Savage Beauty
30 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Art, Culture Tags: fashion, MadQuote, Metropolitan Museum of Art
I’m an unabashed fan of American Arts Quarterly, a publication of the Newington-Cropsey Cultural Studies Center. The writings contained within the journal resonate strongly with my personal beliefs concerning the arts, their value to society, and the importance of beauty, good craftsmanship and taste. The Center reflects these beliefs in its mission statement:
The Center is dedicated to the principle that the arts help shape our world, from our cultural perceptions to the physical experience of our communal space. We recognize that it is imperative that the arts reflect the many voices of the diverse American community. Encouraging artists from all disciplines who are selectively and imaginatively revisiting traditional and classical forms, and exploring the great myths we hope to reunite the artist with society. Beauty, virtue and spirituality are again becoming part of cultural life.
Writing for Fall 2011 edition of American Arts Quarterly, James F. Cooper reviews the 2011 exhibition “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At first glance an article about fashion art may seem out of place in a journal dedicated to exploring and defending the relevance of classical art concepts to today’s institutions and culture, based on the conviction that the arts are a perennial resource in sustaining and advancing civilization. The author goes far in convincing us that McQueen’s fashion art is fine art indeed.
Here are selections from the article that are particularly meaningful:
Speaking of the one of a kind the fashion art of Alexander McQueen, Cooper writes:
Powerful, imposing, aloof, evoking associations with ancient myth, spirituality and nature, as richly ornamented as a medieval reliquary, they require no justification for existence other that their own self-contained magic.
What makes it different from the silly, vacuous postmodern detritus that fills our modern museums? Indeed, what makes McQueen’s work so different from the attractive, expensive fashions created by the most successful designers? [...] The difference is taste, moral passion and a highly refined sense of beauty and craft.
According to Cooper, McQueen “…never succumbed to the kitsch and cheapened sentiments that characterize much of postmodern culture.”
McQueen’s work doesn’t require textual explanations, but is ripe for psychological and cultural analysis. He has applied the highest craftsmanship to his garments, at a time when sloppiness and poor craftsmanship are all too common.
…commitment to beauty and craft should always be recognized…
Giant Godzilla Christmas Tree
16 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Japan, Popular Culture Tags: Christmas tree
Via Steve Levenstein of Japanorama at InventorSpot.com we have a Giant Godzilla Christmas Tree sprucing up a Tokyo mall:
Credit: Steve Levenstein, Japanorama
Oh Christmas trees, mushrooms and more
13 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Art, Culture, Popular Culture Tags: Christmas, christmas ornaments, Christmas tree
Oh these are just gorgeous! Check out this collection of Christmas tree alternatives in steel, paper, even vinyl decals, from where else but the West Coast!
I especially like the PossibiliTree® (cool name), a simple and non-messy alternative to real Christmas trees made of…wood!
These sculptures are aesthetically pleasing and functional year round. Made from natural wood, they have an environmentally friendly feel to them while maintaining a traditional Yuletide theme.
Photo credit: PossibiliTree
Chiasso’s wire and metal trees in luscious colors are something else again. These trees made of powder-coated metal create a definite pop culture, 60s – 70s sort of feel. Their conical shape made of flat planes pierced with holes representing ornaments remind me of those table-top wooden trees we would assemble every Christmas. Only these have a sleek, stream-lined effect I find very appealing.
Photo credit: Chiasso.
Photo credit: Anthropologie
Now mushroom ornaments have always puzzled me; what do they have to do with Christmas? We’ve traditionally included mushrooms in our Christmas decorating, with glass mushroom ornaments on the tree and wooden mushrooms in the nativity scene, all made in Poland. Apparently there is a tradition associated with the Christmas mushroom:
Tradition of the Mushroom. Mushrooms are considered to be a good luck symbol. Associated with nature and the beauty of the forest, finding a mushroom is considered to be very lucky and to mean good fortune is at hand. Mushroom ornaments are displayed on Christmas trees in Germany in honor of the people’s reverence for nature and in hope of good luck in the New Year.
