Endicott Redux

The High Fashion of Classic Comic Books

Woody Hochswender has a hilarious article about the new show of Comic-book inspired high fashion, "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy," currently at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (through Sept 1, 2008). This high-powered installation (designed by curator Andrew Bolton who was also inspired after reading Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) combines large splashy backdrops of comic book art with haute couture designs from the high-powered fashion houses, with the likes of super-fashion-heroes Thierry Mugler and Jean-Paul Gaultier. And what a bizarre collection of clothing it is, "dark and edgy, with themes of fetishism, domination, virility, sexual identity, and 'hegemonic masculinity'." Happily, most of these cat walk fashions won't be appearing on the racks in the future as they sure look uncomfortable -- and maybe a bit difficult to get in and out of an elevator in.

Hochswender has so much fun in the article -- both admiring the avant garde experience and poking fun at the "fashion-academese" used to explain the works. "The world of fashion, we learn, like that of comics, is a world of 'signs,' and that 'logos serve to ensure the body's passage into the field of the symbolic and representational.' Holding the thought and passing into the field of the Spider-man exhibit, we learn that "just as Superman's costume proclaims him a superman, Spider-Man's costume proclaims him a spider man.'" His further observation is that these clothes for the most part are "strictly for indoor wear, perhaps to answer the door for your dominatrix."

Definitely stop by the Museum's website to see more images from the show and to read their short essays about the show.  And here's another review from the Wall Street Journal, with an accompanying slide show.

Get out the vote

I know we're all in a voting mood these days, so here's a chance to vote for one our (and we hope yours!) favorite new authors, Christopher Barzak. Chris wrote to us to let us know that he and his award-winning novel, One for Sorrow, have been nominated for MTV Network's NewNowNext "Brink of Fame: Author" award. How cool is that? Here's what Chris said about the voting procedure:

"One for Sorrow, has recently been nominated for a NewNowNext Award, sponsored by MTV Networks LOGO channel, which focuses on bringing GLBT friendly programming to television.  I've been nominated for "Brink of Fame: Author" and it's an award that anyone can vote on just by clicking over to their site, marking my book as the one you want to win, scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking the vote button.  There are a variety of other categories to vote for, and you can do that as well, but if you only care to vote for my category, that'd be most welcome."

Best of Luck of Chris! The awards will be broadcasted Saturday, June 7th at 9pm on MTV's Logo Channel.

Catherynne M. Valente, A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects

I was privileged enough to write the introduction to Catherynne M. Valente's A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects, a terrific new collection of fairy tale and mythic poems. There were just so many moments that took my breath away as Valente deftly combined the visceral material of traditional tales with the turbulent issues of identity confronting women today. I thought I would include my introduction here -- in the hopes that it might encourage many of you to seek out this amazing collection. (And special kudos to Connie Toebe who won the competition with her gorgeous cover art.)

"Catherynne M. Valente is one of the most inventive young writers in the modern mythic arts movement. She is an accomplished story teller and a master of language, especially those poetic dialects spoken by the women in A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects. There is a gentle irony in the title for there is nothing fragile about the rich, organic language of these poems, their images deeply rooted in the senses and in nature. Here Rapunzel grows into the wild rampion of her origin, a fox wife wears two skins, a housebound woman evolves slowly into a tree, and an abusive husband transforms into a taloned crow. The seven devils of California push up from the land into the bodies of immigrants, leaving behind the taste of salt, sage, gold, sulfur, and iron...Read more>>

Bunnies on the auction block!

I've just sent this painting off to the framers for an exhibition and auction at Monks Withecombe Gallery in Devon at the end of this month. All the works in the show (including these little sleepy fellows) have been donated to raise money to preserve the beautiful Commons in the Devon village where I live. There will be work by many other local artists as well, including Brian Froud, Alan Lee, Marja Kee Kruyt, Katherine Lightfoot, Chris Chapman, Susan Derges, and Stephen Dooley. If you're in the southwest of England and would like to attend the auction, contact the gallery for  dates, times, and other information.

