F - Daily Word Dose

Facetious - 1. Not meant to be taken seriously or literally (usually about a serious issue): I was only being facetious when I told her that if we wanted to stop having arguments, we should sing together.  2. Joking in an awkward or improper manner; amusing, humorous His facetious sarcasm was inappropriate during the first half of the meeting. 3. Lacking serious intent; concerned with something nonessential, amusing or frivolous: A facetious person.

Fastidious - 1. Excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please: She is such a fastidious eater.  2. Required or characterized by excessive care or delicacy; painstaking: The fastidious artist obsessed over every detail of his artwork.

Fervent -

Flocculent -

Flounder -

E - Daily Word Dose

Edify - To instruct or benefit, esp. morally or spiritually; uplift: The Renaissance paintings edified the viewer.

Effervescent - 1. To emit small bubbles of gas, as a carbonated or fermenting liquid: Alka-seltzer is so effervescent, I can't buy it -- but I love soda.  2. To escape from a liquid as bubbles; bubble up  3. To show high spirits or animation: He has such an effervescent personality, his presentations are always so lively.

Emaciate -  To make or become extremely thin, esp. as a result of starvation.

Emphatic -1. Expressed or performed with emphasis: He responded with an emphatic "No."  2. Forceful and definite in expression or action.  3. Standing out in a striking and clearly defined way.

Eradicate - 1. To tear up by the roots 2. To remove or destroy utterly: To eradicate small pox throughout the world  3. To get rid of as if by tearing up the roots: Their goal was to eradicate poverty.

D - Daily Word Dose

Deference - 1. Respectful submission or yielding to the judgment, opinion, will,etc., of another. 2. Respectful or courteous regard: In deference to his wishes, they cremated him.

Deft - 1. dexterous; nimble; skillful; clever: deft hands, a deft mechanic.

Denounce - 1. To condemn or censure openly or publicly: To denounce a politician as morally corrupt.  2. To make a formal accusation against, as to the police or in a court.  3. To give formal notice of the termination or denial of (a treaty, pact, agreement or the like).

Deplorable -1. Causing or being a subject for grief or regret; lamentable: the deplorable death of a friend. 2. Causing or being subject to censure, reproach, or disapproval; wretched; very bad: This room is in deplorable condition!

Dismal - 1. Causing gloom or dejection; gloomy; dreary; cheerless; melancholy: The dismal weather made me lazy and not want to do anything. 2. Characterized by ineptness or lack of skill; competence; effectiveness; imagination or interest; pitiful: Our team played a dismal game.

C - Daily Word

Cessation - A temporary or complete stopping; discontinuance.

Commensurate - 1. Having the same measure; of equal extent of duration.  2. Corresponding in amount, magnitude, or degree: Your paycheck should be commensurate with the amount of time you worked. 3. proportionate; adequate. 4. Having a common measure; commensurable.

Conciliate - 1. To overcome the distrust or hostility of; placate; win over: to conciliate an angry competitor. 2. To win or gain (goodwill, regard, or favor); to make compatible; reconcile.

Consort - 1. A husband or wife; spouse, esp. of a reigning monarch  2. A companion, associate or partner  3. To associate with; keep company, hang out with: To consort with known criminals  4. To agree or harmonize.

Conjure - 1. To affect or influence by or as if by invocation or spell  2.To effect, produce, bring, etc., by or as by magic: To conjure a miracle. 3. To call upon or command (a devil or spirit) by invocation or spell. 4. To call or bring into existence by or as if by magic (usually followed by up): She seemd to have conjured up the person she was talking about. 5. To bring to mind; recall (usually followed by up): to conjure up the past.

A - Daily Word Dose

Accolade - Any award, honor or laudatory notice: The play received accolades from the press: The critics bestowed best actress accolades upon her; The new york awards are the media industry's highest accolade.

Acumen- Keen insight; shrewdness: He had a remarkable acumen when it came to business matters; Wilson demonstrated immense political acumen.

Apprise - To give notice to; inform; advise (often followed by of): To be apprised of the death of an old friend.

Assent - 1. To agree or concur; subscribe to (often followed by to): To assent to a statement.  2. To give in; concede: Assenting to his demands, I did as I was told.

Assuage - 1. To make milder or less severe; relieve; ease; mitigate: She attempted to assuage his grief. 2. To appease; satisfy; allay; relieve: To buffet assuaged my hunger. 3. To soothe, calm or mollify: To assuage his fear; to assuage her anger.

