EL W

2012-03-04T18:55:00.002-07:00

my library pick for this week was the fascinating documentary on henri langlois: 'phantom of the cinematheque'. so good!

'... for 40 years, henri langlois presided over the cinematheque francaise with absolute commitment & unwavering passion.beginning in 1936, langlois' beg, borrow & steal hustling preserved the priceless treasures of an artform then still too new to be recognized as such. through ad hoc screenings in paris apartments, hallways & stairwells, the young langlois shared his love for film art with the enthusiasm of an aesthetic epicure. under nazi occupation, langlois went underground rescuing & secretly screening banned films under the noses of the s.s. during the calcyon 60's langlois battled bureaucrats, championed auteurs, & ushered in a new golden age of cinema..."

2012-02-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

anyone out here in the northern prairies want to whip-up a few silk screen prints sans digital?

you're in luck! yours truly will be holding a two day handcut screen-print workshop at SNAP March 31st/1st.

we'll get our x-acto blades/rubylith out & go nuts!

2012-02-23T22:51:00.001-07:00

1923

i was so affected by the ending of this novel after reading it for my grade 9 book report that i never read it again. i've also never used the phrase "hung" instead of "hanged" in a paper again either. thanks mr nicholson!

2012-02-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

2012-02-16T10:53:00.001-07:00

the world reversed, kuhn 1830

2012-02-14T22:09:00.001-07:00

2012-02-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

norse edda from 1760: olafur brynjulfsson

2012-02-11T19:32:00.003-07:00

hoger czukay

is it so bad it's good? or is it so good it's bad?

all i know is that the 2:50 mark looks like a good time...

here's holger in his more familiar form of krautrock gold: can

2012-02-08T22:16:00.002-07:00

another favourite film by svankmajer: 'something from alice'

the animation is incredible (and truly creepy!)

2012-02-08T21:51:00.002-07:00

here's a page from"the hours of catherine of cleves"

here's avideo where you can learn more about the history of this amazing illuminated manuscipt.

2012-02-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

1744

the lip-sync in this is unnerving, but jane & this gainsbourg song are both so pretty...

2012-02-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

marcel duchamp's 1934 cover for the surrealist's journal 'minotaure'

2012-02-05T11:23:00.001-07:00

2012-02-05T10:56:00.001-07:00

2012-01-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

is it getting noticeable that there's been more film watching than hammering out objects this winter, yet?
forgive me. the days are staying lighter longer & good studio time is near approaching.

anyway, this movie is perfect simply for the amazing outfits throughout. those dresses! garbo in the craziest silver outfit at the 18 minute mark!
here she is vs. the real gal

2012-01-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

gabbo the ventriloquist

1929

2012-01-18T22:25:00.001-07:00

the east anglian film archives site is wonderful.

the crazy world, indeed! and he's still going strong...

2012-01-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

2012-01-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

2012-01-15T23:16:00.002-07:00

georges melies

2012-01-14T03:24:00.000-07:00

roman signer

2012-01-13T10:31:00.006-07:00

to lessen the channelling of my inner winter sloth, i've taken up pilates and living room dancing.

(headphones & 80's deutsch industrial. things are getting wierd).

2012-01-13T10:06:00.001-07:00

murnau's 'der letzte mann' (1924) beautifully restored.

2012-01-12T16:54:00.002-07:00

it just hit me-

david bowie is officially a senior citizen

2012-01-10T11:02:00.002-07:00

fully feeling the winter beatdown as of late.

perhaps i'll take a page from christine pizan's 'book of knighthood' (1460) and meet the beasty blues/creative drain face to face.

2012-01-01T13:03:00.004-07:00

this documentary on henri makes me hungry for the darkroom.

2012-01-01T12:03:00.002-07:00

2012 starts with bright sunshine, hot coffee, and soviet posters from 1918-22...

found here

2011-12-30T20:12:00.004-07:00

good-bye & so long to the triumphs & defeats of 2011

time for a new year

i love old calendars

2011-12-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

this one is for my childhood best buddy leah & her grey eyes

2011-12-20T17:48:00.001-07:00

the romance of alexander, by flemish artist jehan de grise 1338-1344.

stunning.

from the first eurythmics album(1981) & the only one that i really love...
must be because it was produced by this guy?

MICHAEL OF RHODES

2011-12-13T09:15:00.003-07:00

michael of rhodes, a venetian mariner in the 15th century, wrote and illustrated a text describing his experiences in the merchant and military fleets.

this site by the museo galileo has me spellbound. there is a translation of each page of the manuscript! love!

RING PILE

2011-12-10T15:04:00.003-07:00

filed

hand-cast out of cuttlefish bone

a molten drop of silver. a mistake immortalized

cross my palm with silver

2011-12-07T21:54:00.004-07:00

napoleon's veterans

quartermaster fabry, 1st hussars m. ducel, mameluke de la garde, 1813-15

his dog & horse, too

2011-12-06T20:24:00.005-07:00

another remedy for the cold- sweaty shirtless punks in the 80's.