The painting is called "Nap Time on Chagford Commons," 20 x 12 inches (unframed), oil paints and pencil on canvas paper. It's based on a similar image I painted last year which was damaged by a printing company. This exhibition gave me the excuse to re-create it, and all for a good cause.

Arthurian Britain

   

If, like me, you're a fan of Patrick McCormack's work, then you too have been eagerly awaiting the third and final volume of "Albion," his Arthurian trilogy. The third novel, The Lame Dancer, is now available -- for free! -- online, posted (with the author's permission) on the site of Professor Howard Wiseman, an Australian academic with a passion for British history.

McCormack is an Oxford-trained historian who lives on Dartmoor. His "Albion" series, set in 5th century Britain, is rigorously researched and does a fine job of bringing the society of the Dark Ages to life -- which is precisely why there are so many fellow historians among McCormack's fans. The books are dark, robust, heroic -- but there's also plenty of magic here, deeply rooted in myth, and the distinctive mysticism of the British landscape. If you haven't yet read McCormack's work, start with the first two books in the series: The Last Companion and The White Phantom. Now, I wish someone would bring this trilogy out in an American edition....

The art above is by another Dartmoor dweller, Alan Lee. Go here to see more of his drawings.

   

Interstitial Arts Foundation Auction

'Tis the season to auction! If you've a flair for it, stop by the spectacular Interstitial Arts Foundation Auction, which is currently auctioning beautiful handmade jewelry based on short stories from the Foundation's first anthology, Interfictions, such as the lovely piece above created by Sarah Evans from Matthew Cheney's story "A Map of the Everywhere." The auction opened today, with new pieces being added every couple of days. Each auction will run about four to seven days and all proceeds will go to the production of a second anthology. (The auction should run about three weeks.) For more information, stop by the Interstitial Arts Foundation Auction website.

And don't forget -- Duirwaigh Gallery is also under full auction sale with 549 items at eBay! And wow -- there's something for almost every budget. Here's one of Wendy Froud's fairy dolls which you can find here.

 

The Monday Video

Today is our May Day holiday here in Britain (even though May 1st was actually last week) -- a three-day-weekend holiday comparable (in practice if not intention) to the Memorial Day long-weekend in the U.S., but with its folkloric roots firmly planted in the pagan festival of Beltane.

In the last British census, a remarkable number of people identified themselves as pagans, wiccans, druids and pantheists. (Mind you, there was also a large contingent who identified themselves as Jedi Knights, so who knows how seriously people take these forms?) The West Country, where I live, has been a stronghold of pagan practices since ancient times, and one can still find many who hold pagan beliefs today -- not only in the young New Age community centered around places like Glastonbury and Totnes but also among the old country folk, some of whom see no conflict between adherence to both Christian and pagan spiritual practices.

Pagan and folkloric ceremonies are making something of a comeback in the UK, and various May Day celebrations, both old and new, can be found across the British Isles -- such as the Beltane Fire Festival in Scotland, the Padstow 'Obby 'Oss Festival in Cornwall, and the Parade of the Ooser in Dorset. Here in Devon, the pagan community has quietly engaged in ceremonies on hilltops and in old stone circles, while other parts of the populace celebrate with spring fetes sponsored by our village churches.

The Monday Video this week goes out to all the folks who lit Beltane fires on the hills this morning. It's a clip of the Hunters Moon Morris troupe performing at Wimborne Festival. If you go to the YouTube page itself, you'll find a short description (in the text to the right of the video) of the Morris tradition and its connection to May Day. Alas, I can't find any video clips of my very favorite Morris troupe, Beltane Border Morris, here in Devon. They're a young, raffish, slightly punky group that seems to have stepped off the streets of Bordertown, performing Morris dancing in an incantatory, deeply magical way that absolutely gives me chills. Check out their website for pictures and information on their dances. (A dancer from the troupe is pictured on the right.)