W - Daily Word Dose

Wade - To walk in water, when partially immersed: He wasn't swimming, he was wading. 2. To play in water: The children were wading in the pool most of the afternoon.  3. To walk through water, snow, sand or any other substance that impedes free motion or offers resistance to movement: To wade through the mud. 4. To make ones way slowly or laboriously (often followed by through): She waded through the dull book.

Wrath - 1. Strong, stern or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire. 2. Vengeance or punishment as the consequence of anger.

Wretched - 1. Very unfortunate in condition or circumstances; miserable; pitiable: The truth is I had a pretty wretched childhood.  2. Characterized by or attended with misery or sorrow: This wretched disease won't break my spirits.  3. Despicable, contemptible or mean: The neighbours little girl looked innocent but she was a wretched bully  3. Poor, sorry or pitiful; worthless.

Beyond Timmy's: Retrospective Exhibition Gives Canadians Reason to Celebrate

Published in FFWD Weekly on July 7, 2011 http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/arts/visual-arts/beyond-timmys-7734/
 
 Last week Canadians celebrated Canada Day and people flooded into the sea of red and white to bask in the country’s glory. But what do Canadians take pride in exactly? We usually rank in the top five of “best places to live,” we invented basketball and lacrosse, Tim Hortons kicks Dunkin’ Donuts’ butt any day of the week and we claim Wayne Gretzky and hockey as our own (minus the Vancouver fiasco last month).

I’ll give you another: William Perehudoff. If that doesn’t ring a bell, it ought to; at 93 years old, he is one of Canada’s most prolific and influential painters.

When it comes to visual artists, most Canadians have heard of Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, and even contemporary American artists like Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, but many would be hard-pressed to identify the Canadian counterparts to these household names.

Is the Canadian public simply indifferent to art or is it more symptomatic? The Glenbow Museum’s art curator, Colleen Sharpe, thinks it’s the latter.

“Our institutions and curators have failed the Canadian public,” she laments.

Sharpe is hopeful, however, that the Glenbow’s summer exhibition, The Optimism of Colour — a major retrospective of the Saskatchewan-based artist — will help turn that around by shedding some light on one of our nation’s most under-celebrated gems.

Originating at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon, The Optimism of Colour has travelled to Kamloops Art Gallery and has now made its way to Calgary, featuring over 60 works from Perehudoff’s impressive six-decade career.

Characterized by bold and expansive areas of colour, superimposed on a stained, watercolour-like background, Perehudoff’s paintings are eye candy. Simple geometry is prevalent in his works, but his compositions are anything but.

Reportedly, he preferred paintings imbued with “a kind of pulse,” meaning that the visual elements interact with one another in stimulating ways. His paintings certainly achieve that through unexpected combinations of hue, tonality and intensity. Spontaneous and constrained all at once, his works are akin to the uninhibited art of children in that they are intuitive, but upon closer inspection it is clear he had unequivocal mastery over his medium. His strokes suggest a rarely exhibited control and conviction.

The sheer scale of his works alone is mesmerizing. Sharpe says that even though the Glenbow is expansive, it’s still not an ideal venue, but recommends venturing up close (right before the security guard scolds you) and imagining what it must have been like to paint them.

“I tell people who are intimidated by modern art, ‘This is your man!’” Sharpe says. “He just really loved colour.”

So how does an untrained painter who spent most of his adult life in a rural environment, worlds away from creative centres, become championed, not just in the Prairie region, but across Canada and internationally?

Well, like any remarkable story, you must start from the beginning. That is why the Glenbow prefaces Perehudoff’s works with a series of paintings belonging to the Regina Five, the group credited as the first wave of abstract artists in Western Canada. These five forward-thinking artists created bold, non-figurative paintings, paving the way for what was to follow.

While the vast majority of the paintings exhibited are reflective of the work Perehudoff is best known for, a few of his lesser known, figurative works, including one of his celebrated murals, are on display to highlight the progression.

Perehudoff started as a landscape artist and gradually became more abstract until he let go of using external references altogether. Still, many point to an undeniable relationship between his love for neat geometry and clear delineations to his affiliation with the prairie’s panoramic skies, punctuated road grids, and expansive wheat fields.

That Perehudoff’s sense of self was deeply rooted in place is evident in his choice to remain in the Prairies and continue farming for all his life, despite many artists’ natural tendency to seek more creative, urban environments.

