Words of the Month - The Quick and the Dead

         Traditionally Hallowe’en may be a time when the quick and the dead may come into contact, but nowadays that phrase sounds like a reference to the folklore that zombies are slow!    What does it really mean?  Quick comes from Old English, where it meant “living, alive.”  The meaning of speed (compare with the notion of life in our current usage of lively) was in use by about 1300, and has now completely superseded the original meaning.  Other than encountering the archaic meaning in archaic English, such as the King James translation of the Bible, there are only a few places we still see remnants of this old definition.

cut to the quick - to injure someone deeply (usually figuratively - and old-fashioned)

quick - the tender part under your fingernails, especially if you chew your nails down to the quick.

quicksand - sand that can move and swallow objects as if it were alive

quicksilver - metallic mercury, which is fluid at room temperature.  Archaic in scientific use, but still encountered in its metaphorical sense to describe things that are shifting, changeable, and hard to predict.

        The word dead also goes back to Old English, but has kept its meaning ever since.  However, it does occur in a few words and phrases that might surprise you.

dead-center - Why is the exact middle of something dead?  This comes from lathes and other rotating machinery in which the center point is unmoving and still, as if dead.

deadbolt - a kind of lock that uses a solid bolt, rather than one with a spring.  You can see again the sense that movement is “living” while anything that doesn’t move by itself is “dead.”  (1808)

deadlock - although it was used in 1808 as a synonym of deadbolt, the sense of “complete standstill, stalemate” came first, from about 1779.

deadpan - a method of delivering humor without expression, the dead here is once again the sense of “stillness or lack of vivacity,” while the pan is slang for “face.”  It comes from the USA in the early 20th century.

deadline - although the definition “time limit” dates to 1920 in newspaper jargon, it may have been influenced by an earlier quite literal usage from about 1865: a line inside the perimeter of a Confederate prison, at which any prisoner who touched the line was to be shot dead.

undead - this originally meant “not dead,” as its elements would imply.  Not until the very end of the nineteenth century did it come to be applied to vampires and such that are not exactly dead, but not exactly alive either.

        And just for a bonus, two words from the Old French/Latin root for “dead”…

mortgage - literally “dead pledge,” because the contract “dies” when the debt is paid in full, or when the payments can no longer be made.

amortize - literally “to make dead,” again because of the idea of reaching a permanent end to a contract or ownership.

        All these words certainly remind us, just as Hallowe’en itself might do, that “in the midst of life we are in death.”

[Pictures: Adam tills the earth, woodcut by Hans Holbein, 16th century (Image from Wikimedia Commons);

Der Kandelgiesser, woodcut by Jost Amman, 1568 (Image from Yale University Library).]

Spooky Night

         Here’s a wonderfully atmospheric wood block print suitable for Hallowe’en season.   Technically there’s nothing about this scene that puts it on October 31, and indeed the full leafiness on the trees would imply that it’s actually earlier in the year.  However, the scene still evokes the spooky season perfectly.  There are low buildings against the background, but this house is isolated.  A streak of pale light across the white flowers and lawn implies a full moon, but the sky is streaked with rushing clouds.  The wind tosses the grass and trees with vigorous movement across the scene.  The lights glow in the dark house, and the shadow of a mysterious figure is silhouetted in the doorway.  This is a scene set for eerie, mysterious tales.

        Made in 1926 by Howard Cook (USA, 1901-1980), this woodcut takes full advantage of the characteristics of the medium.  He leaves plenty of black against which his carved lines provide texture and drama, and he allows the faint woodgrain to add to the movement.  It’s quite simple, without a lot of detail, but still masterfully composed and carved.

        I’ve featured work by Cook a few times before, and you can check out these previous posts:

Block Printmaker Cook

Howard Cook’s NYC

Latham and Cook

        Meanwhile, there’s still one week until Hallowe’en.  Time to carve your jack-o-lantern!

[Picture: Wind in the Elms, woodcut by Howard Cook, 1926 (Image from Smithsonian American Art Museum).]

Autumn Magic

         The autumn color has really started to pop around here in the past week, and it never fails to delight me.  Why should humans be so entranced by this natural change?  Why do we find these reds and yellows so endlessly magical?  There can be no logical explanation, so it’s clear evidence of our human capacity to enjoy beauty simply for its resonance with the soul!

        In keeping with my being too busy for long analysis, here’s a gorgeous color linoleum block print by Angie Coleman.  The photo is basically full size on my computer screen, and I love that you can really see the thickness and texture of the layered ink.  It looks quite simple, but that’s deceptive: it has at least nine colors, and their skillful arrangement evokes the dappled mix of autumn leaves.

        Happy Fall!

[Picture: Aspen Ridge, linocut by Angie Coleman (Image from The New Leaf Gallery).]