America has its share of May Day celebrations too -- the most famous and elaborate one being the May Day Parade and Festival sponsored by the Heart of the Beast puppet theater in Minneapolis, pictured here.

For more information on Beltane, read this excellent article by Heather Shaw on the Strange Horizons website -- complete with advice on how to put on May Day festivities in your own community.

Sunday Poem

Our Sunday poem this week is "It's Not a Just Situation: Though We Just Can't Keep Crying About It (For the Hip Hop Nation That Brings Us Such Exciting Art)" by Nikki Giovanni. The poem is written on the wall of a gallery at the National Portrait Museum as part of the exhibition 'Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture'. An audio loop of the poem serves as the background to Shinique Smith's mixed media installation.

Says Nikki Giovanni "This is the first generation to have everything yet to also have had everything taken away. They went to school with no books, no gym, no school play, no school newspaper, no band, no clean toilets, no grass on the playground, no hope in the eyes of their teachers.

"Yet they created. They created art, music, textiles, and technology and made their world the world the world comes to."

Nikki Giovanni is a poet, activist, and educator who has been an outspoken voice within the African American community for thirty years. Her book Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry's Rhymes and Rhythms will be available next October.

The art above is "No Thief to Blame" by Shinique Smith, 2007-08, and is a mixed media installation (fabric, cardboard, carpet, paper, ink, spray paint, used clothing, found objects, and collage). You can see details of the installation here.

Reading on the Borders

" 'If the reader, while reading a story of this kind, thinks that the waiters are playing a joke or that they are involved in some collective psychosis, then we have lost the game. But if we have been able to give him the impression that we are talking about a world in which these absurd manifestations appear as normal behaviour, then he will find himself plunged all at once into the heart of the fantastic.' " — Jean-Paul Sartre (Cafe Irreal, Issue #26)

It's always good to remember how much excellent free fiction there is out there -- brought to you by passionate and creative editors who produce terrific issues, almost every month. I'd call it "reading on the borders" (or "interstitial " for those of you in the movement!) because the fiction is unique and experimental, fantastic and magical all at once. So here's a quick round up and I hope you stop by to give all of these hardworking online journals a glance.

Cafe Irreal: publishes wonderful short-short pieces, bordering on the surreal, from an international crop of writers. Favorites from this issue (#26) are Thief of the Moon, by Srinjay Chakravarti and Selections from Fabulosae Aves, by Flavia Lobo (with whimsical drawings by John Digby, such as the one above). And then there's that fabulous quote from Sartre above that I couldn't resist.

Farrago's Wainscot: Volume II, #6 offers a range of emotionally intense self-reflective tales and road stories. Favorites here were Running the Road, by Nancy Jane Moore and Three Views of the Maiden in Peril, by Catherine Lundoff. (Congratulations on their recent award for Best New Online Magazine or Journal.)

Clarkesworld has a fabulous new story from Catherynne Valente, a mystical geographical lesson in A Buyer's Guide to the Maps of Antarctica and Garth Upshaw has a killer tale of crows and aliens in Birdwatcher.

Serendipity, specializing in magic realism, continues to offer a handful of new stories (and a competition here and there) every month. In this issue favorites were Blue, from Elaine Walker and the very quirky Party Line from Phyllis Anderson.

Young Artists Spotlight: Chantal Bennett

   

I love discovering the work of emerging artists -- the young men and women who represent the future of the mythic arts field. Today our spotlight is on Chantal Bennett, a Canadian illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York.

"I am currently finishing up my studies in illustration at Parsons New School of Design in New York City," she says, "and most of the recent work I've been doing has been heavily influenced by Celtic mythology and folklore." She also loves Art Nouveau, and illustrative art from the Victorian age.

Visit Bennett's website and Live Journal sketch blog to see more of her enchanting art.

