Keeping Cool

         It’s time for some seasonal block prints, and this time I’m sharing some pieces in which artists have tried to capture the summer joy of trying to stay cool.  Spanning different eras and places, some things are very different, while other things are universal.

        Going chronologically, I’ll start with a wood block print from about 1715 in Japan.  People lounge about on a boat and by the water, no doubt hoping for a cooling breeze.  One woman holds a fan.  The man on top of the boat has bared some skin, but most of the other people look awfully bundled up.  The sunset colors, which are painted onto the single-block print, make the whole scene look quite oppressively sultry, and even the tree looks wilted.  The people on

the boat don’t look very happy.  All of which makes me not particularly enjoy this piece, but it’s interesting to see something 300 hundred years old, and yet other than the heavy formal clothing, it could be today.

        Jumping to 1897, we still have a woman wearing layers of petticoats, long sleeves, and long gloves at the height of summer.  No wonder she’s enjoying her iced drink in the shade.  This print involves three blocks with three colors, but all of the colors are somewhat pale and dull, perhaps emphasizing the heat, and once again suggesting late afternoon.  This woman is certainly fashionable, with the better part of two whole dead birds on her hat, and the composition of the piece puts us in the position of someone joining her at her small table in the park.  I especially like the spare but effective lines delineating the fabric of her dress, and the clouds in the sky.

        Not until 1967 do we see people taking off all the extra layers of fashionable clothing.  Now they’re all in bathing suits on the shore of Lake Michigan.  Sailboats are offshore, some people are swimming while others play ball, or simply sunbathe.  The rough style doesn’t give nearly as much detail to the fashions, but I can definitely see a 60’s vibe in the styles of the bikinis!  Nevertheless, this is a summer scene we can certainly recognize as modern.

        This last piece, from the 21st century, is the first one that really looks cool, with its fountains of blue water.  Instead of the lassitude of sweltering heat, this woman is full of energy - that water may actually be cold!  I love her exuberant pose, hands up, braids flying, as she leaps among the sprays of water.  Truth be told, it has to be very hot indeed before I actually want to get into cold water - that second woman with her drink in the park is more likely to be my summer strategy of choice - but this final block print absolutely looks like the most fun.

        Enjoy some other scenes of summer at prior posts Summer Days, Summer Nights, and When the Living is Easy.

         What’s your favorite way to keep cool when the temperature soars?

[Pictures: Cooling Off on a Summer Evening, hand-colored woodblock print by Okumura Masanobu, c. 1715 (Image from Art Institute Chicago);

Paris Almanac: Summer, wood engraving by Auguste Louis Lepère, 1897 (Image from The Cleveland Museum of Art);

Chicago Riviera, woodcut by Bronislaw M. Bak, 1967 (Image from Art Institute of Chicago);

Seasonal illustration by Kari Percival (Image from karipercival.com).]

What's Up - July-August Edition

         It’s another of those posts where I tell you what I’m up to and how to get involved.  This weekend I’ll be at Readercon, “the Conference on Imaginative Literature.”  Readercon doesn’t have an art show, but I’ll be doing my other usual con activities: readings, panels, and taking shifts in the dealers room at the Broad Universe table.  I’ll be participating on the following panels:

• The Purposes of Memorable Insults in Sci-Fi and Fantasy (My interest in this topic is primarily one of world-building, and secondarily character-building.  Thirdly, of course, snappy insults can simply be fun!  See my post Of Vandals and Villains for some examples of how insults reveal culture in the history of English, and Not Quite There for some insults that amuse me.)

• How to Fight a Fairy Tale: Retellings (Regarding which, see my recent post Fairy Tale Retellings, plus Fantasy Picture Books of Note which includes a few more fairy tale retellings, and also Happy Birthday, Fairy Tales! on the basics, Some Favorite Fairy Tales which discusses the elements I love in these stories, The Beast which looks at the varied visual interpretations of that character, and Baba Yaga Village for my own visual “retelling” of a fairy tale.)

• Cartography and the Imagination (I’ve been on similar panels at other conventions in the past and I always love this stuff!  You can see all my previous posts tagged for maps here, but especially Mapping the Fantastic for how I organize my thoughts on the use of maps in spec fic, and Cartography for my overview of the topic.)

        The other thing that’s up is quite literal: my solo show “Poems and Prints” is now up at Gorse Mill Gallery in Needham.  Roughly 30 of my relief block prints are paired with the poems they illustrate — in some cases famous poems by the likes of Shakespeare, Poe, de la Mare, and nursery rhymes, and in other cases my own poems.  Given that poetry is so rich in powerful imagery, it’s not surprising that art and poetry should have such a close relationship, and given my own love of poetry, it’s only natural that I should be influenced and inspired by it when thinking of ideas for block prints.  I have done shows before with the theme of “stories,” but this is the first time I’ve focussed explicitly on poetry, and the first time I’ve actually paired the source literature with each piece.

