in aesthetic terms, how Iberville Parish embodies a unique sense of place.

Interactive features were built into the program to provide manageability and navigational
flexibility in an academic setting. An initial design principle was to design / format the program
to function within an academic time frame. Given the vast amount of visual, auditory (over
three hours of sound) and other information, plus anticipated needed analytical and reflective
time, it was determined that it would not be possible to pack the entire program into one or
two forty-five minute class periods. So the program was designed to be as "web-like" as
possible, so that one can begin anywhere in the program, move from chapter to chapter, or
from subject to subject within chapters. This navigational freedom allows the viewer to chart
his or her own thematic trip through the Images of Iberville.

In that the target audience were 5th and 8th grade students, we were interested in presenting
information in a ways that would stimulate and maintain young peoples' interest. By enabling
the viewer to make choices on how to proceed, and through taking advantage of a novel
technological medium and interactive process, similar to the video games currently consumed
by young people, it was believed that children might remain focused on the subject matter for
longer periods of time.

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Anatomy

Each screen page within the program contains several interactive features (see Figure 1):

Navigational Panel and Chapter Icon (located in the upper right corner of the screen)

The "next" and "previous" buttons provide movement within each chapter, while the "home"
button takes the viewer to the main Table of Contents Map and Directory.

Volume Control (located in the lower left corner)

Allows one to control the volume for individual or group viewing.

USGS Quad Map Icon (located beneath the narrator's photograph in the left column)

Click on the icon for an expanded map featuring physical geographic information (topography,
features, land cover, political and other boundaries) for the general area where the oral history
was recorded.

Scroll Bars (vertical and horizontal)

Used for movement within the screen.

Miscellaneous Hypertext Linkages.

Within the transcripts and in the image captions are keywords and / or phrases that are shaded
in blue or purple and refer to a common subject matter found in other places in the program.
By clicking on the hypertext words or phrases the viewer can navigate to other pages within
other chapters where the subject matter is discussed.

Expandable Images

For detailed viewing.

The program format includes several other non-interactive features that contribute to the
informational content of the program. These features include:

Program / Chapter Title Information

Oral History Transcript

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Text version of the audio files. For the most part, text has been transcribed verbatim, including
dialect and grammatical idiosyncrasies, place names and nicknames. Hypertext links are found
within the transcript.

Wallpaper

Each chapter has its own unique wallpaper (background image / texture), which has been either
conceptually or graphically abstracted from the chapter's subject matter.

Narrator Information

Each chapter has a different narrator. A picture of the narrator as well as occupational and
residential information is provided.

Copyright Information

At the bottom of each screen page is copyright information, restrictions, and business
addresses where one can obtain additional information. There are also links to the Louisiana
Page Locale web site and the Center for Landscape Interpretation's Mission Statement web site.

PRODUCTION

The Images of Iberville: Place Embodied in Art multi-media program has been produced entirely
through the in-house facilities of the Center for Landscape Interpretation. Equipment included
computers, high-resolution scanner, "SoundBlaster" type audio card, tape recorder designed
specifically for conducting oral histories, and an optical, single-lens reflex camera. The actual
presentation was designed and constructed through an HTML (hypertext markup language)
encoding process, and can be experienced using standard Web browsing software, such as
Netscape 3.0.

In addition to the hard drive version of the Images of Iberville program there is an on-line
version, located on the Iberville Parish web site, at www.parish.iberville.la.us. Because of the
length of time it takes to download audio files there is a version with sound and one without
sound. The version with sound is located at the same address although stored on Louisiana
State University's Internet / World Wide Web server.

The presentation has been designed to be expandable, to include those places that have been
loaded with meaning by peoples not yet represented in this program.

Technical Specifications:

Size: Approx. 95 megabytes

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Format: 100 megabyte zip disk

Length: Over 85 screen pages, each with sound, images, maps and text

Images: Over 200 high resolution, expandable images, 90% of which have never been
previously documented or reproduced. Including the expandable images, there are over 400
images available within the program.

Sound: Over 80 sound files of varying length, one file per page.