How about an early Christmas gift for all us Leo the lions? This glass ornament, also made in Poland, brings to mind the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz and Aslan from Narnia:
Finally, here’s a paper and plastic crèche purchased at the Polish deli with a packet of oplatek to share on Christmas eve:
For even more Unusual Christmas Trees
~MS to&w
Origami for Christmas
09 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Art, Japan Tags: Christmas, origami
Recently found at a holiday white elephant sale, the book Origami for Christmas by author Chiyo Araki is topical to the season and offers beautiful photos of Christmas-themed origami. Published 28-years ago (1983) by Kodansha International Ltd., a publisher of English language books about Japanese culture, the company continues to offer books on origami and other subjects ranging from architecture to travel, including The Just Bento Cookbook. I like what the writers say about using this simple craft to create links between disparate cultures. The art of paper folding or paper sculpture may have come to Japan from China via Korea in the sixth century A.D. and has been traced in Europe as far back as 1440 A.D.
Origami is the Japanese art of making representational objects of paper by folding it, generally without any cutting, pasting or decorating.
“In this book, this most oriental of arts is applied to the most Western of holidays, Christmas. Perhaps surprisingly, the combination is completely successful. Christmas is a time for honoring traditions, for sharing, for families to gather together and enjoy themselves… Decorating the house and the tree is an integral part of this and origami lends itself perfectly to this joyous Western custom of creating handmade decorations for the home.”
From the Introduction by Lillian Oppenheimer, Founder and Director of The Origami Center of America (OrigamiUSA)
Origami for Christmas by Chiyo Araki
“…a book that brings to gether the delicate Japanese craft of folding paper – origami – and the most celebrated Western holiday.”
“…the results certainly seem to reflect an ideal harmony between this traditional handicraft of the East and the purity and simplicity of the true Christmas spirit.”
Conceived in desperation
07 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: December 7, Pearl Harbor
December 7th marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy.” A day later, on December 8, 1941 the United States declared war on Japan and entered World War II.
I remember reading that when President Franklin D. Roosevelt went to Congress to ask for a declaration of war against Japan, the vote for war was not unanimous; a single representative voted no. I always thought this was a particularly heroic act that defined the American spirit. Even when provoked the choice to wage war should never be taken lightly.
There was also an incident involving the destruction of Japanese cherry trees in Washington D.C. Four cherry trees were cut down in 1941, suspected retaliation for the Japanese attack against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The trees had been a gift from the Japanese government decades earlier. In hopes of preventing future damage during the Second World War, the trees were thereafter referred to as the “Oriental” flowering cherry trees.
The hysterical response to the bombing would target more than trees as tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent were later forcibly interned as dangerous foreign nationals.
During WWII my father was stationed on Hawaii but not at Pearl Harbor. I remember his stories of escorting boat loads of Japanese prisoners of war as they sailed to California, just him, his Thompson submachine and 200 prisoners. When I asked if he was frightened, he spoke with pity of the Japanese soldiers, gaunt and haggard, barely out of their teens, just grateful to be alive.
Writing for The New York Times, Ian Toll tells the story of Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the man who planned the attack.
During the Second World War and for years afterward, Americans despised Yamamoto as an archvillain, the perpetrator of an ignoble sneak attack, a personification of “Oriental treachery.” Time magazine published his cartoon likeness on its Dec. 22, 1941, cover — sinister, glowering, dusky yellow complexion — with the headline “Japan’s Aggressor.” He was said to have boasted that he would “dictate terms of peace in the White House.”
Apparently the truth was that Yamamoto was against the attack and ”persistently warned his government not to fight the United States.”
Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto foresaw that the struggle would become a prolonged war of attrition that Japan could not hope to win. For a year or so, he said, Japan might overrun locally weak Allied forces — but after that, its war economy would stagger and its densely built wood-and-paper cities would suffer ruinous air raids. Against such odds, Yamamoto could “see little hope of success in any ordinary strategy.” His Pearl Harbor operation, he confessed, was “conceived in desperation.” It would be an all-or-nothing gambit, a throw of the dice: “We should do our best to decide the fate of the war on the very first day.”
Pearl Harbor National Monument
Check out the Big Picture’s photo coverage of Pearl Harbor’s 70th Anniversary on their website.
~MS tO&W
Knitting Behind Bars – Awesome Article from GOOD
07 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in Craft, Creativity Tags: crafting, good news, knitting
I’m loving this article from GOOD – an online mag and news source that writes for “people who give a damn.” It’s about how knitting and love can change someone’s world. Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference – I hope this inspires others to take their passion, whether it be for writing, crafting, or even math(!) and share it in a way that changes everything!
Thanks to my crafting friend Tammy for bringing this article to my attention. Go check out her Etsy shop Brinnet for some awesome accessories!
Inmates knitting from an article on GOOD. Photo by Lynn Zwerling.