2011-12-06T19:56:00.004-07:00

sol started to feel a little guilty...

2011-12-06T19:51:00.002-07:00

this site has great photographs.

stan's brows say it all...

THE ART OF RUSSIA

2011-12-04T19:33:00.002-07:00

yet another high five to bbc

click here for part II

2011-12-03T10:53:00.002-07:00

a little heat to counteract the snow.

i previously posted this clip last summer but it went awol. it's too good not to post again...

marlene dietrich in 'blonde venus' (1932)

2011-12-02T23:17:00.002-07:00

HISTORY OF MONSTERS

2011-12-02T21:33:00.009-07:00

one of my library picks this week: the combined charm of cocteau & 'beauty and the beast'.

(i love the beast)

and speaking of beasts...the woodcut illustrations within the 948 pages of Ulisse Aldrovandi's monstrorum historia(1642) are some of the wierdest out there...
browse a few random pages and you'll see what i mean!

DRAWING TIME

2011-11-28T23:48:00.011-07:00

cartographies of time
'the first comprehensive history of graphic representations of time in Europe and the United States from 1450 to the present'

(this one sums up the the wintery blackness for me these days...)

&
i love the colors in this drawing from the 1849 translation of friedrich strass's 'stream of time"

beautiful

CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON

2011-11-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

what will it be? water bombs? canon machines? land traps? you choose...

silkscreen prints 7.5"x11"

2011-11-14T21:20:00.002-07:00

it's been grindstone-time over here at el factory. this song came up on random & made me smile.

ol' bird-whistling al is always up for a good time...

BISON TIME

2011-11-12T19:17:00.005-07:00

it's almost bison time...

i will be personally manning 2x3 feet of my hand-screened whatnots.

i would love it if you came over to say hullo...

FAIRY TALES

2011-11-05T13:57:00.003-06:00

another good library find...

13 years in the making: a film by christine cegavske about "aristocratic white mice & the rustic creatures who dwell under the oak over the doll of their heart's desire"

blood tea & red string

2011-11-05T11:01:00.001-06:00

this time of year reminds me of berlin...

and wim wenders

2011-10-27T11:59:00.003-06:00

the noble duke for my 100th post.

PIGEON VISION

2011-10-27T10:54:00.003-06:00

dr. julius neubronner's patented pigeon camera c.1903

yes!!!

2011-10-23T10:57:00.001-06:00

and let's not forget werner's... kinski is perfect.

2011-10-23T10:20:00.004-06:00

SOPHIE

2011-10-21T21:34:00.005-06:00

sophie taeuber-arp (1889-1943)

imagine going back in time as a fly on the wall at the cabaret voltaire while sophie, her fellow jean arp & their various wierdo buddies threw their dada soirees.

zurich must have been really quite the place back then...

CUTTLEFISH CASTING

2011-10-21T18:16:00.005-06:00

trying my hand at cuttlefish casting. this method uses the bone of the cuttlefish (mollusc family) as a mold.

the side you carve is soft as chalk and has these beautiful thin layers.

i love it.

2011-10-14T21:47:00.002-06:00

inspiration: horse armour

2011-10-13T22:50:00.006-06:00

NOT SO TINY

2011-10-13T10:35:00.006-06:00

tiny tim
wow. would an fellow like this get a tv special today?
i wonder...

2011-10-11T22:37:00.006-06:00

mortimer

silkscreened print 4" x7"

REMARKABLE PERSONS

2011-10-11T22:02:00.003-06:00

portraits, memoirs, and characters

man on wire (2008)

WITCHES HAMMER

2011-10-11T21:35:00.008-06:00

hard to believe it's well into october already. to kickstart the current season of spook, let's take a look at the malleus maleficarum, otherwise known as the witches hammer.

this was the go-to book for witch-hunters throughout late medieval europe. it was written by heinrich kramer and jacob sprenger in 1486, and came hot off of gutenberg's press in 1487. (i wonder if ol' johannes had any regrets about this?) anyway, a classics prof of mine wrote a modern translation for anyone interested.( i had a bizarre crush on this guy- even with the khaki / white running shoe / mismatched tie combo)

1969 czech film by otakar vava

ATLAS OF EARLY PRINTING

2011-10-10T11:17:00.000-06:00

for anyone interested in 15th century bookmaking as much as i am,

this site will thrill!

2011-10-05T18:22:00.003-06:00

had a wonderful visit to san fran this summer...

it's like going back into the victorian era. (with overgrown succulents).

