Note: This article is from our giant store of almost-complete-but-unpublished posts. We've been cleaning up our bedraggled drafts, archived images and incomplete stories that were never quite posted due to the constant deluge of fairy tale news (it's a good problem to have) and are finding a treasure trove of un-shared things! We can't bear to hit the delete button on these awesome nuggets and are choosing, instead, to share, so are beginning a new semi-regular column titled Untapped Treasures. The stories posted under this title are all new, not re-posted or from our archives, so it's still news to many people. It's just not as current as our usual content, though we will endeavor to post any updates to the story at the bottom of the article, should there be any current news on the subject. Enjoy!
Described as "following a Hansel and Gretel style trail" this textile installation, which showed at the Norfolk and Norwich Art Festival in 2015, and exhibited in February this year as well, encouraged children to play and feel, find the stories hidden in the installation and to also create their own.
The installation - called Forest Fruit - is by Belgian artist Naomi Kerkhove. It is described as an installation where “a child’s imagination is king,” and people are invited to follow the threads of Ms Kerkhove’s intricately woven textile landscape and untangle their own unique patchwork of stories.
In her performances Naomi Kerkhove invites the audience on a poetical trip through a black and white miniature universe stitched together with a sewing-machine. In her youngest interactive installation, the audience can enter this world of wonders by themselves. With Forest Fruit Kerkhove assembles elements out of old and recent work, touring the audience around a world that reminds us of a workshop and a playroom, towards a place where your own imagination becomes tangible. You activate the different installations yourself and disentangle a patchwork of impressions and stories by following a thread which inevitably leads back to you.
Sounds pretty neat we think!
Here's a little explanation from the artist and a festival coordinator.
You can see the full trailer for Forest Fruit art installation HERE.
Embroidery is hot and sewing is not only home industry.It may also be art.That shows the installation of the young artist Naomi Kerkhove.Naomi discovered one day that you can draw with a sewing machine.Meanwhile, she sews smooth miniature worlds.'Forest Fruit' is the place where you can see and feel all sewn stitching her wonderful white miniature world.If you are in her black and white world enters you fall from one surprise to another.
You will be guided in a world that is a cross between a workshop and playroom.In this universe walk shapes and thoughts together and your imagination is slowly taken in tow.You can also get to work with many construction and gently unravels a patchwork of impressions and stories, along a thread which inevitably leads to yourself.An interactive, poetic and playful installation for all ages.
Naomi Kerkhove is currently an artist in residence at wpZimmer in Antwerp.
These unusual fairy tale illustrations by Ivo Matić are fromIvanas' House of Fairy Tales, whichis a unique multimedia and interactive visitor's center and permanent exhibition, which celebrates fairy tales and their makers. (Located in Ogulin, Croatia) The illustrations are displayed on a tablet though a "secret spyhole" within the exhibition and are just one part of an interactive multimedia display/experience.
Our mission is to celebrate the writings of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić and to use fairy tales to inspire a love of reading, knowledge and creative expression. By promoting the knowledge of fairy tales – a widespread literary genre – we encourage intercultural exchange and enhance the cultural and tourist prosperity of Ogulin, while actively contributing to the development of the city and improving the quality of life of its inhabitants.
The idea behind Ivana's House of Fairy Tales is part of a cultural incentive from the local Board of Tourism to encourage the perception that Ogulin is a unique, beautiful and culturally important place to visit, along with the internationalOgulin Fairy-Tale Festival.
The reason it's called Ivana's House, is wonderful and easiest to explain by including some text from the official website HERE:
This idea was inspired by the fact that Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić – Croatia's foremost writer of fairy tales – was born in Ogulin. Tales of Long Ago, her most successful collection of fairy tales, bears traces of the natural beauties of Ogulin, and the intangible heritage of its tales and legends.
...More than sixty collaborators from different areas of expertise were involved in the various phases of developing Ivana's House of Fairy Tales. Their wide range of knowledge along with a variety of their individual talents and skills makeIvana's House of Fairy Tales a prime example of an interdisciplinary and multimedia team project! The project would surely not have been so successful without the highly motivated local inhabitants, who took an active part in the various activities and showed support for the idea of turning their hometown into a homeland of fairy tales.
We admit we are not very familiar with Ivana's fairy tales but it would seem more than just this Polish fairy tale writer's are represented at the center. We see both Grimm's and Andersen's tales represented in the illustrations as well as Japanese and Russian tales.
Although only a selection of the "porthole illustrations" showing transformation in fairy tales (the pen and ink drawings above) are available to view online (to see the others you need to visit the center), there's a description of the experience on the website and I'm including it here. (Note: I do not intend to breach any copyright but only to encourage people to visit and appreciate the project.)