But his decision to stay paid off. Thanks to the Emma Lake Artists workshops initiated by Regina Five member Kenneth Lochhead, Saskatchewan was put on the creative map, and the workshops attracted big-name artists and critics alike, who would come to highly regard Perehudoff’s mastery of colour. It was an exciting time in Canada, and Perehudoff was at the centre of it all.

Despite the praise he received within these circles, Perehudoff remained humble and relatively unaffected by the theoretical, and at times, elitist impositions that accompany high art.

“In his travels to New York, it is likely that the artists there learned more from him than the other way around,” says Sharpe.“I think part of it was because he was isolated, he wasn’t tainted. His mastery of colour was intuitive, he did not over think it.”

So next time you’re sipping on that Timmy’s ice cappuccino, you might want to visit the Glenbow and give yourself another reason to boast about being Canadian.

V - Daily Word Dose

Vacuous - 1. Without content; empty: I grew tired of vacuous conversation topics at the party.  2. Lacking in ideas or intelligence: a vacuous mind  3. expressing or characterized by a lack of ideas or intelligence; inane; stupid.

Vapid -1. Lacking or having lost life, sharpness or flavor; insipid; flat: The tea was vapid and did not have a lively taste.  2. Without liveliness or spirit; dull or tedious: The City council meetings were notable for their vapid discussions and proposals.

Vehement - 1. Zealous, ardent; impassioned  2. Characterized by rancor or anger; violent: The vehement actions of the suspect required him to be handcuffed  3. Strongly emotional, intense or passionate: He was very vehement when he said "I'm dying."  4. Marked by great energy or exertion; strenuous: The audience clapped vehemently.

Vindicate - 1. To clear, as from an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like: Upon further evidence, the judge vindicated his honor from the crime he was charged with. 2. To afford justification for; justify: Subsequent events vindicated his policy  3. To uphold or justify by argument or evidence: to vindicate a claim.

Vie (Vying) - 1. To strive in competition or rivalry with one another; contend for superiority: Swimmers from many nations were vying for the title.

Reflection Time! Opening and Closing Statements

So I have now published a total of 15 articles for FFWD magazine and I think it's about time I do some reflecting on my writing since I really haven't had a chance to review it and to determine how to improve it. I'm reading a book called "Writing for Magazines" by Lesley  Bown & ANN Gawthorpe (not cover to cover or anything, but just going straight for the goods that interest me). I figure my style and interests are more suited for magazine writing than they are for newspapers since magazines provide a little more freedom of expression than the more stiff, factual and dogmatic newspaper counterparts. I'm taking it a little easier on the vocabulary section for now, still learning words but not on that crazy daily schedule I was doing before (although I still like to call them daily word doses). While vocabulary is extremely important, it is also important that I learn other aspects in order to get better.

Today I read the chapter on Opening and Closing Paragraphs. Below is a summary of that chapter:

• The Opening and Closing paragraphs are like book-ends supporting a row of books: these 2 paragraphs hold the article together

Opening Statements

• Must grab the reader's attention since most people read the header and opening before deciding whether or not to read the entire article
• Should be SHORT, SNAPPY, and INTERESTING (intriguing, arresting or shocking)
• Keep the rest of paragraph short too so reader can absorb it in a glance (as a rule, the opening paragraph should be half the length of the average paragraph of the article)
• The opening: sets the tone, express the writer's viewpoint and has a 'hook'
• Avoid: jargon, complicated words, abbreviations, complicated stats, complicated sentences, parentheses, quotations - Basically anything that slows down the reader

Types of Openings

1. Provocative, intriguing or surprising - most common, works well for most type of articles, aim for colour and contrast.
2. Anecdote or narrative - adds human interest to abstract stories, good way to start a celebrity feature or interview.
3. Scene-setting or atmospheric description - More novelistic than pure journalism. CAUTION: don't go on for too long
4. Question - CAUTION: needs to be pitched right or it will irritate rather than intrigue
5. Facts/ Figures
6. Analogy - uses comparison as a way of explaining something, uses the familiar to explain the unfamiliar
7. Symbol - select an item that sums up, or symbolizes the whole thrust of your piece
8. Humour - useful in light-hearted pieces. CAUTION: do not use it inappropriately.
9. Irony - works by meaning the opposite of what the words appear to say.
10. Personal Remark - Give your own experience, needs to be interesting. CAUTION: beware of turning the intro into an ego-trip.
11. Quotation - not allowed in newspapers, makes for awkward reading, but can be effective in some magazine articles (esp. if the person being quoted is a household name) or has a good reason to be heard.

