April 9, 2005
-
SATURDAY PHOTO
(See sidebar for others)Bryonia Alba
Photographer – Karl Blossfeldt10 x 8 in
Gravurec. 1920’s
Isn’t it one of the best things about being here to see how many variations of the human experience there are? Some people are dilettantes, flitting like butterflies from here to there and back again, and others are focused like lasers on one corner of life’s miracles. Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) was the latter sort. He was born in Germany and began his journey as a sculptor’s apprentice and modeler at the Art Ironworks and Foundry in Magdesprung. He then went on scholarship to the School of the Royal Museum of Arts and Crafts in Berlin to study painting and sculpture until he was 26. After this he traveled with a professor to Italy, Greece and North Africa collecting plant specimens. And here is where his focus honed in on plant photography. For the rest of his life he was a professor in the sculpture of living plants at the College of Arts and Crafts in Berlin. When he was 34, he began to photograph plant forms with a
home made camera for use in his teaching curriculum. In 19th century Germany there was a tradition of natural philosophy, and he believed that “the plant must be valued as a totally artistic and architectural structure.” He photographed leaves, seed pods, stems, and other plant parts against a neutral white or grey background in northern light under magnification. The photographs could be magnified up to 27 times their actual size, showing extraordinary details within the natural structure of the plants. When he was 63, four years before he died, he published his masterwork, Archetypes of Art. Take a look and when you go out today into the world take a little closer gander at one of the Great Architect’s creatures in plant form. Karl Blossfeldt spent his life at it.
Deep Thought: “One way I think you can tell if you have a curse on you is if you open a box of toothpicks and they all fly up and stick in your face.”
Today I am grateful for: Laughter
Guess the Movie: “Don’t worry Wilson, I’ll do all the paddling. You just hang on.” Answer: Cast Away, 2000.
Winner: skanickadee.
EPA Balks at Halting Pesticide-Child Study
by John Heilprin
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency won’t rush to cancel a study on how pesticides affect children despite threats from Senate Democrats to hold up confirmation of the new EPA administrator until the study is canned.
Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Bill Nelson of Florida demanded Wednesday that EPA end the study, saying they will block a Senate vote on the confirmation of Stephen Johnson to be the agency’s administrator. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:34 pm
+ = Pleasant afternoon with family.
- = Strange knocking sound under car.
Comments (11)
Is the movie Castaway?
Yep!!
That’s definitely a sign of a curse.
Oy, the EPA. 
I heard about that study…what a “culture of life” we have here in the US!!! Of course, that culture of life only applies to rich white Christians.
What my mom said.
Love Alba’s artistry–beautiful. I remember, when I was much younger—bringing my left eye very close to the marigold, I was astounded at what I saw. Not only close-ups, but felt I’d seen it’s soul. Is the wanting to block the EPA another way of trying to save our tax dollars?
neat stuff…
I didn’t clean the whole face of it, just the glass and the slate in front. And of course all the ashes inside. My kids thought it’d be fun to burn a magazine. I hate that.
But I used this stuff I get at the dollar store called Awesome. I use it everywhere in the house. Its great on grease (like on the range hood) and you can use it either full strength on stuff or dilute it to wash windows. You can even use it on laundry, which I’ve done in a pinch.
The stuff is yellow, comes in either a spray bottle or a pour bottle and of course is only $1.
What did you think of the little book on water crystals?
Random eProps. Love the picture set ups. Have a good one.
It’s funny. When I first saw the picture, before reading your entry, the image gave me a good feeling – much the same as the feeling I get when I look out and see my garden growing with the vines twisting and turning, the wonderful shapes of flowers in bloom, the promise of renewed life breaking up thru the soil. And then I read your passage – wonderful!