The interactive and multimedia permanent exhibition is based on the principles of knowledge, creativity and the use of new technologies.
The exhibition starts with the “Magic Forest”: a gateway into the world of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, a world where trees narrate episodes from Ivana's life and stories from her books, a place where clever heads and capable hands can put together a real fairy tale!
The “Enchanted Castle Hallways” are the perfect place to “get busy with” exploring fairy tales: what are fairy tales, who writes, collects and narrates them, and what are they about – these are some of the things you can learn in the “Enchanted Hallways”, or catch a glimpse of out of the corner of your eye.
A secret corner of the castle holds the “Magic Mirror”, which reveals the 'wondrous inner image' of all who look into it. But only those who listen carefully can get a 'monstrous' picture as a keepsake!
The “Fireplace” is the “warm” corner of Ivana's House of Fairy Tales where you can listen to (and later attempt to recreate) fairy tales in the “Fairy-Tale Jukebox”.
In the “Fairy-Tale Library”, visitors can find numerous books of fairy tales and about them. Special attention is given to collecting valuable first editions of fairy tales. Should you need help browsing through the Library, simply ask one of our very own Brownies – the educators of Ivana's House of Fairy Tales.
The “Chamber of Mystery” is located in the centre of the “Enchanted Castle”. This is a multifunctional space where you can watch three educational animated films or play an interactive game. This is also the stage for theatrical productions, concerts and other events.
Doesn't it sound like a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, or better still, a great project to be part of? One of the wonderful benefits of present day technology is the collaborative possibilities as well as the multimedia and interactive options, providing new options for storytelling experiences and for preserving - and spreading the knowledge of - fairy tales.
Note: The center also has a wonderful project in progress: a database of fairy tales, which you can see the description of below. Clicking on the image will take you to it.
While not limited to fairy tales, childhood classics definitely include them so this exhibit which reinterprets childhood favorite stories through an adult lens has more than a few works of interest for us fairy tale folk.
Since most of us won't be able to pop by San Francisco to head into the Modern Eden Gallery and check it out in person, here are some of the fairy tale specific works.
Jack and the Beanstalk by Chris Leib
Where the Wild Things Are by Leilani Bustamente
Thumbelina by Ciou
Alice and the Mushrooms by Brianna Angelakis
James and the Giant Peach by Richard J. Oliver
Beauty and the Beast by Jana Brike
Someone's Been Eating My Porridge (Goldilocks) by Edith LeBeau
Nightsong in the Jungle (The Jungle Book) by Helice Wen
Paper Bag Princess by Megz Majewski
Supper (LRRH - I think) by Erika Sanada
The details on the Goldilocks one are just stunning.
And, yes, I added James and the Giant Peach because it always reminds me of Peach Boy - Momotaro, though it really has very little in common with the folktale, and Where The Wild Things Are because oh-my-goodness-do-you-see-the-Japanese-monsters?! Straight out of Japanese fairy tales... Love it! And a bonus because I heart it:
Ferdinand the Bull by Isabel Samaras
Some surprise interpretations: Are you There God? It's Me Margaret (the scaly girl) Winnie the Pooh - the bottom left with added Taoist symbology I am super curious as to what the girl holding the invisible 'something' is, in the upper right corner by Chris Leib - ideas? (I found no clues from the artist anywhere.)
You can see more previews of the pieces at the various article sites below: Platinum Cheese Hi-Fructose Warholian (puts some pieces next to books were inspired by - I would have bet the bunny above was from The Velveteen Rabbit - but I was wrong!)
Left: Fairy tale silhouettes created for the Complete First Edition translation, Right: Andrea Dezsö self portrait
For lucky New Yorkers (and those visiting before the end of March) there is a very special solo exhibition you need to put on your "must see" list, that just opened (February 21st, 2015) at the Nancy Margolis Gallery. Much of the art was created specifically for Grimm's fairy tales and the artist is Andrea Dezsö.
If you're not familiar with the name AndreaDezsö it's probably not because you haven't seen her work. You have; especially if you're a regular reader of this blog. One of her most recent projects was completing twenty different illustrations for Jack Zipes new translation of the Grimm's First Edition (twenty-one, including the cover) and these special pieces are a large part of the gallery showing.
(Oh to see these in person!)
Her silhouettes communicate a raw folk-like quality like the unvarnished tales they accompany.
And Ms. Dezsö is not new to getting to the heart of a subject, nor to folktales and fairy tales either. Her self-portrait (see the head of the post) illustrates just how important a theme this is to the artist, showing the essence, the true tale, inside something, or someone. It should come as no surprise that she's often called on for editorial work as a result. Although am award winning illustrator and known for her distinctive silhouette work (something I find truly interesting - showing the outline to show the inside..), it becomes quickly apparent this artist isn't limited to any one medium at all. While she does work with paper, she also uses etched glass, mosaics (small and wall+ sized!), paint, ceramics, puppets, animation, mixed media sculptures, giant public murals ad site-specific art, stainless steel sculptures... pretty much anything she seems to be able to get her hands on.