 Closing Statements

• Research shows readers also skip to the last paragraph to determine whether or not they want to read an entire article
• They are basically wondering "Is it going to be worthwhile to read this? Am I going to get something out of it?"
• Needs to interest those people as well as provide a satisfying resolution for those who have taken the time to read the entire article
• Never tack an ending on
• Think back to the intention behind the article -- ending should show that you have achieved what you set out to do.
• It is human nature to prefer an upbeat ending so try to end it on a positive note
• Avoid: speech or essay-type endings; can echo the opening paragraph but must arrive at a new position; avoid questions while possible to use as a way to challenge the reader -- but often ends up causing irritation or confusion; anything uncertain - needs to be bold and confidently expressed.

Types of Closings

1. Summary - simplest, most common, if research has led to a conclusion then summarize.
2. Surprise - if research shows up something unexpected, save that for the ending
3. Advice - must focus on the wider implications
4. Quotation - an effective way to end articles based on more than one interview, save something good for the end
5. Statement - look for contrast or drama, end with a bang, not a whimper
6. Anecdote - good way to end a profile, save something interesting about the subject to end with
7. Descriptive - an article heavy on fact and light on human interest can be lifted at the end with a descriptive passage or anecdote
8. Looking forwards - if you can't find anything to end with in the current situation, try looking into the future

Delicious and Light Summer Lunch

Today I tried out this recipe for Feta-stuffed Bell Peppers but instead of using bulgur wheat like the recipe called for, I used wild rice and instead of raisins, I used cranberries. This meal combines a variety of sweet and salty savory flavors: feta cheese, cranberries, apples, fresh herbs and scallions. It is fairly simple to make, just cook the rice first then combine all the ingredients along with garlic, olive oil and salt and black pepper, stuff the pepper halves, add a little water at the bottom of the dish and put in the over for 20-25 min. at 350 degrees and voila! You have a light, scrumptious and hearty meal.

Reason #1 to go Vegetarian: When you go vegetarian, you can actually justify treating yourself to luxury items more often that may otherwise not make economic sense, such as this relatively pricey wild rice by Uncle Bens that already comes seasoned, tastes delicious and is ready in 15 minutes.

T- Daily Word Dose

Tantamount - Equivalent, as in value, force, effect or signification: His angry speech was tantamount to a declaration of war; His financial manipulation was tantamount to theft.

Tepid - 1. Moderately warm; lukewarm: The water was tepid. 2. Characterized by a lack of force of enthusiasm: The critics' tepid reception for the new play.

Treacherous - 1. Characterized by faithlessness or readiness to betray trust; traitorous  2. Deceptive, untrustworthy, or unreliable  3. Unstable or insecure, as footing.

Tumultuous -1. Full of tumult (violent and noisy commotion or disturbance of a crowd or mob) or riotousness; marked by disturbance or uproar: The Vancouver Canucks fans became tumultuous when they lost the Stanley Cup. 2. Raising a great clatter and commotion; disorderly or noisy  3. Highly agitated, as the mind or emotions, distraught; turbulent.

Typecast - 1. To stereotype: He realizes he's now been typecast as an executive errand boy.

S - Daily Word Dose

Salient- 1. Noteworthy, prominent or conspicuous: John's distinguished nose was his most salient facial feature.  2. Projecting or pointing outward  3. Leaping or jumping

Saunter -1. To walk with a leisurely gait: He sauntered through the woods. 2. A leisurely walk or ramble; stroll.

Sinister - 1. Threatening of portending evil, harm, or trouble; ominous: The plotting of the evil woman was sinister.  2. Bad, evil, or wicked; fell: She had  a sinister smile on her face which led me to believe she had done something.  3. unfortunate, disastrous or unfavorable

Smitten - 1. Struck, as with a hard blow  2. grievously or disastrously stricken or afflicted  3. very much in love: My husband is very smitten with the neighbour's puppy

Squander - 1. To spend or use (money, time, etc) extravagantly or wastefully (often followed by away): He won the lottery, but he squandered all his money away on foolish things  2. To scatter

Some Things Are Different In Photo

 Published in FFWD Weekly on June 23, 2011 http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/arts/visual-arts/some-things-are-different-in-photo-7673/

 

If ever there was a photographer who could transcend the medium’s limitation of capturing a millisecond in time, it is Canadian David Burdeny. His large-scale photographs layer present moments with the preceding ones through his characteristically long exposures, giving them a quality of stillness and movement all at once.