        When I’ve done solo shows in the past I’ve very seldom held a reception because an introvert like me can’t believe that many people would actually come, and what’s the point anyway if you don’t particularly relish small-talk chit-chat?  However, for this exhibit I’m determined to push myself and I’m actually offering three (count them, 3) special events.  If you’re local, please consider yourself cordially invited to any or all of the following:

    August 3 at 4:00 - Reception

    August 14 at 3:30 - Poetry Workshop

    August 26 at 3:30 - Printmaking Demo and Workshop

        I’m really hoping to reach some new folks with this show, and share the joys of block printing and poetry: two great tastes that taste great together.

[Pictures: Views of “Poems and Prints” on display at Gorse Mill Gallery, photos by AEGNydam, 2025;

Poster for the show, including Nevermore, rubber block print by AEGNydam (Image at NydamPrints.com).]

City Scenes by Troy

         Today’s block prints are by Adrian Troy (UK/USA, 1901-1977).  I could find little biography for him, other than that he was born in England, went to high school in France, made prints for the WPA in the US, and taught wood engraving in Chicago.  Of course I’d like to know a little more about him, but as usual in these cases, I just have to look at the art on its own.  This first piece is the one that got me interested in Troy, and it’s my favorite that I’ve found.  I love the interesting perspective, as if perhaps we’re in an upper story of the building across the street.  I love the slightly wobbly lines of the architecture, making the whole thing quirky and whimsical.  There are also all kinds of hints at untold stories here: the building is quite fancy with a pediment and a name, and handsome architectural details around the windows, but it has a “For Rent” sign as if perhaps it’s come down in the world.  The two people calling back and forth to each other from the street to the third floor must have something going on between them.  The shadow across the front of the building and in the alley by the fire hydrant hint of further atmosphere.

        Next is a busy scene of a produce market.  There are men with trucks and barrows, women and children, a garage and gas pump, warehouses and crates, trash cans and a trolley car…  There’s some interesting stuff going on with the view, like the juxtaposition of different perspectives as if this is more of a montage of scenes than a single view.  There’s also a sort of cutaway on the Garage roof, so that we can see the trucks parked inside.  This simultaneously seems like a very real and specific place (“South State St. Market” at the corner of S. State St. and 69th St.), while also being an impressionistic version of it.

        The final piece shows bricklayers at work for a WPA project, and it comes from a series on road-building.  I don’t quite like how very blank the men’s faces are, but I love everything else, from the balance of black-white-and-texture, to the details of the manhole cover and the tools, to the positions and jackets of the workers.  I also really love the mini silhouette view and carved title at the bottom.

        All of these scenes have such specificity that they must be real places.  The info given with the scene of the market does say it’s in Chicago, so my assumption is that the others are, as well.

        For some additional related block print viewing pleasure, if you want an overview of the WPA program, read my post WPA Printmaking.  If you like the busy cityscape of the second piece, check out Christopher Hutsul’s Cityscapes.  If you want to see a couple different examples of block prints that play with perspective to combine more views into a single scene, try Leopoldo Méndez at Working, and Gwenda Morgan at Morgan’s World.

[Pictures: 4117 Wentworth Avenue, woodcut by Adrian Troy, 1935/42 (Image from Art Institute Chicago);

The Produce Market/South State Street Market, woodcut by Troy, 1935/40 (Image from Art Institute Chicago);

Brick-Laying, woodcut by Adrian Troy, 1935/37 (Image from Art Institute Chicago).]

Fairy Tale Retellings

         I’m scheduled to be on a panel about fairy tale retellings at the Readercon Conference on Imaginative Literature later this month, plus I’ve been hard at work on my own collection of fairy tale and mythology-inspired stories, poems, and art, so I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently.  Perhaps the first thing to get straight is that I’m thinking about “retellings” quite broadly.  We can start, however, with retellings that stick pretty closely to the source tale while simply adding more detail.  One of the all-time greats in that category is Robin McKinley’s Beauty, based on Beauty and the Beast.  Thorn by Instisar Khanani is a retelling of The Goose Girl that also falls into this category.  It can be hard to do a very straightforward retelling well, in part because it’s boring if it doesn’t feel like anything new is added, and in part because fairy tales often don’t quite make sense without adding in sizeable chunks of new plot and character to explain why things happen the way they do.

        Which brings us to retellings that put enough of a twist on the story to give us believable reasons.  Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted is a good example, in which Cinderella is given a magical explanation for her extreme obedience.  Two retellings of Scheherazade also give more powerful explanations for the sultan’s murderous rampage: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh and A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston.

