stained glass

c13th & c14th stained glass

windows - aren't they gorgeous? I like the mix of light & dark. shapes & detail & the awkwardness of the poses. They're like giant jigsaws.

Birthrites exhibition

Current exhibition at Manchester Museum 'Birthrites' has some interesting work by 5 contemporary artists on the theme of Childbirth (collaborations between artists & childbirth practitioners).

www.birthrites,org.uk/ & www.manchester.ac.uk/museum

Artists Hermione Wiltshire, Jaygo Bloom, Andy Lawrence.

Sketches & oil paintings by Suzanne Holborn - after observing & filming assisted vaginal & caesarian deliveries, foetal screening & counselling sessions for women with abnormal pregnancies. Painting 'Contact' has "out of control, dripping & lactating" paint in contrast with the hard-edged technology surrounding a mother & newborn. 'Adebar' connects caesareans to mythology, where a stork has a dark side, the bringer-of-the-wound. 'Room 7 2+4' has a woman on a bed being peered at by midwives, illustrating the bed as a barrier.

Ceramics by artist Ping Qiu. 'Ur-form' is a family grouping of ceramic vessels made during residency at Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester. "These works resonate with archaic imagery of fertility goddeses" (from accompanying leaflet).

Fascinating stuff.

Grave of the Fireflies

The Grave of the Fireflies DVD (Japanese film by Isao Takahata, 1988, available in library) has some amazing animation. Character animator Yoshifumi Kondo. Adapted from a Japanese best-seller story about survival after 2nd ww bombing of Japan. It features 2 children, Seita (14 years) & his sister, Setsuko (4 years old).

The DVD has a wonderful storyboard where the pencil sketches have been animated, and the way the girl moves (like a firefly) with just a few lines is very touching. 

Practitioners

www.mikkorantanen.com

This is so surreal and funny.

(from illus-tra-shun blog)

Luba Lukova

Luba Lukova
Times mag. Sept. 08

Health & Fitness section 'The Heart of a Woman' about heart disease

I like the way this Bulgarian-born illustrator can put an idea into a nutshell and use shape, line & colour in a striking & accessible way. She now works and lives in New York. She is influenced by polish poster designers, Picasso, Kathe Kollwitz...