PUBLIC DOMAIN

2011-10-03T23:04:00.004-06:00

the pleasures are endless on this site-

i love love love it.

smoke fairies

medical aspects of death & the human mind

BEHOLD

2011-10-02T16:11:00.003-06:00

2011-09-26T10:54:00.003-06:00

a peek at a few new prints from my plague landscape

2011-09-21T09:19:00.006-06:00

PURCELL

2011-09-18T11:52:00.011-06:00

henry purcell (1659-1695)

he provided the tunes for this event:

and wrote this tune, as well.

(i wonder what his opinions on klaus would've been?)

MAN OF ARAN

2011-09-18T11:02:00.003-06:00

1934

ROKY

2011-09-14T08:45:00.003-06:00

from pool parties to black capes

ERICH

2011-09-14T08:41:00.002-06:00

eric fromm & wallace

PLANTERS

2011-09-12T10:44:00.001-06:00

some of my mini-pottery planters... i'm thinking air plants/ succulents for the rat pots. the globe is a hand-carved pinch pot. the bottom drainage is a perforated EL W.

ERHARD RATDOLT

2011-09-06T11:21:00.001-06:00

Innovative design in the 15th century from Peter van der lee on Vimeo.

erhard radolt
&
eric satie walks to work

LADISLAV

2011-09-03T09:42:00.002-06:00

czech building blocks c. 1943: ladislav sutnar

THE MAD MONK

2011-09-03T08:54:00.013-06:00

rasputin

this documentary is a little too over-dramatic for my liking- but most of the docs/films about him are kinda bad. oh well. he makes a good story

COMPASS ROSES

2011-08-31T10:33:00.001-06:00

compass roses

DON'T TREAD ON ME

2011-08-29T23:26:00.003-06:00

ben and rob

don't tread on me

this is what happens after hitting up the freemason/illuminate video section of the library...

2011-08-26T10:57:00.003-06:00

BEATUS APOCALYPSE

2011-08-26T10:26:00.000-06:00

apocalyse

2011-08-22T20:12:00.008-06:00

featuring the electronic musical invention of alberta's finest:

bruce haack
check him out!

AND HE WAS CALLED

2011-08-22T19:07:00.003-06:00

vlad

the impaler

at the bookfair in grade six i bought a book about vlad dracul for a dime. i'm sure this is where my love of woodcut prints was born.
the biography itself was a strong read for my innocence & i can still remember the exact moment when i flipped to the page that portrayed this woodcut.
yikes.

COWBOY IN SWEDEN

2011-08-19T21:54:00.004-06:00

i love lee & this album & the color & feel of the film... what a strangely awesome tv special this is! i suggest watching the whole thing from beginning to end

2011-08-18T10:54:00.003-06:00

CATHERINE THE GREAT

2011-08-16T12:23:00.000-06:00

2011-08-15T20:35:00.005-06:00

TOTENTANZ

2011-08-14T02:01:00.007-06:00

oldest book illustrations of the danse macabre/totentanz/ dance of death genre.

1455-1458 germany, with hierarchy of victims

the ladies in this have dance moves just like the skellies

2011-08-13T23:50:00.009-06:00

NEW ENGLAND PRIMER

2011-08-12T23:27:00.001-06:00

1764

2011-08-11T10:12:00.000-06:00

RUSSIAN ARK

2011-08-09T10:05:00.002-06:00

this film left me feeling like i was drifting in another dreamy dimension: the speed of it, the costumes, the art, and filmed in a single take! set at the russian state hermitage building in st.petersburg, which was founded by catherine the great* in 1764 to house her personal collection.

I can't get enough of historical dramas...

OVERKILL

2011-08-07T13:49:00.006-06:00

DISCARNATE BEINGS

2011-08-04T00:03:00.006-06:00

this is a great site on the centennial of marshall mcluhan

DELIA

2011-08-03T22:37:00.008-06:00

delia derbyshire

*note* an evening spent inwardly cussing my way through the mucks of wobbly messes on a potters wheel can be nicely balanced out by pioneer babes of electronic excellence.
thank-you delia! dr.who wouldn't be the same without you...

SHOT BY BOTH SIDES

2011-08-02T11:14:00.001-06:00

VERSUS

2011-07-30T17:59:00.006-06:00

fassbinder vs fassbinder.

(the scene from lola twists the heart lobes)

GOODBYE FREUD

2011-07-30T16:04:00.002-06:00

THE DOGS DO BARK

2011-07-28T16:08:00.002-06:00

1914

BOOK PLATES

2011-07-28T14:19:00.002-06:00

i love book plates... (and louise brooks)

GEOMANTIE

2011-07-26T10:15:00.000-06:00

astrological/astronomical treatise, religious almanac and prediction calendar. 1490s

DEADLINES

2011-07-26T00:16:00.003-06:00

this scene fits with something that i have in mind for screening pt deux

(deadlines approaching...)

2011-07-24T11:19:00.000-06:00

DANGER ZONE

2011-07-24T10:42:00.009-06:00

BRABANT

2011-07-23T09:40:00.000-06:00

from the 14th century chronicles of brabant