        Moving even farther from the source, a story can be retold from a different, unconventional point of view, for the purpose of highlighting different elements, or even allowing some parts of the story to be completely reinterpreted.  Sleeping Beauty’s little sister gives us a new story in E.D. Baker’s The Wide-Awake Princess, Robin Hood’s daughter gives us new legends in Rowan Hood by Nancy Springer, and we get a sideways view of Scheherazade from a servant in Susan Fletcher’s Shadow Spinner.  Marilyn Singer has written two books of "reverso" fairy tales poems, in which each set of poems gives the same story from two opposite points of view.  This idea of exploring well-known tales from a new point of view can work very well, although it can also be loathed by readers who feel that the source material wasn’t respected, or that the new version doesn’t seem plausible or natural to the story.

        Extreme reader reactions can also be elicited when an author turns the whole thing upside down, as in Disney’s recent crop of fairy tale villain back-stories.  It’s often either love or hate, and I confess that I often hate these… and yet I’ve also written a number of them myself.  It takes skill and delicacy to do it well, but I think it also takes the luck of landing in the hands of a reader who’s receptive to the concept.

        Sometimes the line can be blurry between this category and those “retellings” in which the original story is really just a jumping-off point to head in a whole new direction.  The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson and The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame are both certainly based on the traditional folklore of St George and the Dragon, but are they retellings, riffs, satires, or merely vaguely “inspired by?”  Roshani Chokshi’s Once More Upon a Time begins with The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but doesn’t retell any part of the actual story, instead taking us forward after the fairy tale ends.  Tamsyn Muir’s Princess Floralinda and the Forty Flight Tower clearly begins with a Rapunzel-like set-up, but the fact that her princess has a completely different name is a clue that this is probably a step beyond even a broad definition of “retelling” and possibly just counts as using general fairy tale tropes.

        Then there’s Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, in which a version of Sleeping Beauty is used as a metaphor for an experience of the Holocaust, and Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, in which Cinderella becomes a cyborg mechanic amid sci fi political intrigue.

        All this variation and breadth in fairy tale retellings helps illustrate just how popular, powerful, and resonant these stories are, sticking with us generation after generation…  Which is why I, too, have been creating so many fairy-tale-inspired short stories, poems, and art that I’m putting together a collection.  I expect to launch a Kickstarter campaign in September, and if you’re interested, feel free to fill out my short questionnaire here, and give me some feedback about what book details and backer rewards you’d like to see me incorporate into my project.

        Also, of all the books I’ve mentioned today, I like some better than others.  My absolute favorites are McKinley and Chokshi (and my least favorite is Muir).  You can find slightly longer reviews of a few of the books in these previous posts:

    Scheherazade Retold (Fletcher, Ahdieh, Johnston)

    Reading the Old to the Young (Grahame)

    Books for Hope (Chokshi)

    Reverso Fairy Tales (Singer)

[Picture: Beyond the Thorns, rubber block print (two blocks) by AEGN, 2017 (sold out);

Apotropaic, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2025 (Image from NydamPrints.com).]

The Fire of Independence

         Twelve score and nine years ago there was brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal.  Now we are engaged in a great struggle, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.  It certainly makes Independence Day this year feel simultaneously cruelly ironic as well as poignantly precious.  But in this blog I look at everything through the lens of block prints, so here’s what I’ve got…

        Howard Cook (USA, 1901-1980) made two versions of his linoleum cut celebrating July Fourth.  Children dance and scamper about among fireworks and sparklers, but one version includes four colors ranging from yellow, through orange, into brown, while the second version is just the single darkest layer, this time printed in black.  (It could be a reduction print, such that the black and white version is all that’s left of the block by the time the other successive layers have been carved away, but it’s also possible that they’re separate blocks.)  At any rate, what I love about the color version is that the children hold stars in their hands, which is such a beautiful image.  On the other hand, I confess that so much fiery color right there on the ground around the children feels scary to me.  Even though you can actually see the smiles on a couple of the faces, my mind all too easily leaps to bombs and disaster.  In that regard the black and white version seems a little less intense, since the fireworks appear to be a little more up in the sky.

        I also wanted to include this wonderful Japanese wood block print that isn’t about the United States holiday at all.  It’s by Gakutei (Japan, 1786?-1868) and shows the Tenjin Festival in Osaka, which is held on July 24-25.  This wood block print also includes people gathered to celebrate with fire and lights, parades and festivities, and it evokes much of the feel of July Fourth for me.  Including it here today also speaks to my strong belief that the United States has grown and improved in the past 250 years precisely to the extent that it has expanded its view of who is actually embraced by that promise that everyone is endowed with the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  When we refuse to see the contributions of some, we deny ourselves our greatest strength, and when we roll back liberty and justice for some, we destroy the very foundations that I, for one, will be celebrating this week as I watch the fireworks with my neighbors from all different backgrounds, each of whom brings something important to my community.

[Pictures: July Fourth, linoleum cuts by Howard Cook, 1950 (Images from Smithsonian American Art Museum);

The Tenman Shrine Festival in Osaka, color woodcut by Gakutei, c. 1833-4 (Image from Philadelphia Museum of Art.]