Monday Meanderings #1: And now for something completely different

Well, maybe not completely different, but different enough to be interesting… to me, and hopefully to you, my esteemed and valued readers. (This means you. Yes, really.)

Sometimes it seems like I’ve been meandering round t’interweb forever (since around 1997 actually, but in web terms that probably puts me on a par with Odysseus). And in that time I’ve discovered countless islands of adventure (lashings of ginger beer, anyone?) and followed many a mysterious path into lands unknown. The trick with the web, as will all good expotitions, is to forge ahead boldly and never be afraid to go off in a new direction should the grass look slightly more verdant over there.

Consequently, I seem to have built up a large network of secret trails, hidden blazes and cryptic signposts decipherable only by the elite priestesses of my inner temple. Which, unfortunately, doesn’t exist. (Total bummer, btw. I seriously want to be a Goddess. With thunderbolts for smiting.) Thus, I have been sharing this valuable navigational knowledge with no-one. No-one, I tell you! The tragedy of it!

No more. Henceforth, I intend to share this arcane lore with you, dear reader. (Thought I’d forgotten you, eh? Not likely.) Thus, the first in the series of Monday Meanderings: links and pointers around the web to sites, articles, and videos that are useful, entertaining, interesting or just plain fun on subjects like art, textiles, literature and folklore. I know you will use the knowledge for good not evil.

First up is an old favourite of mine: the Art Renewal Center site. From their home page:

You have just entered the largest on-line Museum on the internet. A work in progress, steadily expanding with thousands of high quality images of the greatest paintings and sculpture in history, the Art Renewal Center is building an encyclopedic collection of essays, biographies and articles by top scholars in the field.

ARC is the Eye of the Storm, at the core, hub and center of a major cultural shift in the art world. With a growing body of experts, we are setting standards to become ARC Approved™ for art schools, systems of training, museum exhibitions and historical scholarship, to bring guidance, direction, goals and reality to an art establishment that has been sailing rudderless for nearly a hundred years.

Whether or not you agree with their stand against modernism in art (and about what constitutes art in the first place), you can’t argue about their fantastic collection of images of beautiful realist and classical paintings. And if you’re a student of figurative drawing or painting, you’ll find much to inspire and learn from.

Next is a new discovery of mine; the site at least, not the individual behind it. Terri Windling‘s name has been familiar to me for several years as editor of one of my favourite anthologies, Snow White, Blood Red and in connection with Brian Froud on Good Faeries, Bad Faeries, another fabulous inspiration to me. But she’s not just an editor, but an author and artist in her own right:

Terri Windling is a writer, editor, and artist specializing in fantasy literature and mythic arts. She has published over forty books, winning nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and placing on the short list for the Tiptree Award.

I was chuffed this week to find her own website, Terri Windling’s Studio, with her blog, a gallery of her art, and lots of essays and writing about faery tale – on which she is an expert. Here’s just a sample:

This bowdlerization of fairy tales continued in the 20th century, epitomized by the simple cartoon versions created by Walt Disney. Alas, these simple versions of the tales are the only ones most readers know today—versions in which the complexity, sensuality, and horror have been carefully toned down, or stripped out altogether. Where once we had stories of active heroines making their own way through the dark of the woods, now we have girls who sit crying in the ashes, awaiting rescue by a rich Prince Charming. Where once Sleeping Beauty was impregnated by her prince, waking all alone at the birth of twins, now she’s awakened by a chaste kiss and the tale ends promptly with a wedding. (From the Fairy Tales for Adults page.)

There’s so much on her site to keep anyone fascinated by faerie engrossed for hours. Highly recommended!

Finally, a fun video, found via the fabulous Kirstin Butler of youdigest.com. Kirstin finds all sorts of great stuff on the web and passes it on through her fun and funky video blogs and her always entertaining Twitter stream – she’s @kirstinbutler. One of her links today was to this brilliant piece of animation: The Bayeux Tapestry, animated!

(We textile types will have to forgive her the comment that came with it: “Who knew medieval textiles could be so exciting?” Um, we did, Kirstin!)

The story starts around halfway along the embroidery with the appearance of Halley’s Comet. Watch out for the feasting!