Australi-Aid has partnered with over 40 incredible artists to create a beautiful collection of postcards to support wildfire recovery. You can support the effort by purchasing some of the wonderful original artwork on their website.
They have selected two organizations in which to donate the funds; The Australian Red Cross and The Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors. Since September 2019, catastrophic bushfires have consumed more than 4 million hectares in Australia, claiming apx. 29 human lives and over 2000 homes. It is estimated that more than a billion animals have been lost. Major Australian cities are blanketed in smoke, choking under air quality up to 22 times the hazardous rating. These unprecedented fires are more than double the size of the California and Amazon fires combined – and they are still burning.
Chances are if you have ever visited Sweden you came home with at least one souvenir Dala wooden horse. When American street artist Shai Dahan moved to Sweden a few years ago to live and work, he decided that the Dala horse needed an update. Wherever he goes in Sweden, he tries to leave a small version of his take on the famous horse. But when he came to New York this past December, he used his Dala Project to leave a huge 50 foot-tall version of the Swedish steed on Broome Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
The Louisiana State University Special Collections Library has recently announced an exciting new acquisition. This is a rare copy of Hartmann Schedel’s The Nuremberg Chronicle, printed in 1493 in Germany, in the city that gives the work its name. This incunabula represents one of the most densely illustrated and technically advanced early print jobs.
The Nuremberg Chronicle ( Liber chronicarum in Latin) was put up for sale on December 7, 2019, during an auction offered by the house of Swann in New York, which focused more generally on maps, atlases and other natural history books. . The incunabula was estimated between $ 40,000 and $ 60,000.
The acquisition was made possible thanks to the support of the BH Breslauer foundation.
The book offers a history of the illustrated world of biblical genesis. The Chronicle is divided into eight ages taking up the major episodes of the religious book such as the flood, the birth of Abraham, the birth of Jesus Christ as well as the advent of the Antichrist to name a few.
Written in Latin by the humanist and collector Hartmann Schedel, it was then printed by Anton Koberger in 1493 in Nuremberg. The woodcut illustrations and maps were created in the workshop of Michael Wolgemut, who employed his son-in-law Albrecht Dürer. The original version was printed in 1500 copies. A German edition, translated by Georg Alt, was also published by him, proof of a desire to disseminate knowledge in the vernacular. To date, around 400 copies in Latin and 300 in German have survived, making it one of the best preserved incunabula.
The Nuremberg Chronicle is best known for its many illustrations. In total, there are 1809 engravings produced from 645 wooden blocks. They represent great biblical and historical figures such as kings, emperors, philosophers and scientists. But also, urban landscapes (Nuremberg, Venice or even Florence), biblical scenes, Gothic-type images on large double pages with legendary creatures. Without forgetting, the first printed map of Germany.
The digital marketing agency, lacuna 5, has teamed up with artsupplies.co.uk to create a series of vintage-style travel posters inspired by famous artists from around the world. Before designing the posters they posed the question: “what would travel posters look like if they were designed by a famous artist born in that place.” This concept provided the impetus for the designs, and resulted in a series of illustrations that takes viewers to a specific destination and time.
If you have ever been to Rome, you have probably noticed the proliferation of fountains dotted around the city. One of my favorites has always been a small fountain on a side street near the National Archives. The Fontana dei Libri was built in 1927 by the architect Pietro Lombardi, part of a large project of the municipality aimed at creating urban symbols that reminded of the ancient districts and the lost professions.
The Fontana dei Libri is characterized by an arched niche, and in the center you can see the head of a deer, a symbol of the Rione di Sant’Eustachio, with the water that flows from four points on the four books. Two nozzles come out from the upper books while two others from the bookmarks in the central part of the sculpture, symbols of knowledge that flows relentlessly from the size of the books.
The last time that I was in Rome the fountain was becoming quite grotty, but I was pleased to see that it has recently been restored and is looking as good as new.
The book fountain can be found in the neighborhood of Piazza Navona. From the square, walk eastwards in the direction of the Pantheon toVia degli Staderari.
Even if you have never visited Portland, Oregon, you probably have a notion of the inherent quirkiness of the Pacific Northwest city. The local tourism organization Travel Portland is capitalizing on Portland’s weirdness in it’s latest campaign.
The “Go Somewhere Different” initiative was developed by Strange Beasts productions and is a colorful animation and illustration rich riff on the city’s offbeat reputation. The centerpiece of the advertising campaign is a series of wacky short animations, which look at typical tourism topics.
A temporary holocaust monument titled Levenslicht (Lifelight) created by artist Daan Roosegaarde lights up Rotterdam with 104,000 luminescent memorial stones that represent the 104,000 Dutch holocaust victims of the Nazis during WWII. The monument, which recalls the Jewish custom of placing stones on gravestones to honor the deceased instead of flowers, comprises specially developed rocks with fluorescent pigments that can light up every few seconds by using invisible ultraviolet light. The memorial was inaugurated in Rotterdam on January 16, 2020, and will then travel from January 22 to February 2, 2020, to 170 municipalities in the Netherlands.
In these dark times it is not always easy to remember the messages of great teachers, but today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and reflect on his guidance and wisdom.
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