   

Remember when blogging was new and you could catch up on your favorite blogs over morning coffee? Now there's so much good stuff out there that there's no way in heck to keep up with it all (though syndication feeds are certainly a help), and I'm even falling behind on keeping up with blogs by friends. Case in point: I only just found out that Kim Antieau has been posting wonderful little interviews with other mythic-arts writers on her newly re-designed blog; she's got interviews with Alice Hoffman, Charles de Lint, Joanna Harris, Jane Yolen, and poet Jimmy Santiago Baca so far. She has also posted an intriguing interview with herself in which 60 writers, editors, family members and friends asked the questions. You can read some good snippets from the interviews below, and go here to check them out at full length. They are little gems.

Kim to Alice Hoffman: Like many fairy tales, your stories often begin with catastrophe. Terrible things happen to your characters and to the people around them. Is it difficult to be a witness to these tragedies, as the writer? Is this emotionally draining for you as you are writing it? Or is it cathartic? Or neither?

Alice: It's cathartic to take straw and make it into gold, or as close to gold as you can get it. Also to transfigure reality and expand it. Terrible things happen in all fairy tales -- why not? They are the most honest of all literature.

Kim to Charles de Lint: Are you ever unsure of yourself or your writing?

Charles: All the time. I think a good writer is a mix of confidence (sure that what they’re writing is going to appeal to their readers) and uncertainty (what if all these words are crap?). If you’re too confident, you get an attitude that seeps through into your writing, affecting the characters and the story. If you’re too uncertain, you’ll never finish anything.

Kim to Joanne Harris: Alice Hoffman says you can tell something about a person by which book they prefer: Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre. Which book do you prefer? Why?

Joanne:Wuthering Heights; partly because I live within a stone’s throw of the place, and the landscape has shaped my childhood, and partly because of the raw poetry of the writing and the extraordinary insight the author shows into the darker mysteries of the human heart – an at such a tender age. Fantastic.

. . . And on another subject entirely, there's a good article posted on Salon.com today about Ursula Le Guin's new mythic novel, Lavinia.

On ghosts and giants. . .

I hope y'all are familiar with Fantasy Magazine, the weekly webzine devoted to high fantasy, contemporary and urban tales, surrealism, magical realism, science fantasy, and folktales. The magazine is co-edited by the indefatigable Sean Wallace and Cat Rambo (of Prime Books), along with the stellar team of Paul Tremblay, K. Tempest Bradford, Paula Guran and Stephen Segal.

They've published some terrific fiction recently, but of particular interest to mythic fiction readers is Paul Jessop's fine tale "A Word Without Ghosts" (with its delicious allusions to fairy tales, animal bridegroom myths, and the story of Peter Pan), and Richard Bowes' enchanting fable "The Cinnamon Cavalier." Don't miss them.

The charming painting above is "The Artist at Work," from K. Tempest Bradford's profile of illustrator Kat Beyer.

Speaking of Prime Books, did you know that they're republishing the "Snow White, Blood Red" fairy tales series in new trade-paperback editions? Black Thorn, White Rose is available now, with more volumes to follow.

   

My hat is off to the Stainless Steel Droppings blog, which just keeps getting better and better. This week is Book Week, which editor Carl V. says "will focus on different art, artisans, etc. that have something to do with that form of entertainment that so many of us love: the book!" Today's post features the fabulous work of Su Blackwell and Brian Dettmer. Go here to see much more.

The art above is "Twelve Dancing Princesses" by Su Blackwell.

Of men and dogs...

 

I was researching the folklore of dogs recently and came across a good, short article to share with you: "Black Dogs: Guardians of the Corpse Ways" by Bob Trubshaw (posted on the At the Edge website).

"The dog is the oldest domestic animal," writes Trubshaw, "traceable to the paleolithic, since when dogs have enjoyed a peculiarly close relationship with humans, sharing their hearths at night and guarding the home, working during the day as sheepdogs or hunters. This close symbiotic relationship with people is reflected in the early literature where dogs seem to have clear connections with the Otherworld. But this is not unique to hounds as many species from bulls, boars, to owls and cuckoos have clear associations with deities which lead to ritual veneration. However, archaeological evidence and mythology brings recurring examples of a very specific role for dogs. They are the 'psycopomps', the guides on the paths to the Otherworld, the guardians of the 'liminal' zone at the boundaries of the worlds...."

