In Situ was the first panel discussion I attended at SECAC. When I entered and started sketching, Rebakah Radke Associate Professor in the School of Interiors at the University of Kentucky College of Design was giving a presentation titled From Stitch to Site: Place-Based Learning Across Appalachian and French Post-Mining Landscapes. Her scholarship centers on design pathways for sustainable climatic futures in post‑mining territories of Appalachia, using community‑centric collaborative design processes to support climate aware and proactive communities. Radtke’s work is rooted in place‑based design research — engaging local communities in co‑creating solutions that respond to both ecological and social conditions. In Appalachia, this means addressing the legacies of coal mining, energy transition challenges, and climate resilience, while integrating local knowledge and expertise into design outcomes.
Kentucky has a long history of coal mining as does France. Her further research involving French post‑mining landscapes, involves similar socio‑ecologic transitions and community engagement strategies that need to be adapted. Rebekah had an inspired way of introducing mining to her students and then having them go to France to see how similar the mining history was there.
In my trip to Europe following the footsteps of my father 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken, I went to may mines in the Ruhr Pocket industrial area of Germany. Germany used forced labor to mine the coal. The coal was used to produce a crude diesel fuel which was needed to fuel thanks. I know that hundreds of Polish and Russian forced laborers died in the mines. They were literally worked to death, being starved to death. All the mines I visited were closed for many years. Some were converted into museums while others were abandoned and surrounded with security fencing. I sketched all the coal mines I could find in my travels through Germany.
The use of forced labor in German-occupied Europe during World War II took place on an unprecedented scale. It was a vital part of the German economic exploitation of conquered territories. It also contributed to the mass extermination of populations in occupied Europe. The Germans abducted approximately 12 million people from almost twenty European countries; about two thirds came from Central Europe and Eastern Europe.
In the teaching I do, I always work to get the students out of the classroom and out in the field sketching on location. Rebekah’s research and work with her students was a real inspiration.