Writing is hard sometimes because it forces you to face yourself.

Sonny Assu, Emily Carr University Alumni, is a well-known and respected contemporary artist whose work addresses consumerism, ancestry and aboriginal identity.  Often airing on the side of humorous, his work is nonetheless of excellent quality- both in terms of craft and concept.

unknownskywalker:

Jupiter Swirls

This close-up of swirling clouds around Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was taken by Voyager 1. It was assembled from three black and white negatives.

William Blake, a poet and illustrator who worked in the late half of the 18th century and early 19th century, is most famous for poems like “Eternity,” “A Poison Tree,” and “The Tyger.”  However, he also wrote some amazingly visionary, philosophical and political works.  He strongly opposed slavery and the marital views of his society that discouraged women from speaking out in unhappy marriages.  This is from America: A Prophecy (1793).

“The morning comes, the night decays, the watchmen leave their stations;
The grave is burst, the spices shed, the linen wrapped up;
The bones of death, the cov-ring clay, the sinews shrunk & dry’d
Reviving shake, inspiring move, breathing, awakening,
Spring like redeemed captives when their bonds & bars are burst.
Let the slave grinding at the mill run out into the field,
Let him look up into the heavens & laugh in the bright air;
Let the inchained soul, shut up in darkness an in sighing,
Whose face has never seen a smile in thirty weary years,
Rise and look out; his chains are loose, his dungeon doors are open;
And let his wife and children return from the oppressor’s scourge.
They look behind at every step & believe it is a dream,
Singing: ‘The Sun has left his blackness & has found a fresher morning,
And the fair Moon rejoices in the clear & cloudless night;
For Empire is no more, and now the Lion & Wolf shall cease.’” 

Heard about this group today.  Started in Denmark, it promotes the networking, rights and creativity of artists  Artists unite!