In late 2009, Lynn Zwerling stood in front of 600 male prisoners at the Pre-Release Unit in Jessup, Maryland. “Who wants to knit?” she asked the burly crowd. They looked at her like she was crazy.
Yet almost two years later, Zwerling and her associates have taught more than 100 prisoners to knit, while dozens more are on a waiting list to take her weekly class. “I have guys that have never missed one time in two years,” Zwerling says. “Some reported to us that they miss dinner to come to class.”
Go check out the rest of the article HERE.
~MS the Younger
Imagine a world where your every move matters
03 Dec 2011 4 Comments
in Art, Japan, Poetry Tags: artist John Morse, haiku, New York City, Star Dog Studio
“Curbside Haiku,” a NYC DOT safety education and public art campaign launched in November 2011, is a set of twelve bright, eye-catching designs by artist John Morse that mimic the style of traditional street safety signs. Each sign is accompanied by a haiku poem. The “Curbside Haiku” installation can be seen citywide on 144 signs to promote road safety. Each design and haiku delivers a safety message by focusing on a transportation mode.
Placed near eye level in high-crash locations near cultural institutions and schools, the colorful signs draw attention to the critical importance of shared responsibility among pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists in keeping New York City’s streets safe.
Here’s one example:
Imagine a world
Where your every move matters.
Welcome to that world.
Posters and signs from the campaign are available for sale from the Safe Streets Fund. All proceeds benefit traffic safety education and awareness.
This graphic was designed by Mike Licht of NotionsCapital:
Japan bicycle lady, credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Via NotionsCapital
Awesome Advent Calendars 2011
01 Dec 2011 3 Comments
in Culture Tags: advent calendar, Christmas, virtual advent calendar
Countdown to Christmas – 24 days! As we prepare for Christmas, one of my favorite traditions is the Advent Calendar. My family always buys the cardboard ones made in Germany that has a little chocolate inside the door you open each day. Sadly I can’t share my chocolate with you, so you’re just going to have to enjoy this collection of awesome internet advent calendars I found for you!
1) National Museums Liverpool Advent Calendar: “Check out our online advent calendar with a fresh new design from 1 December 2011, to discover seasonal treats and surprises from National Museums Liverpool.”
A preview of National Museums Liverpool Advent Calendar!
2) Electric December 2011: “Immerse yourself in 24 highly original short films from across Europe, where you might land in an underwater bubble, discover secret twins, hug a tree, listen to the philosophical musings of lego men or meet the prime minister.”
3) DROPS Design Studio’s Advent Calendar: DROPS is an awesome knit and crochet design company. “This year the Christmas calendar is full of new design – many great ideas for gifts and decoration. Click on the heart for the current day and the door will open.” They also have an awesome section of the website called “DROPS Christmas Workshop” which has a collection of all their most popular present patterns and ideas!
4) Busted Halo’s 2011 Advent Surprise Calendar: I found this a modern, interesting and moving advent calendar! “Each day, that day’s link in the Advent calendar will start working, leading to a special Advent-themed Daily Jolt, with an opportunity for reflection, a microChallenge and a chance to enter our contest. Some of the reflections come from unlikely sources, and the challenges help you to take an action, usually a small one, based on the reflection.”
5) BeliefNet’s Spiritual Advent Calendar: Each days brings links to better understanding the story of Christmas and how to celebrate it in a mindful way.
6) 24Ways Web Design Advent Calendar: “24 ways is the advent calendar for web geeks. Each day throughout December we publish a daily dose of web design and development goodness to bring you all a little Christmas cheer.”
7) BBC 3 Radio’s Bach Christmas Advent Calendar: Made in 2005 but still up featuring an amazing recording of a Bach piece every day to get you in the mood!
8) International Recipe Advent Calendar 2011: “Our calendar’s third edition presents the most delicious recipes from bloggers all over the world. During 24 days, you’ll be surprised by a daily new recipe just by clicking on the boxes below.”
9) Appvent Calendar: One free iPhone app or game a day??? Awesome!
10) The Big Picture’s Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar: Posting a picture a day of shots from the Hubble Space Telescope. Sometimes I think looking at space is like looking at God. A good way to prepare for the season!
Found any other awesome virtual Advent calendars? Link to them in the comments!
~MS the Younger
EDIT: I keep finding more!
- Chow’s DIY Holiday Gifts Advent Calendar. “Making your own food gifts for the holidays not only saves money but is a real expression of generosity. Every day we’ll reveal a new DIY food gift that you’ll still have time to make and will keep until the holidays. Check back every day for a new project!”
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