Author Archives: Brian D. Butler

National Parks

I am a huge fan of national parks. In my travels I have been fortunate to visit quite a few. While some of my favorites are here in North America, I have spent time in some spectacular parks as far … Continue reading

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Stretching Your Imagination

Felix Semper ‘s sculptures are made entirely of paper . He spends months creating such a work of art. Semper uses thousands of loose sheets for every sculpture. When he lost his company and went bankrupt in 2008, he decided … Continue reading

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Taking Flight

One of the immense pleasures that the city of Philadelphia offers is its myriad of murals. Along with a prolific cadre of street artists, Philly is also home to the amazing Philadelphia Mural Arts Program which sponsors fantastic paintings all … Continue reading

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For the sake of a single poem, you must see many cities

Rainer Maria Rilke // “Ah, poems amount to so little when you write them too early in your life. You ought to wait and gather sense and sweetness for a whole lifetime, and a long one if possible, and then, … Continue reading

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Touched by the Devil

I have long been fascinated by the astounding paintings of the Dutch master of the grotesque Hieronymus Bosch. The documentary (below) Hieronymus Bosch: Touched by the Devil takes a deep dive into his phantasmagorical paintings and his life. In 2016, the … Continue reading

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Sandwich of Horror

NB: If the H.P. Lovecraft video fails to launch please click here .  

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It’s Decorative Gourd Season

Here in North America folks tend to go a bit overboard with seasonal decorations. An important mainstay is the carved pumpkin. In the video below, professional pumpkin carver, James Hall, runs through 13 different levels of pumpkin carving, from the … Continue reading

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Halloween Horror

 

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It’s Edgar Allan Poe Season

There are many excellent illustrated volumes of Edgar Allan Poe stories, but this  1944 edition with illustrations by German-American artist Fritz Eichenberg is special. Eichenberg was a German artist who emigrated to America in the 1930s; his speciality was wood … Continue reading

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Americas’ Oldest Surviving Book

For the first time in more than 50 years Los Angeles’s J. Paul Getty Museum is displaying ten of the remaining pages from Códice Maya de México, the oldest surviving book of the Americas. Dating to circa 1100 CE, the Mayan Codex … Continue reading

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