"Goblin Market": An Art Book by Omar Rayyan

One of my favorite artists and illustrators, Omar Rayyan, is working on wrangling his many private art pieces, created in his personal time over the last decade and inspired by Christina Rosetti's 19th century poem Goblin Market, into a truly stunning book.

(You may know his name from the Folio edition of Andrew Lang's The Brown Fairy Book, among others.)

As Rayyan mentions, the narrative poem is rich with imagery, yet it's difficult to find many illustrations based on it. I, for one, don't understand why, but I feel the poem would be better known if we had more visual basis to share it, especially in this digital image-driven age. This book will go a long way to remedying that, and possibly inspire more works that cross the world from our known world to that of Faerie, as Marina Warner describes the "land" in which fairy tales exist (from Once Upon A Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale).

Omar Rayyan:

"This project of doing an illustrated version of "Goblin Market" came about while chatting with a few fellow artists at a dinner. Illustrator Ruth Sanderson planted the idea in my head at a time when I was searching for a personal project to work on outside of my regular commercial work, as a chance to flex my artistic muscles. I used it as an opportunity to explore the imagery found in Rossetti's poem, unfettered by conventional publishing concerns. Free from the vision of an outside party such as an art director, I made this a highly personal project.

The product of many years work, squeezing painting time in between my regular commercial obligations, I slowly amassed a large collection of images. The time finally arrived to assemble these images into a coherent presentation to share with the world. I am very excited to see this project come to fruition."

Rayyan is creating the book independently and has set up a Kickstarter to help make it happen.

Here's his Kickstarter video, which showcases a beautiful variety of pieces, and his multi-faceted approach to the material:

Unsurprisingly, the funding goal was reached on the first day but there's still plenty of time (14 days, ending September 23rd, 2016) to add support and secure a pre-order of the volume (possibly signed and with a print or with other bonuses, depending on the amount you contribute). Considering the price the book, and extras, would cost commercially, it could be considered a limited time offer bargain.

"Over one hundred drawings and watercolor paintings packed into an 88 page full color book. 10x12 inches, hardcover with a printed dust jacket and an introduction written by the one and only Charles Vess."

Rayyan has released Goblin Market pieces via social media here and there through the years, (his Facebook page is a delight to follow and his sense of humor is always evident) but most of these are yet to be viewed by the public. (All artwork in this post was created by Rayyan for Goblin Market.)

I'm really looking forward to seeing the layout and pieces chosen alongside Rosetti's words.

On the left are the sample pages he's currently share. (Look at all the sketchy-goodness and hand written text!)

Like most people, many of the supporter levels are out of my reach, but I'm always interested to see the creative ways in which artists reward their backers. 

I'm particularly tickled by the $10,000 reward. I'm not really sure he's expecting anyone will pay this, but you never know..

THE GOBLIN KING VISITS YOU 

A gift basket of fresh fruit, hand-delivered to your door by Omar himself! You get to spend one-on-one time with the artist, in your very own home. He will also deliver a signed special collector's limited edition of "Goblin Market" with sketch inside, and all sorts of other goodies. Date of delivery to be arranged. 

Tell me you're not a little envious of whomever can splash out $10,000 for goblin fruit!

Theater: Come to the "Goblin Market"! (For 3 Nights Only)

Illustration by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, image from poster for Goblin Market 2015 production by Theatre GRU

"There is no friend like a sister."

(Christina Rossetti - "Goblin Market")

Christina Rosetti's fairy poem Goblin Market is beloved by many and often given consideration alongside other literary fairy tales as its own layered masterpiece. While it's not the first time it's been adapted for stage, I haven't seen performances crop up often at all the last decade in the US, which is sort of unusual when you consider just how popular the poem is, and how often it's taught at universities with theater companies attached.

This adaptation is by Patricia Pace and will be performed at The Maxwell Performing Arts Theater in Augusta, Georgia, Thursday through Saturday nights for this week only. With tickets $10 and under, if you love the poem, fairy tales and are in the area, this is worth considering for a night out.

From the Press Release:

Goblin Market 

by Christina Rossetti 

adaptation by Patricia Pace 

adapted and directed by Melanie Kitchens O'Meara 

Visually stunning and ripe with sensuous language, Christina Rossetti's poem Goblin Market is performed by six Victorian actresses between occasional rests in The Green Room. Patricia Pace said, "the adaptation investigates the many layer's of meaning in the poem -- a children's cautionary tale, a rebuke to the new commodity market in Victorian England, a religious allegory, a poet's wish for a female literary tradition, a fantasy about women caring for other women."*Contains mature content.

Illustration by Arthur Rackham

As Dr. Amanda M. Caleb, assistant professor at Misericordia University, said at a storytelling gathering earlier in the year, in which she spoke about fairy tales and how they relate to social issues:

“Rossetti’s poem is one that has intrigued me since I first read it as an undergrad, as it has so many possible interpretations: we might read it as a religious allegory, a tale of female solidarity, a critique of laissez-faire economics, or a warning about food adulteration — I really appreciate the depth of the tale!”

I found a little background on the play in an article published a couple of days ago and am putting the highlights below to give you a better idea of how the poem is being translated to stage for this production.

From The Bell Ringer (GRU):

Illustration by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

O’Meara, who is directing the Georgia Regents production of “Goblin Market,” said she acted in Pace’s adaption of the play when she was an undergraduate. She said she wanted to take the play further, readapt it and add things to it. “I knew that one day, once I had a position somewhere, that I would want to direct it myself,” O’Meara said. “The play follows these six women who are Victorian actresses, and they are on stage performing this Victorian poem and then we see them backstage dealing with women’s issues of the time.” O’Meara said the poem may seem lighthearted, but has a much darker side to it. “Some people would argue that this is a poem for children, but it’s not,” O’Meara said. “It’s very much not for kids.” 

Arthur Rackham

“(Lucette) is the one who … has a semi-masculine role,” Farmer (who plays Lucette) said. “She is a little older (and) she’s a little more experienced. She’s a really fun character to play when it comes to the actual poem part, because she’s playing a goblin – and being a goblin is really fun because I get to do really crazy, ridiculous things.” 

“(Dame Miriam is) sort of the leading actress of the company,” Owens (who plays her) said. “She’s very flirtatious, always making jokes, but she’s also the comforter.”
Farmer said she hopes the audience will see the greater meaning behind the play. “It is both a fun play to watch and listen to,” Farmer said. “But it does have some deeper meanings going on, and it’s really fun to find those deeper levels when you’re in the midst of laughing at a situation that you didn’t realize was... a pretty serious topic. It’s great fun.” 

The play is performed by an all-female cast and will be close to 70 minutes long without an intermission.

If you get to see it, why don't you let us know? We are very curious for we would like to go to the Goblin Market ourselves...