You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2007.
|
You Are Romanticism |
 You are likely to see the world as it should be, not as it is. You prefer to celebrate the great things people do… not the horrors they’re capable of. For you, there is nothing more inspiring than a great hero. You believe that great art reflects the artist’s imagination and true ideals. |
A couple of weeks ago we took a trip down to Rochester to visit The George Eastman House. I was especially interested to see the exhibit called bloom!, which featured some of Edward Steichen’s experimental colour work. As the title of the exhibit suggests, the photos included in this show had a botanical focus, many an interesting blend of botanical art and photographic portraiture. It was a stunning exhibit, and I really wish there had been a catalogue accompanying it. When I go to an exhibition I like to take in the show, go away and think about it for a while, and then return to the images. If the exhibition is in a different city than the one I live in a return journey is often out of the question, and this is where I find a catalogue to be particularly useful. The pictures in this exhibit of Dana Steichen (Edward’s second wife, I believe) were especially beautiful, and there is one in particular that I keep thinking about — a very ethereal-looking portrait of Dana holding a brilliant red apple, which, of course, has symbolic connotations, but also an aesthetically stunning compositional choice given the greenish tones in the rest of the photograph. Simply gorgeous!
Edward Steichen, Heavy Lillies (c.1935)
George Eastman House Collections
The other thing that really left an impression on me was seeing George Eastman’s suicide note. It had a hauntingly simple message: “Dear Friends, My work is done. Why wait?” It gave me shivers to see this written in his own handwriting.
One of my favourite NFB films ever!! (Sorta sums up how my day is going so far today too!)
Can someone please explain to me why this is in the news?
How freakin’ cool is this?!? I want to research dinosaurs in my next life!
Oh wow! The Textile Museum of Canada (already one of the coolest museums around) has just launched a wonderful web-based exhibition called Digital Threads. Check it out — I promise you won’t be disappointed!
Here’s the text from the press release: “Digital Threads is an interactive Web environment that highlights new digital artworks by Canadian artists Jennifer Angus, Joanna Berzowska, Kai Chan, Ruth Scheuing and Samuel Thomas. Internationally known for innovative work that challenges the boundaries of conventional textile arts, these five artists define new territory on the World Wide Web with dynamic projects that link to 50 exhibitions and thousands of textiles from the Textile Museum of Canada. Art and technology are fused in this project – both are creative acts, imaginative and committed to the process of discovery. Technology is not only used to deliver the content but is woven into the very fabric of the artists’ creative process. An example is Joey Berzowska’s responsive textile ensembles of the future that will not only change to camouflage stains but display the subtleties of the wearer’s mood. “I want to be able to control how aggressive my dress appears” says this artist.
This interactive project also has a studio for visitors to create their own digital work with components and concepts borrowed from the five artists – experiment with pattern, colour, shape, time and meaning. Digital Threads will also provide access to 17 years of the TMC’s exhibition programming. 50 past exhibitions are sorted into 5 themes (Myth and Science, Textiles in Everyday Life, Clothing and Communication, Moving across Cultures, and Nature, the Environment & Weird Materials). Explore these pages featuring approximately 180 contemporary artists, publicly available for the first time. Digital Threads will also make a growing number of the Textile Museum’s permanent collection available online with high detail zooming interactivity. The TMC has thousands of artifacts available in our publicly accessible database. Visitors are able to explore the collection of the TMC 24 hours a day, from anywhere in the world.”
