Greetings, Poetry Lovers! I'm waving from the land of fairies and fables today. I've been taking an online gel plate printing mixed media course with Tara Axford through Fibre Arts Take Two, a very dangerous destination for many of you fellow studio mess and magic makers - consider yourself warned. Anyway, the courses are amazing; FATT is based in Australia primarily, but instructors and students come from every corner of the globe.
I've dabbled in this form a bit before, but I've so enjoyed this very organized, challenging, and inspiring deep dive. The portion of the course with the instructor regularly popping into a private Facebook Live group is now past, but I'm still making my way through remaining modules. FATT course materials and their gorgeously executed videos are available to access for life.
Anyway, at one point we were experimenting with botanicals, which I enjoyed much more than I would have anticipated. Some of these prints especially surprise with an ethereal quality I'm hoping to master a bit more. On a morning walk with my dog at Furman last week - one of those crisp, bright days on the cusp of Spring - I pocketed some lovely vinca growing wild off of a trail in the woods. I made several prints with these in different configurations, and the one above seemed to suggest a fairy to me with the way the leaves presented themselves at the bottom.
So with some minor contributions from pen and ink and colored pencil, I went with it. ;0) I also found some fairy references in an antique children's magazine, which I copied on my home printer onto vellum paper, to keep the old look. I found a fairy-sized "poem" of sorts in a story and cut it out to complement the print. (The words are from "How Quercus Alba went to Explore the Underworld, and What Came of It," I believe by Jane Andrews. It was published in Our Young Folks - An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls, Ticknor and Fields, Boston, 1868.)
the fairies are working
painting flowers and
delicate things
I hope to continue working, making more images of "flowers and delicate things," as the Fey direct.
I'm also working on my annual contributions for Core Essentials Values, a national character education program. (Was that a soft deadline whooshing by? Shhhh....) A couple of years ago, soemthing new was added to my assignments, after a collaborative meeting when I tossed the idea - fables! For two years these have appeared in a book form, but for next year, they will be digital. I'm not exactly sure what that will look like, but I'm excited to see.
I always revisit classic fables and commentary when I sit down to conjure up my modern ones (featuring animals I've already chosen to represent each month's value). The ones I write are far less dark than traditional fables! Anyway, recently I came across these words below from International Collectors Library about their 1968 Aesop's Fables, Based on the Translation of George Fyler Townsend. I found these assertions quite timely.
In his perceptive introductory essay, Isaac Bashevis Singer writes: "Aesop's fables teach lessons both in life and literature that are valid today and will remain so forever. Thousands of years ago he pointed out that no change in system can do away with the aggressor, the liar, the flatterer, the intriguer, the exploiter, the parasite.... Aesop's fables mock all the illusions of the 'new man.' His lions, wolves, foxes, and hares will outlive all the social systems."
Sigh. Maybe so, but I'll still keep reaching for the light.
Our wonderful Janice is shining the light on the best of human nature over at Salt City Verse, where she's hosting the Roundup. Thank you, Janice!!