Category Artists

Entries 26 Total Description

The admirable people.

Is this it?

Jul 2, ’16 12:42 PM

This is a wonderful stop motion cartoon series that I just found out about a few days ago. But they were hugely popular in the 80s and 90s all over the world.

Thanks to its distinct lack of spoken dialogue, the show became popular throughout the world, being aired in nations that include Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia), Sweden, Syria, Iraq, Poland, former Yugoslavia, Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Brazil, Finland, Japan, Norway, Spain, Iran, Hungary, Jordan, South Africa, and South Korea. -Wikipedia

Ladies and Gentlemen, Pat and Mat

In this episode they are trying to make time for doing laundry but keep getting distracted by their crossword puzzles. It’s wonderful writing, really clear and clownish. And the detail of their world is really beautiful.

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The Sleeping Giant

Jun 27, ’16 7:01 PM

The following is a transcript of a story I told for some 5-8 year olds in East Helena at the very end of 2015.

I’m going to tell you a story about right here. It’s a story from a long time ago, before we had houses around here, before we had roads around here. But there were still a lot of people who lived here. And one day they heard a sound.

Boom boom boom! BOOM!

Sleeping-GiantIt was so loud, everybody was so scared. There was an old man who said, “I know what that sound is, that’s the sound of the snow falling off the trees.” Everybody looked at him and said, the snow falling off the trees? It’s spring all the snow is melted, there’s no snow to..”

Boom Boom Boom!

A little old lady said “I know what that is, that’s the sound of buffalo running through the valley, it’s so loud it sounds like thunder.” Everybody looked at her. “The buffalo don’t come in the springtime, everybody knows they run in the fall…”

Boom Boom Boom!

All along standing in the back there was a little girl and she was looking to the east, beyond the mountains to the horizon.

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Benda Masks

Jun 27, ’16 11:18 AM

W.T. Benda was a Polish American making masks in the 1920s and 1930s. He was as famous as mask makers get in his time or ours. His masks were in Hollywood movies, on Broadway and in magazines. He was also an illustrator and a graphic artist too, producing classic magazine covers for Collier’s, McCall’s, Ladies’ Home Journal, Good Housekeeping and many others. But as his career progressed he got deeper into mask making, eventually publishing a book that details some of his theories and his mask making process. It’s called “Masks.”

AB_masks_01

There are very few books available on the art of mask making, so I was fascinated when I heard of his. But it’s been out of print since it was published in 1944 and I couldn’t find much about it online except for a few low-res images and some Amazon resellers listing it for sixty bucks and more.

Public Library to the Rescue!

Imagine my surprise then when I found the book listed as available through interlibrary loan from the Lewis and Clark Public Library. Interlibrary loan is like the internet before the internet. I remember learning about it in middle school, back in the days before the internet was as awesome as it is now.

I put my middle school knowledge to the test. I ordered that bad boy. Waited four weeks for it to arrive and finally I had my hands on it. It’s a beautiful little brown book, 100 plus pages, lots of illustrations. And it’s funny.

But all this is beside the point. The point is, I scanned it in and put it online. Now it’s available for anyone to download.

Isn’t that Illegal?

I don’t know if it is. But if it is, it shouldn’t be. It’s a rare book full of relevant material out of print for decades. Why not share it? It’s the best kind of file sharing if you ask me.

MASKS – Benda.pdf (68.5 MB)

Here is is. You click that and you’ll be taken to MegaUpload. It looks kind of shady, I know, but it’s safe. I mean, it’s from New Zealand!

Enjoy that beautiful book.

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The Bride of the Sun

Jun 27, ’16 11:08 AM

Behind his back people called him misfortunate but the king didn’t mind because his seven daughters filled his heart with joy. In all other matters he was bold, rational and determined, but with his seven daughters he took his time to guide them gently. He had found suitable husbands for them and saw them married off one by one.

But when the time came for his youngest daughter to find a husband he was in trouble. Suitors arrived to the castle gates, banners waiving, horns blaring, only to be turned away by the princess. The king was beside himself with worry.

bride_sun_01
She had seen her sisters married off to princes that appeared beautiful, wealthy or kind only to find out that the men they married had serious flaws,

One sister married a beautiful prince who turned out to be insufferably vain.

Another married an honest prince who over time gave away his land and titles.

The next sister married awealthy prince, cruel to his subjects.

A kind prince, with an empty head.

A wise prince who spends no time in the bedroom.

A sensual prince with countless mistresses

And a devoted prince who made her sister stand up on a column to be admired by him alone. Day in day out.

All had qualities that were charming from a certain distance, but up close seemed more a burden than anything.

She could not fall in love for fear that her love would transform into someone beastly or mewing and weak.

She would wait for a prince who was as he seemed.

Tonight I’ve watched
The moon and then the Pleiades go down
The night is now half-gone; youth goes; I am
in bed alone
-Sappho
Midnight Poem (Trans. Mary Barnard)

bride_sun_02

      In search of perfect love.

      The youngest daughter of a king sees faults in the men her sisters marry

      She sets off to find perfect love

      The mother of the Sun accepts her on one condition: she may not look at the sun’s face

      But she cannot bare never having seeing him

      Mother suggests a trick, see him through the water glass

      The sun sees her looking and throws her out

      She watches him from afar until her feet become rooted in the ground.

    She is a sunflower.
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Sworn Virgins

Dec 8, ’13 5:53 PM

Sworn Virgin, or ‘burnesha” elevated a woman to the status of a man and granted her all the rights and privileges of the male population. In order to manifest the transition such a woman cut her hair, donned male clothing and sometimes even changed her name. Male gestures and swaggers were practiced until they became second nature. More photos here.

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