Science and the Human Endeavor - Speaker Series - Victoria Finaly

Victoria Finlay

Mar. 30, 2017 | 7 p.m. | 1910 Sangren Hall, WMU

“How to Travel Through the World's Paintbox”

Victoria Finlay is the author of three popular non-fiction books. "Color: A Natural History of the Palette" involved visiting some of the amazing places historical colors came from, including Afghanistan, to find the rocks that were once ground into massively expensive ultramarine paint. "Jewels: A Secret History" involved other adventures including crawling (alone) down Cleopatra’s almost lost emerald mines and finding a tiny, flawed, but superbly green crystal. "The Brilliant History of Color in Art," published by the Getty Museum in November 2014, was named the Huffington Post’s top art book for that year. A journalist, Finlay spent 12 years in Hong Kong during the handover, first as a news reporter, then as arts editor of the South China Morning Post. For the past decade she has worked for the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, started by Prince Philip 20 years ago to encourage religions around the world to be leaders in environmental action. She has an M.A. in social anthropology from St. Andrews, and more recently an M.A. in creative writing from Bath Spa University.

From the ultramarine mountains of Afghanistan to the sacred ochre mines of Australia, via cochineal bugs in South America, poisoned wallpaper in England, and tracking down a strange Indian watercolour supposedly made “from the urine of cows fed with mango leaves,” the British author of "Color: A Natural History of the Palette" and "The Brilliant History of Color in Art" Victoria Finlay talks about some of her adventures to discover the secret histories of paint and dyes.