Working

         I’m afraid I’ve been too busy to write blog posts, so here’s an amazing wood block print of people working even harder than I am.  Or at least some of them are, although a few of them seem to be standing around aimlessly!  This is by Leopoldo Méndez (Mexico, 1902-1969).  I love the way the top edge of the wall forms a series of panels so that we can see almost cubist views of different perspectives on the work.  It could even be a sort of graphic novel series.  The long, tall format is also unusual.

        So here’s the work I’m up to in the next couple of months, having already kicked off my autumn art season with a show a week ago:

• This weekend, Oct. 19-20 - Roslindale Open Studios.  Always one of my biggest shows!  I’ll be at The Substation, and you can find details about where to find me and the 100+ other artists at ROS.  (Info here.)

• Wednesdays through Oct. 30 - teaching block printmaking through Needham Community Education.

• Nov. 8 - teaching a block printmaking workshop with Wellesley Council on Aging (I think the November flier isn't out yet, but it will be here.)

• Nov. 9 - Needham Open Studios Fall Pop-Up.  First Parish Hall in Needham, 10:00-4:30.  A sampling of Needham Open Studios artists in one location for your convenience and delight.  (Info here.)

• Nov. 22-24 - Philcon Sci Fi/Fantasy Convention.  I’ll be doing my usual con thing: an exhibit in the art show, participating on panels about writing, giving a reading, and even having a book signing!  (Info here.)

• Dec. 7 - Arts Wayland Holiday Sale.  Wayland High School Commons (Info here.)

• Dec. 8 - Newton Holiday Craft Fair.  Newton South High School (Info here.)

• Dec. 14 - Strong Women-Strange Worlds Year-End Holiday Extravaganza.  Free, on-line, available to anyone in the world via Zoom.  Bookish fun for all!  (Details aren’t posted yet, but watch this space.)

        So with all that, I’ve been busy busy busy with matting, framing, designing new blocks to carve, and prepping for classes, finalizing my new book to be shipped out for Kickstarter, plus the usual round of submissions (but not much writing for the past few weeks), and of course all the work for all the other Activities in my life…  So there may not be a lot of spare bandwidth to dedicate to this poor blog for a bit.  But I hope to continue to share the occasional wonderful block prints to keep you satisfied -- and stay tuned for some more cool news before too long!

[Picture: The Workers, wood block print by Leopoldo Méndez, 1932 (Image from The Loeb Museum at Vassar);

Little views of my rubber block prints A Tree Made of Night, Autumn Fairy (Oaky Nutkin), and Penguin of Peace, by AEGNydam.]

Views of Space

         It’s been only recently in the span of history that humans have actually known what things look like in space - but we’ve been trying to imagine since the dawn of humanity.  Here is a little collection in which artists have depicted space in various interesting ways.

        In 1936 Clara MacGowan (USA, 1895-1983) made this relief block print of “Spacial Orbits.”  This one gives me a “music of the spheres” feeling, with its swooping, twirling planets and stars dancing together.  The carving is very simple, with bold shapes and lines, which gives it a look of

child-like joy.

        The second illustration, by W.B. MacDougall in 1896, is probably not a relief print, but it could easily be, with its white lines on black background.  This one illustrates Night, and while it shows the night sky as seen from Earth in a fairly straightforward way, the waving, gliding figures below the stars offer a sense of magic and mystery.  Since I can’t read the whole poem that this illustrates, I don’t know whether these glowing figures are people, or personified stars, or what, but I like the way they, too, like MacGowan’s orbits, seem to circle through the heavens in a celestial dance.

        I give you this third view of space because it was intended to be scientific, and yet ends up seeming strange and magical.  The assumption that the clouds of Earth’s sky would extend through the entirety of space is something that we now know to be false, but was not an unreasonable assumption in 1898, when this wood engraving was made to illustrate a geography textbook.  To me now, looking at Earth floating among all those puffy clouds makes it seem like some sort of magical miniature, as if you could almost reach out and pick it up.  I do like the sense of light and airiness the engraver has captured.

        Finally, here’s a piece by Werner Drewes (Germany/USA, 1899-1985) that’s gone in another direction, quite abstract.  Entitled “Looking Into Space,” it’s so abstract that I don’t know exactly where the viewer is supposed to be, or exactly what this view is.  However, I like to imagine it as the view if you opened the door and looked out on an alien planet, with a bare landscape, and strange huge moons in the sky.  What do you think?

        By the way, for more (non-fantasy) block prints of celestial phenomena, check out these past posts:

Observing the Moon

From the Stars

New Horizons

[Pictures: Spacial Orbits, relief print by Clara MacGowan, 1936 (Image from Art Institute Chicago);

The night that changes not, illustration by W.B. MacDougall from Songs of Love and Death by Margaret Armour, 1896 (Image from British Library Flickr);

The Earth in Space, wood engraving from Chambers’s Alternative Geography Readers, 1898 (Image from British Library Flickr);

Looking Into Space, wood block print by Werner Drewes, 1934 (Image from Drewes Fine Art).]