Two Knox College alumni, Jessica Weller and Tahlia Weis, will give a talk about chemistry-based art restoration, "Art Analysis and Raman Spectroscopy," at 4 p.m., Tuesday, May 10, in the Round Room, Ford Center for the Fine Arts, on the Knox campus in Galesburg, Illinois. The event is free and open to the public.

Weller and Weis, currently graduate students in chemistry at Purdue University, will discuss restoration projects that they did at the Art Institute of Chicago, involving works by American Impressionist Mary Cassatt.

Weller will also discuss her research into "An Offer of Education," a mural done at Knox College in the 1940s by noted artist George Rickey. Weller researched the history of the mural and what would be required to restore the work, which is currently in storage at the Knox College Archives.

Rickey, who died in 2002 and is best known for his kinetic sculptures, taught art at Knox in 1940-41. "An Offer of Education" is a 20-foot square mural that includes idealized portraits of historic figures from Western civilization, several Knox College faculty, and scenes depicting the Knox campus.

Knox College Chemistry Program

Knox College Archives

"An Offer of Education," by George Rickey, ca. 1941

Shakespeare (top center) and Da Vinci (right) join Knox faculty in "offering" education to students, who are shown in the larger image. The Knox faculty pictured in the larger image include Lee Furrow, biology; William Beauchamp and Proctor Sherwin, English; Hermann Muelder, history, and Ray Miller, psychology.