I don't know if the term was coined before she made it popular but Dezsö is also known for her "tunnel books" and "tunnel installations". A recent and extremely popular exhibition had people walking inside of giant cut outs, lit in different sections, as if one were walking through a story.
Often she returns to books and to tales and folktales, the theme often returning to looking at the inside and of seeing through layers. More recently, and included in the Nancy Margolis Gallery exhibition, is a new form of tunnel one, one in which she translated her tunnel book technique to glass!
(Seriously: any one want to sponsor me a ticket to see this? Please?)
Of creating the Grimm tale illustrations Dezsö says:
"I wished to find the heart of each tale and express it visually. My aim was to create a feeling of atmosphere that could convey a strong sense of place and I wanted the drawings to look like made-up folk art, instead of simply relying on details from the region or period." "I chose tales to illustrate that gave me immediate, strong mental images as I read them. The images that popped into my mind first are generally what I illustrated. Using silhouettes leaves room for the reader’s imagination; not everything is concrete, it’s more a conjured world of dreams, in the same way that the Grimms' tales invite in the reader."
Here is an excerpt from the gallery's press release for the show:
February 21 through March 28, 2015. Inventive, brilliant, undaunted by complexity or scale mixed media artist Andrea Dezsö, masters a multitude of materials to execute numerous projects ranging from intimate graphite drawings, book illustrations, magnificent mosaics, paper tunnel books, large ink drawing, sandblasted glass, subway murals, colored marker on paper, a long list reflecting Dezsö’s exceptional capacity to take on any challenge regardless of medium.
Growing up in communist Romania, Dezsö found art and literature allowed an escape from the rigid limitations the regime imposed on the lives of people. Absorbed, introspective, Dezsö took control of her life by creating her own worlds filled with wishful flights to charmed lands of dark beauty, and haunting iconography. Dezsö’s art, boundless, unrestrained blends a personal vision, contemporary sensibility with a touch of darkness born of Romanian/ Hungarian expression.
In the current exhibition Dezsö brings together many creative moments, some familiar, others more recent. Utilizing the flat glass technique learned during a two week 2014 residency at Pilchuck Glass Dezsö succeeded in transposing the layering concept used in her popular paper tunnel books into multi layers of glass panels to form a tunnel book, ”Girl and Devil in Underwater Cave”, and four, one-of-a-kind single flat glass panels sandblasted with lively pictorial scenes.
While visiting Hawaii in 2014 Dezsö made a series of marker drawings and one long drawing 112” x 36.75” made with marker, latex paint, ink, and collage. An exciting addition to the upcoming exhibition are the illustrations Dezsö was commissioned to do for the Princeton University Press publication of The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, Translated and edited by Jack Zipes.
It sounds amazing and hearing from people who have seen her work in person - it's rave reviews all round, something to be experienced that doesn't completely translate to a flat image on a computer screen. Hopefully one day I'll be lucky enough to get to see these in person.
These bowls - they're just wonderful!
I strongly recommend you peruse Ms. Dezsö's website. You'll see folktale references and fairy tale references throughout, including some originals of her own making. All are touching, some are raw, some are stunningly beautiful... and I envy the people who take the subway where those gorgeous stainless steel railings are installed and where her mosaics and other public art brighten up the tunnels! You can also keep up to date on the many exhibits and activities of this busy artist through her page on Facebook HERE.
For a quick overview I've started putting together a Pinterest page where you can see a variety of her work at a glance. I predict you will not be able to "just glance" though, but will go for a further journey to closer... she's good at helping us do that.
Fairy tale bonus of the day:
You may also recognize Ms. Dezsö's art from the book cover Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses by Ron Koertge that was published last year. Here's a promotional video that includes some of Ms. Dezsö's work from the darker side (don't watch right before bed!): Writing in free verse honed to a wicked edge, the incomparable Ron Koertge brings dark and contemporary humor to twenty iconic fairy tales.
From the Norwich Evening News:In her performances Naomi Kerkhove invites the audience on a poetical trip through a black and white miniature universe stitched together with a sewing-machine. In her youngest interactive installation, the audience can enter this world of wonders by themselves. With Forest Fruit Kerkhove assembles elements out of old and recent work, touring the audience around a world that reminds us of a workshop and a playroom, towards a place where your own imagination becomes tangible. You activate the different installations yourself and disentangle a patchwork of impressions and stories by following a thread which inevitably leads back to you.
