Eighty Years Ago Today - May 10, 1940

Eighty years ago today, I arrived at school to find a big sign posted on the door, "Closed - WAR". 

My walk to school had taken me along my usual route, which took two hours each way --- through farmland, crossing brooks filled with salamanders, walking through the grounds of a small chateau which had a swan lake, peacocks and a rose garden. There was also a Chestnut tree lane -- paradise really for a 10 year old.

Walking back home, suddenly the sky was dark, loud engines above me, German planes. The invasion had begun.

Back home, I found mother crying, being comforted by my father. 

From that day onward, my formal school days ended forever and five years of suffering followed.  The war ended when I was 15. 

I didn't return to a school of any kind until much later, to the Ontario College of Art, in 1959.  There I lasted just five months of a 3-year course. (My teacher and mentor Jock (J.W.G. Macdonald recommended I not continue, for more about this see my blog "Jock Macdonald Remembered".)

Thought I'd share this memory with you, brought on by the eightieth anniversary of the invasion.

Remembering Ann Southam

This week we published a new blog in honour of Ann Southam (1937 - 2010). The tenth anniversary of her passing is coming up in November.  Ann was a composer and dear friend. It's an essay in Five Parts, below is a screen capture from the start of Part One.

https://rememberingannsoutham.blogspot.com/

Honouring KABIR

"The flute of  the Infinite is played

without ceasing, and its sound is love;

When love renounces all limits, 

it reaches truth.

How widely the fragrance spreads!

It has no end, nothing stands in its way.

The form of this melody is bright 

like a million suns;

incomparably sounds the veena,

the veena of the notes of truth.'

Kabir (born around 1440)

Article on our adventure in Madeira over Christmas appears in local magazine

Our local newspaper, the Times Colonist, puts out a call every year for readers to submit stories about their various Christmas experiences.  Ours was published last week, it's about when we lived on the beautiful island of Maderia, in the late 1970's.  There's a longer post about it here, which I wrote up a couple of years ago, with more photos and detail about our adventure.  Madeira is a lush, volcanic island, situated in the Atlantic Ocean, over 500 kms off the west coast of Morocco,   Here is a photo of the article (below), if you click on the image, it will enlarge.

Read more about our 'memorable' Christmas in Madeira:
https://henrivanbentum.blogspot.com/2017/12/abadoned-at-inn-christmas-1977-porto.html

From northern British Columbia, stained glass artwork created by my daughter Maya

It’s been awhile since we posted something.  Not much happening when you’re 90, like me.  Aging slows you down, and makes the Riddle of the Sphinx in Greek mythology come true: “What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at Noon, and three feet in the evening?” (The answer is: human beings.)

My daughter from a previous marriage will soon be 49.  She was raised in northern British Columbia, and lives in two places, in Terrace, BC and on Haida Gwaii.

To my surprise, she has taken up stained glass work.   A picture says a thousand words.  Here are a few of her creations.  The quality gave me an incentive to publish this post.  

King Salmon, Abalone Eye, with Eelgrass on Driftwood

Maya Ehses, October 2019

Moose, (in progress) Stained Glass

Maya Ehses 2019

Rooster, Stained Glass

Maya Ehses, 2019

Maya in her studio with the King Salmon in progress

Henri van Bentum

Victoria, BC  November 3, 2019

Adam, Eve and Navels

Eleven years ago this month, I published a post on this blog, titled “What is real or nor real in Art?”, where I wrote about my questioning, over many decades, the Old Masters' paintings that render and Adam and Eve with navels.  At the end of this post are several photos of such (otherwise) masterworks.

Recently Natasha listened to a podcast on BBC Radio about Sir Thomas Browne, the 17th Century physician, philosopher and polymath, in which a brief mention was made about Browne's commentary about Adam, Eve and navels.  

She did some research and it turns out, Sir Thomas said the same thing I’ve been saying for over sixty years, but three hundred years earlier.  

Here is a link to his essay in Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Chapter 4, ‘On the picture of Adam and Eve with Navels’, in which writes at some length (the following paragraph is just the opening sentence): 

“. . . Another mistake there may be in the Picture of our first Parents, who after the manner of their posterity are both delineated with a Navel. And this is observable not only in ordinary and stained pieces, but in the Authentick draughts of Urbin, Angelo and others. Which notwithstanding cannot be allowed, except we impute that unto the first cause, which we impose not on the second; or what we deny unto nature, we impute unto Naturity it self. . . “ [Sir Thomas Browne, 1646]

By discovering this observation made by a 17^th century writer and thinker, it supports my insight even more.  

What this means is throughout history, many popes, art patrons, critics, scholars, cardinals, priests, painters, queens, kings and most of us, have been ignorant and asleep in this matter.  

As a matter of fact, for those who follow the scriptures, it’s really a sort of "blasphemy" to think Adam and Eve had navels. 😊

Adam and Eve, Albrecht Durer, 1504

Adam and Eve, Raphael, Circa 1508-1511

Adam and Eve, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1638

Part Three: Last week, Timket (Epiphany) ceremony in Lalibela, Ethiopia (see below for Parts One and Two)

We continue sharing the experiences of our Canadian friend and global wanderer, and former neighbour in Vancouver-- Raymond, who recently opened a Lodge in the highlands of Ethiopia.  Fikir and Ray Lodge is located in Lalibela, an UNESCO heritage designated town.  The Lodge is providing a means of livelihood for many local young people.  See Part One (December 21st, 2018) and Part Two (January 9th, 2019).

Last week, on January 19^th, Raymond and thousands of others participated in a unique, traditional event, a highlight of the Ethiopian calendar:  Orthodox Christians celebrated Timket, or Epiphany, which commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan.

Although Timket is celebrated near a source of water, and has the city of Gonder as its pivotal point, Lalibela has a significant share of Timket ceremonies.   People come from all over other parts of Ethiopia, including the capital of Addis Ababa, and around the world.  We include here in this post some photos which speak for themselves.

The highlight of Timket takes place when the Tabot (a model of the Ark of the Covenant that according to tradition contains the Ten Commandments), bound in cloth, is carried by the priests in a procession. 

Higher church officials join the priests closest to the Tabot itself, but anyone is free to walk in the procession with the clergy, although at a certain distance. Orthodox students are dressed in white and blue. 

A carpet is continually picked up and re-laid in forward fashion, for the benefit of the priests, and Tabot.  Everyone else, lay people, students, lesser levels of clergy, follow alongside.

Musicians playing traditional trumpets, or imbilta, lead the way. The instruments symbolize the description in the Bible that trumpets were played when the Ark of the Covenant was being moved.

Church leaders, dressed in their religious robes and carrying crucifixes and umbrellas, then followed.Timket is not celebrated inside the churches, but outside. 

In Raymond’s words, the experience was an extraordinary one.  “The carpet expanding in front, while the procession moving forward, the priests, and Tabot, which was trailing behind large rotating circles of eager young men, who advanced in front ... the shrill cries of the women breaking out. And the exuberant, and spontaneous clapping (myself included) along with intense drumming, and singing.”

[With thanks to Raymond, of Fikir and Ray Lodge.]