If you happen to be looking for a more in-depth study of dog mythology, try David Gordon-White's wide-ranging, fascinating book Myths of the Dog-Man, from the University of Chicago Press. The Mythology of Dogs by Gerald and Loretta Hausman is also a good source of information on dog lore from around the world.

As for dogs in magical fiction, I hope you haven't missed Kij Johnson's absolutely brilliant story "The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change," published in The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales. (It can be read online here.) Reviewer Colleen Mondor was as bowled over by Kij's story as I was:

"Johnson takes a relatively simple idea -- that animals have gained the ability to speak -- and takes readers into an emotionally charged arena that is wholly unexpected and exhilarating. Once I realized the hook for this story, I thought it might be funny in a wry or maybe even sophisticated sort of way, but I didn’t think that Johnson would be able to touch my heart so deeply....'The Evolution of Trickster Stories' is a perfect story for classes on the modern short story; it conveys an amazing amount of powerful emotion in such few words and in a truly uncanny way."

I recommend reading Colleen's full review (over on the Bookslut website), in which she also looks at dog tales by Nick Abadzis (Laika) and Charles de Lint (Dingo), as well as a reptile novel by Wendy Townsend and animal poetry from Marjorie Maddox.

Kristen Bakis' novel Lives of the Monster Dogs is a Frankenstein-like story about a race of dog-people, designed by a mad scientist, now living in New York City. I loved the wacky premise, but didn't find the book itself entirely successful...Ellen Datlow loved it, however (as did many other people), so it's definitely worth checking out. On the mainstream shelves, I was impressed and occasionally unnerved by the hard-hitting stories in Brad Watson's Last Days of the Dog-Men. Despite the fanciful title, this is a collection of realist stories with just a tinge of surrealism at the edges...but don't miss it if you're a dog lover, or simply a fan of fine contemporary writing.

Art credits: The painting at the top of this post is from my Desert Spirits series, called "Coyote and the Dog Spirits." The second painting is by Meinrad Craighead, who often uses dog symbolism in her deeply spiritual and mythic art, which has been collected in a beautiful volume titled Crow Mother and the Dog God. The photographs on the left are "Old Dogs" and "Macbeth" by the dog-obsessed artist William Wegman. Visit his website to see more of his work. (There's a cool little flash movie on the homepage.) For more dog lore and art here's a link to to our previous post on the subject: Magical Dogs.

Duirwaigh Gallery: Moving Sale Extravaganza

Angi Sullins of Duirwaigh Gallery is having a huge (over 300 items!) moving sale on Ebay from May 1st through the 14th. Here's a chance to purchase some really terrific pieces of art from well known fantasy artists. Here's the description of the sale: " A treasure box of items will appear for auction here on Monday May 1st to help Duirwaigh find homes for many of its art-children! To make their cross-country move easier, lots of limited edition signed prints, original paintings, unique drawings, one-of-a-kind sculptures, animation cels, collectibles and fun things will be up for auction May 1st - May 15th. Items from Wendy and Brian Froud, David Delamare, Kinuko Craft, Linda Ravenscroft, Amy Brown, Ian Daniels, and Nene Thomas will be featured in the sale."

For more information, stop by Angi's blog for photos and news updates about the sale.

The Monday Video

Our Monday Video this week is "Maybe Sparrow" by Neko Case, with animation by Julie and Paul Morstad. The song comes from Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, an album recorded at the Wave Lab Studio in Tucson. You can hear more of her music on her website.

Julie Morstad is a Vancouver artist whose work I just love. Go to her website to see more of her art -- and also check out her terrific new artbook, Milk Teeth, from the Canadian art & comics press Drawn & Quarterly.

   

Sunday Poem

The Sunday Poem today is "Myth" by Natasha Trethewey, which is read by the poet herself in an audio recording on the Poetry Foundation website.  As Trethewey explains in her introduction, this astonishing poem, written as a palindrome, combines the myth of Orpheus' journey to the underworld in search of Eurydice with the poet's own vital dreams about her deceased mother.

