Hello Roger,
I'm sure there is little anyone (including me) could disagree with in
your message. However, I would contest the point about America having no
tradition(s), we have a GREAT tradition of individualism, therefore I
believe the personal aspect of a dial should be put first, not last! ;)
Vive' La Difference...
-Luke
Roger Bailey wrote:
>
> At 09:34 AM 5/3/99 +0200, fer j. de vries wrote:
> >
> >But please, have in mind we are dealing with sundials, not with
> >instruments to read a time in parts of a second or minute.
> >
> >Don't forget the history of sundials. How did people the things at their
> >time?
> >In our time we have other instruments to measure time as precisely and
> >accurate as we want.
> >A sundial still has to reflect to the older times and a suntime hour is
> >irregular in length.
> >
> Hello Fer and all,
>
> I agree. We have to consider the historical use of sundials. In North
> America sundials are not a traditional part of our culture. For us they are
> interesting technical artifacts without links to our history or artistic
> and architectural traditions.
>
> On this theme I gave a presentation at a recent NASS conference entitled
> "The Most Important Things for Sundial Design are Location, Location and
> Location." The first location factor is Scientific: what are the
> mathematics of the design for a specific latitude, longitude and
> orientation. Most of the discussion on this list involves this scientific
> location factor.
>
> The second location factor is Cultural: what are the architectural and
> artistic traditions of this area to be considered in the design of the
> dial? An English country garden is a very different setting compared to an
> alpine village square or a majestic cathedral. The traditional design of
> vertical declining dials of France has been carried to Quebec and the
> Austrian style has been adopted on appropriate houses in the mountain
> community where I live.
>
> The third location factor is Personal: what are the unique personal
> interests of the owner or designer and how are they reflected in the
> design? I have designed a dial based on a family crest and a dial for an
> alpine hut based on mountaineer's ice axe. Each design can be unique and
> consider the three location factors.
>
> For the next three weeks I am abandoning the discussions on factor one
> (Science) and will be concentrating on factor two (Culture). My wife thinks
> we are on vacation but I will be chasing sundials in "La France Profond"
> armed with my "Cadrans Solaires Francais Catalogue" from the "Societe
> Astronomique de France". I am looking forward to irregular times.
>
> A bientot,
>
> Roger Bailey
> Walking Shadow Designs
> heading for N 44:38 E 2:03
