american mystics
I always find the posts at The Wild Hunt blog to be thoughtful and informative. Jason Pitzl-Waters does a very commendable job of filling in the "Pagan news & commentary" void, for me. Today he's got a post about a documentary by Alex Mar called "American Mystics," which follows the lives of a Lakota Sundancer, a Spiritualist, and a Pagan witch & priestess. What information and teasers are given look and sound great, and I hope to be able to see the film in the future.
For now, in case anyone's interested, this is the blog post - an interview with Alex Mar about the documentary, including the teaser video. http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=6465
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Speaking of, something I'm exploring is the idea of melding my beliefs with what I'm studying at SCAD. This of course leads to all kinds of green design, solutions for "living smaller" (without sacrificing the quality of life we've come to expect), and design that works for and not against the disabled and disadvantaged. But beyond that is also explorations into ancient structures that informed the beliefs and practices of the ancient world - I think uncovering and studying the architecture and interiors can not only help us understand how the ancient world worshipped and lived, but also give us helpful reminders about how we, too, can incorporate the same sense of mystery into our own lives. (Should that be desired, of course.)
My Ancient Art & Architecture class is really about the Greeks and Romans - the Classical world. It reminds me of the film "Agora" (which I've now seen and love). Apparently near the end of the quarter, one of the last few class days, we'll be "studying" the film "Gladiator." Should be interesting. But most interesting of all is our Lost Art project and paper, where we pick some work of art, architecture, or similar aspect of ancient life and research it and reproduce it. (Not faithfully, of course -- there's no way anyone's going to literally rebuild the Temple of Zeus.)
Given the list of suggested topics, I've decided that I would like to delve into the Temple of Artemis (the Artemision) at Ephesus. There's a lot about it to be excited about, so I'm going to begin to research it and see what questions come up, what specific aspects I can and would like to explore in my paper. (It'll have to be very specific, since the paper is to be a minimum of 5-6 pages.) At the outset, I will say that if I can find some way to work in the bit about the Amazons, that would be fab. If not, perhaps I'll make the focus something to do with Alexander the Great.
For now, in case anyone's interested, this is the blog post - an interview with Alex Mar about the documentary, including the teaser video. http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=6465
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Speaking of, something I'm exploring is the idea of melding my beliefs with what I'm studying at SCAD. This of course leads to all kinds of green design, solutions for "living smaller" (without sacrificing the quality of life we've come to expect), and design that works for and not against the disabled and disadvantaged. But beyond that is also explorations into ancient structures that informed the beliefs and practices of the ancient world - I think uncovering and studying the architecture and interiors can not only help us understand how the ancient world worshipped and lived, but also give us helpful reminders about how we, too, can incorporate the same sense of mystery into our own lives. (Should that be desired, of course.)
My Ancient Art & Architecture class is really about the Greeks and Romans - the Classical world. It reminds me of the film "Agora" (which I've now seen and love). Apparently near the end of the quarter, one of the last few class days, we'll be "studying" the film "Gladiator." Should be interesting. But most interesting of all is our Lost Art project and paper, where we pick some work of art, architecture, or similar aspect of ancient life and research it and reproduce it. (Not faithfully, of course -- there's no way anyone's going to literally rebuild the Temple of Zeus.)
Given the list of suggested topics, I've decided that I would like to delve into the Temple of Artemis (the Artemision) at Ephesus. There's a lot about it to be excited about, so I'm going to begin to research it and see what questions come up, what specific aspects I can and would like to explore in my paper. (It'll have to be very specific, since the paper is to be a minimum of 5-6 pages.) At the outset, I will say that if I can find some way to work in the bit about the Amazons, that would be fab. If not, perhaps I'll make the focus something to do with Alexander the Great.