Trethewey's 2000 collection, Domestic Work, won the inaugural Cave Canem Poetry Prize for best first book of poetry by an African American poet, the 2001 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prize, and the 2001 Lillian Smith Award for Poetry. Her 2006 collection, Native Guard, received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, including The American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, and The Southern Review. Trethewey is currently a Professor of English at Emory University, where she holds the Phillis Wheatley Distinguished Chair in Poetry.

You can hear and see more of Trethewey discussing and reading her work here and here (scroll down to see the many options).

*The art above is "Orpheus and Eurydice" by George Frederick Watts.

From Bordertown to Checquers

Those of you who remember the fabulous original covers for the Borderland series might be interested in what the cover artist, Phil Hale, is up to these days. Go here to find out.

The kinetic art of Tom Haney

Tom Haney makes electrical mechanical sculptures, key-wound and hand-cranked automatons, and other kinetic creations he calls "articulated artwork." For example: Down, Boy (to the right) is a key-operated sculpture in which the little dog moves from side to side. Jackalope (below, left) is a hand-cranked piece: the jackalope jumps through the flaming hoop, turns around, and jumps back through, ad infinitum. In Alar (below, right), which is electricity-powered, the wings slowly flap up and down.

"Much of my work is unseen," he says. "Whether it’s an intricate part of a mechanism or the curve of a leg; so much of what I do is not instantly apparent. On a kinetic piece, 50 - 60 percent of my time is spent on the mechanism hidden inside.

"Woodcarving was my initial approach to creating the figures, but lately I've found myself using materials as diverse as fabric, polymer clay, and found objects. Electrical motors, miniature lights and motion-detectors have been added to my mechanical repertoire.

"For the most part, I approach my work searching for that characteristic of the human spirit that struggles to overcome anything fate can throw its way. I've always been on the side of the underdogs, rooting for the little guys. Their lives and stories inspire me."

Born in Ohio in 1962, Haney studied industrial design at the University of Cincinnati and is now based in Atlanta, Georgia. Visit his website to see more of his work.

Blue

Blue is a new exhibition at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC that explores the creation and meaning of the color blue on textiles ranging from Greco-Roman and pre-Columbian tunic fragments to installations by five artists who are currently using indigo dyes in Japan, South America, and the US.

Indigo has long been seen as mythical and magical, with many cultures attributing talismanic properties and health benefits to the dye. To make the indigo dye, "plants are cut shortly before blossoming and placed in a container with water. Enzymes and bacteria in the plants break down the indican, indigo's precursor, into a nearly colorless indoxyl and sugars. This fermentation continues for at least 12 hours. After removing the plant material, the remaining indoxyl must be oxidized by vigorous beating with sticks or hands and feet. This precipitates an insoluble indogo which may be dried and formed into cakes for future use or trade. When needed, the cake is joined with an alkaline substance such as dates or wine in a vat with water. Fibers removed from the vat are yellow, but immediately become blue when oxidized by the air. Seemingly worked by magic, this alchemy introduced indigo dyeing to local superstition, myth, and ritual."

Contemporary artists include Hiroyuki Shindo, a Japanese artist working near Kyoto who has developed innovative patterning techniques, Shihoko Fukumoto, one of Japan's foremost artists working in indigo, and Rowland Ricketts, an American-born artist who spent many years in Japan's Tokushima area and has worked on a indigo farm and apprenticed to a master indigo dyer. Also included are Maria Eugenia Davila and Eduardo Portillo, who are now raising silkworms in Venezuela and spearheading techniques of weaving with locally produced fibers and coloring with the region's natural dyes.

The exhibit runs through September 18, 2008. For more information on indigo, see Terri Windling's post from last year (when the exhibition appeared in England). The image above is a detail from a long cloth from Indonesia, Yogyakarta (in the style of Ceribon) from the 20th century.