Historical Reconstruction - Deadwood Pioneer

For the City of Deadwood, South Dakota - Historical Preservation Commission

In 2004, I was interviewed for the Houston Chronicle by reporter Evan Moore for an article that appeared in the Sunday supplement magazine called "Texas".  Mr. Moore had a genuine interest in the field of forensic art which resulted in a story that helped to bring positive attention to the field at large.  Interviews of this type provide the opportunity to alert members of the general public about the benefits of this work.  It also helps citizens to understand the unique efforts made by law enforcement personnel for the sake of public safety.

I was very fortunate to be the subject of an article that appeared in American Artist: Drawing magazine. This piece was done by New York writer Edith Zimmerman and appeared in the Summer, 2006 issue. The title is “Understanding Faces From the Inside Out”.

An Oklahoma native of Choctaw heritage, Barbara spent years as a professional dance instructor. She has devoted five decades of dedicated service to the Order of the Eastern Star. From 2006-2009, she served as Most Worthy Grand Matron. In that role, she travelled many miles and enjoyed meeting people all over the world. During her tenure, she visited 16 countries, 10 Canadian Provinces, all 50 United States and 2 U.S. Possessions. The commission for the portrait, commemorative of her Eastern Star service, came from her husband Tom Benton who is the nephew of famed American artist Thomas Hart Benton. It is easy to see the strong family resemblance between uncle and nephew.

Dr. Utsuno is a lecturer in the Department of Oral Anatomy at Matsumoto Dental University in Japan. We met while at the University of Dundee in Scotland at a meeting of the International Association for Craniofacial Identification hosted by Professor Caroline Wilkinson and Professor Sue Black. We share a mutual interest in facial and dental anatomy as well as forensic facial reconstruction.

Del served for many years as a police officer in the UK and certainly qualifies as a “good guy” in my book. It was a joy for me to personally deliver the drawing to his precious Scottish mother, Betty, on her 80th birthday. She was quite “chuffed” as Del would say.

Dominick Dunne belonged to a very special club and one where no one wants to be a member. He was the parent of a murdered child. He is best known as a writer for Vanity Fair, friend to celebrities, investigative journalist, and court watcher. He became a recognizable television personality via his commentary during the first O.J. Simpson trial and later on his show Power, Privilege and Justice.

My old friend, the consummate forensic anthropologist, Dr. Clyde Snow, first approached me with a request to work on this case. Partnered with the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Chicago Police Department and America’s Most Wanted, we were able to get this unfortunate murdered girl identified.

My work was published in the 1st quarter – 2014 edition of The Art of the Portrait, which is the publication of the Portrait Society of America.

I was contacted by renowned cognitive psychologist and researcher Dr. Nancy Etcoff, a professor of neuropsychology at Harvard Medical School. She indicated that she had read the discussions of facial proportion in my textbook Forensic Art and Illustration. She asked that I draw the face of “idealized female beauty” based on her verbal description, much like a police composite sketch.

Facial Reconstruction of Julien Dubuque for

The National Mississippi River Museum