Suzi Light

writing from William Gibson’s Distrust That Particular Flavor
photo by me

The story of film begins around a fire, in darkness. Gathered around this fire are primates of a certain species, our ancestors, an animal distinguished by a peculiar ability to recognize patterns.
There is movement in the fire; embers glow and crawl on charcoal. Fire looks like nothing else. It generates light in darkness. It moves. It is alive.
The surrounding forest is dark. Is it the same forest our ancestors know by day? They can’t be sure. At night it is another place. Without form, it is that on which our ancestors project the patterns their interestingly mutated brains generate.
This pattern-reading mutation is crucial to the survival of a species that must ceaselessly hunt, ceaselessly gather. One plant is good to eat; it grows in summer in these lowlands. But if you eat its seedpods, you sicken and die. The big, slow-moving river-animal can be surprised and killed, here in these shallows, but will escape in deeper water.
This function is already so central, in our ancestors, that they discover the outlines of river animal in clouds. They see the faces of wolves and of their own dead in the flames. They are already capable of symbolic thought. Spoken language is long since a fact for them but written language has not yet evolved. They scribe crisscross patterns on approximately rectangular bits of ocher, currently the world’s oldest known human art.
They crouch, watching the fire, watching its constant, unpredictable moments, and someone is telling a story. In the watching of the fire and this telling of the tale lie the beginning of what we still call “film”. ——

I don’t usually post a wall of text on my blog but, Gibson’s writing is simply beautiful. Staring into a fire is our connection to the quiet voices of our past and instincts beyond making smores. — me

May 14th

campfire William Gibson ancestors art storytelling generations writing bushcraft

May 14th

art quilt modern pattern love this

sfmoma:

artpadsf:

Night at ArtPadSF 2012, courtesy of Orange Photography.

ArtPadSF is pleased to offer our social media followers tickets for 50% off door prices here with the ARTPADSFFRIENDS discount code.

Discount alert!

YAY! I have my tickets. Thanks for the discount ArtPad!

May 13th

art San Francisco ArtPadSF art show The Phoenix Hotel

thevintagethimble:

EnsembleFourth quarter 19th century. Romanian. Cotton, wool, silk & metal.
Romanian folk costume has remained relatively unchanged and continues to be worn for festival occasions. The basic model for women consists of an embroidered blouse and skirt, belt, head scarf, and often a vest or jacket. As in many cultures, embroidery is placed at “vulnerable” areas of the body: the neck, cuffs, and hem, but also at the shoulders and sleeves as a symbol of strength. This example of a full festival costume is striking in the variation of blue tones and abundant embroidery. The coordination of the various components is symbolic of the pride and care given to folk traditions in Romanian culture. | THE MET

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thevintagethimble:

Ensemble
Fourth quarter 19th century. Romanian. Cotton, wool, silk & metal.

Romanian folk costume has remained relatively unchanged and continues to be worn for festival occasions. The basic model for women consists of an embroidered blouse and skirt, belt, head scarf, and often a vest or jacket. As in many cultures, embroidery is placed at “vulnerable” areas of the body: the neck, cuffs, and hem, but also at the shoulders and sleeves as a symbol of strength. This example of a full festival costume is striking in the variation of blue tones and abundant embroidery. The coordination of the various components is symbolic of the pride and care given to folk traditions in Romanian culture. | THE MET

May 12th

folk fashion Romanian 19th century embroidery art costume traditional

inkandalchemy:

Kimberly Naumann.

http://www.kimberlynaumann.com/

(via stonefreedreamer)

May 9th

painting art flowers Kimberly Naumann color

(Source: ofhisbonesarecoralmade, via restarttheuniverse)

May 8th

art horned man mystic

sfmoma:

art21:

“Generally, we use light—we don’t really pay much attention to light itself. That’s my interest: this fascination with light and how we come to light.” —James Turrell
Happy birthday today (May 6) to artist James Turrell.
Seen here is the The Light Inside (1999), commissioned by and installed at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The Light Inside is installed in the underground tunnel that links the museum’s Caroline Wiess Law Building with the Audrey Jones Beck Building.
This scene is featured in the Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 1 episode, Spirituality (2001).
WATCH James Turrell in Spirituality: Preview | Full Segment [available in the U.S. only]
IMAGES: Production stills from the Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 1 episode, Spirituality, 2001. © Art21, Inc. 2001.

Beautiful GIFs and terrific artist quote. Thx for sharing, Art21! Happy birthday to James Turrell.

The tunnel at the MFA in Houston is one of my favorite places. Happy Birthday James Turrell.

Zoom Info

sfmoma:

art21:

“Generally, we use light—we don’t really pay much attention to light itself. That’s my interest: this fascination with light and how we come to light.”
—James Turrell

Happy birthday today (May 6) to artist James Turrell.

Seen here is the The Light Inside (1999), commissioned by and installed at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The Light Inside is installed in the underground tunnel that links the museum’s Caroline Wiess Law Building with the Audrey Jones Beck Building.

This scene is featured in the Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 1 episode, Spirituality (2001).

WATCH James Turrell in Spirituality: Preview | Full Segment [available in the U.S. only]

IMAGES: Production stills from the Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 1 episode, Spirituality, 2001. © Art21, Inc. 2001.

Beautiful GIFs and terrific artist quote. Thx for sharing, Art21! Happy birthday to James Turrell.