Text: Oral histories have been accurately transcribed 9including dialectic patterns) into text for
easy reading. Hypertext linkages connect together discussions of places outside the main
topical areas.

Schedule: Resource identification, collection, documentation: approx. 300 hours

Program design, development and implementation: approx. 300 hours

Budget: $15,000 (1996 US dollars) and much in-kind / contributed support. A realistic estimate
would be twice this amount.

CONCLUSION

This program is by no means a definitive interpretation of the places that compose Iberville
Parish. Much more work needs to be done to develop the ideal of a shared heritage. Through
the use of multi-media technology interpretation can become much more interactive and
participatory, to the point where the audience can also become the performers, thus
perpetuating the interpretive process.

Another aspect of this technology that is particularly appealing is juxtaposition between the
subject matter and the medium of communication. The process being tested with the Images
of Iberville program merges multiple layers of meaning, within multiple time frames. The high-
tech medium provides grounding in the reality of the present landscape and structure to the
space / time continuum, and the multiple dimensions of heritage embodied in the cultural
landscape. With each iteration traditional lifeways, perspectives and place meanings will be
extended to the next group of young people who will both confirm and assimilate, yet also
interpret the information in their own way, for the next group. With each iteration will also
come new and improved technological means of receiving and inputting information.

The Images of Iberville program also illustrates the importance and urgency of documenting a

place's human resources, especially those who are advanced in years. It is the human character
that animates and gives meaning to the places that are special to us. Since this program was

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developed we have lost two of our dear participants: Father Eugene R. Engels, Pastor of the St.
John the Evangelist Church in Plaquemine; and Mr. George Wilbert, also a resident of
Plaquemine, whose chapter on the cypress lumber industry in Iberville Parish is still under
development. Both men died in the Spring of 1998. They will be sorely missed yet their
character and values live on in our hearts and in the Images of Iberville: Place Embodied in
Art program.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ashworth, G. J. How to Manage the Heritage City for Tourism. A Paper Submitted at the
National Trust for Historic Preservation's 51st National Preservation Conference. Santa Fe, New
Mexico. 1997: 8.

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THE CENTER FOR LANDSCAPE INTERPRETATION

AARON JAMES TULEY is partner of the Center for Landscape Interpretation (CLI), an
environmental planning, design and management, research and interpretation consulting group
with offices in Port Allen, Louisiana. Tuley brings to the research and development process
critical thinking and experience in design, planning, and cultural/heritage resource
enhancement, management and interpretation. Tuley received his Bachelor of Landscape
Architecture from the University of Kentucky, and later, his Master of Science in Architecture,
with an emphasis in historic preservation and cultural landscape interpretation, from Louisiana
State University. Practice within several of the Nation's unique cultural pockets such as New
Mexico, Maryland's Chesapeake Bay and throughout south Louisiana has conditioned Tuley to
employ a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to studying the multiple natural and cultural
dimensions of landscape.

Together Tuley and his partner Rodney A. Cobi are committed to helping people enhance the
quality of their lives and improve the economic well-being of their families, businesses,
institutions and communities. Those at CLI pursue this mission through the shaping of humane
and coherent physical surroundings and the creation of more livable, sustainable and equitable
futures. Toward this purpose the firm's multi-dimensional practice is dedicated to undertaking
assignments of unusual scope and the practical demonstration of breakthrough ideas. Of
enduring concern is how people perceive, use and feel about the ordinary as well as special
places and spaces where they live, work, learn, shop and play and the travelways and other
linkages that connect them. Central is the sympathetic understanding of traditional culture and
the protection and interpretation of heritage patterns and values. Equally vital is an
appreciation of how man interacts with the landscape and the sense of community between
people, the land and the resources of life. This critical relationship encompasses the
stewardship of nature and the management of natural systems for their aesthetic and spiritual
values as well as their environmental services and useful products.

For further information, please contact the Center for Landscape Interpretation:

Address: 2413 Ernest Wilson Drive

Port of Greater Baton Rouge
PO Box 50
Port Allen, Louisiana 70767-0050
Telephone No.: 504.383.0066

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Fax: 504.383.0086
Email: TuleyCLI@lapage.com

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