Marly Youmans's Blog, page 163

Readings for the 12 Days of Christmas: Makoto Fujimura

The 24th ended 12 Readings for Advent. The 25th began Readings for the 12 Days of Christmas. Each of these series deal with artists and writers I know--mostly in person, but occasionally via correspondence. Today's artist-and-also-writer is Makoto Fujimura; this and other lovely, thoughtful essays by him may be found at http://www.makotofujimura.com/.Makoto Fujimura is a fascinating person whose

Readings for the 12 Days of Christmas: Graham Ward

Merry Christmas, one and all--light and birth to you in winter.As it is no doubt a day of much-to-do for most people, I am simply giving two links to the world of marvelous Graham Ward. The image is his electronic Christmas card, which I have pilfered from my email to pay him homage.I met Graham through painter Clive Hicks-Jenkins, and we're planning a collaboration in the new year. His paintings

12 Readings in Advent: The Wet Nurse's Tale

Erica Eisdorfer, born in Durham, North Carolina, was the first of the three children born to her parents, who had moved down south from the great city of New York and lived for some years in culture shock. The family rented a wonderful house edged by forest and she and her two younger brothers spent a great deal of time playing in the trees where she, due to her birth order and general bossiness,

12 Readings in Advent: Mountshang

Detail of a Moses by Phillippe de Champaigne (1602-1674) "It's the high-level of orderliness that is so distinctive -- reaching down into the structures of appearance (light over skin over flesh over bone)and composing them into sweet, poignant chamber music --- that is so fine in the detail and so grand in overall effect. Can you really see this Moses leading an illiterate rabble of fleeing

An Eye for Snow

The next 12 Readings in Advent will be up this afternoon. In the meantime, go see the wonderful snowflake photographs taken by Kenneth Libbrecht of CalTech. Found via poet and novelist Jeanne Larsen on facebook.http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/d...

12 Readings in Advent:: New galleys, no. 2: three short readings

Illustration credit: I would like to thank sxc.hu and Mario Alberto Magallanes Trejo of Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico for the use of the photograph, shot using car headlights and the spray from a garden hose at night!* * *Last night I drove with my elder son to see a wrestling meet at Mount Markham. My third child started wrestling last year and is a bit of a nut about it--he is altogether sports

12 Readings in Advent: New galleys, no. 1

The snowy garden photograph was taken by friend and penpal Clive Hicks-Jenkins. I hope he will forgive me for snitching it from his lovely artlog!http://clivehicksjenkins.wordpress.co... spent quite enough time this morning as a laundrywoman and ferrywoman, I am looking at the galleys for The Throne of Psyche, forthcoming from Mercer University Press in March. Marc

12 Readings in Advent: Carrie Jerrell

Yesterday I received a new book, After the Revival, and today's reading is from its seductive pages. The poem here is simply plucked from my last-read page, but I like many elements of it: the black womb of the earth that produces not white vernix but black; the search for coal-fire songs; the pitchy night that is pitch-high and pitch-dark and pitch-of-song; the unclean mortal hands that may yet

12 Readings in Advent: Yolanda Sharpe

Broad StrokeYesterday afternoon I went to the Mullen Gallery at SUNY-Oneonta to see several of Makoto Fujimura's Nihongan paintings and enjoyed the "Shadow" group show, of which they were a part. I went with Yolanda Sharpe, whose "Urban Fragments" one-woman show preceded "Shadow." Yolanda is one of those people who is interested in a number of art forms; she is a wonderful soprano, and she often

12 Readings in Advent: Jeanne Larsen

More light in the darkness of the year . . .I have returned after a trip to Bard-and-back with much dirty college laundry (and a child, a precious child) and a middle school concert and a staying-up-late-and-getting-up-early time to help with test-studying for the youngest, whose study hours were eaten up by said concert plus wrestling. So today I feel like an old-fasioned zombie: not those new,