Whether you are looking at his black-and-white Shoreline series, his North/South series depicting icebergs or his latest series entitled Ancora — a signature minimal and surreal style is at play.

Ancora features new work from Japan, Italy, the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Inspired by travel writers, Burdeny embarked on a solo journey to these five continents “by foot, car, boat, motorcycle and happenstance,” seeking “beautiful, delicate and mysterious” moments to capture.

A two- to three-tier composition is typical of his photographs: An enveloping sky is stacked on top of an expansive depiction of land or water with traces of human activity, interjected in between, near the clearly delineated horizon. The only thing that varies within this formula is the proportions: At times equal parts of sky and water; at other times sky takes over three-quarters of the picture plane.

While the one-point perspective effectively draws our eyes into the photograph’s mid-ground where the subject takes place, an almost obscene amount of surface dedicated to negative space invites the viewer to contemplate humanity’s vulnerabilities amid nature’s immensity.

In fact, with a few exceptions, Burdeny abstains from using humans in his images altogether, and even when he does, they are ant-size — as in the surfers featured in his Hawaii portrait — sprinkled into a seemingly infinite landscape.

The mysterious-and-looming quality of his work is owed to his preference of shooting in the light of dusk and dawn, and his impartiality to working in foggy, rainy and misty conditions, which he likes because it eliminates the background clutter and deep shadows.

Ancora presents us with familiar tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Venice’s canals and the Palace of Versailles with surprising twists. Expecting lush and vibrant colours in his Hawaii portrait, for instance, we are instead confronted by a menacing, cold and almost clinical white-and-blue panorama. Similarly, while typically photographed at angles that emphasize its sheer monumentality, the Eiffel Tower is reduced to the background position, its steel structure blending seamlessly with the more prominent curtain of trees in the foreground.

The pristine-and-polished finish of Burdeny’s photographs makes them almost inaccessible, like dishware that is too precious to eat from. This combined with the fact that they are framed in what appear to be shadow-boxes adds to their obscurity.

“Ominous, haunting and beautiful” are some of the adjectives attributed to Burdeny’s art, and while they might not usually be used in the same sentence, here, all three are surprisingly fitting. “Sublime, spiritual, meditative and Zen-like” are equally apt descriptions, as the photographs inspire awe and veneration of something far greater and powerful than ourselves.

A less widely used set of adjectives with regards to Burdeny’s art — desolate, bleak and sombre — is also applicable if not for the intactness of the buildings and cityscapes. One could easily imagine them as post-Armageddon shots, providing clues into the humans that once inhabited the Earth.

Whether man-made or a creation of Mother Nature, reacquainting ourselves with the majestic is productive every now and again, if nothing else to humble ourselves back into perspective.

P - Daily Word Dose

Preamble - 1. An introductory statement; preface; introduction  2. The introductory part of a statute, deed or the like, stating the reasons and intent of what follows  3. A preliminary or introductory fact or circumstance: His childhood in the slums was a preamble to a life of crime.

Precarious - 1. Dependent on circumstances beyond one's control; uncertain; unstable; insecure: An artist has a precarious livelihood. 2. Dependent on the will or pleasure of another; liable to be withdraw or lost   3. Exposed to or involving danger; dangerous; perilous; risky: The crocodile hunter is constantly placing himself in precarious situations.

Precocious - 1. Unusually advanced or mature in development, esp. mental development: The precocious child was ahead of all her classmates.  2. Prematurely developed, as the mind, faculties, etc.  3. Of or pertaining to premature development.

Propensity - 1. A natural inclination or tendency: He has a propensity to drink too much; She has a propensity for using big words.

Purport - 1. To present, esp. deliberately, the appearance of being; profess or claim, often falsely: Does the new mayor purport to have the solutions to all the problems in our city?  2. To convey to the mind as the meaning or thing intended; express or imply.

Wind Preservation Machine Holds Beauty

Published in FFWD Weekly on June 16, 2011 http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/arts/visual-arts/gone-with-the-wind-7632/
 
Although the idea of characterizing people as either right-brained or left-brained is now considered over simplistic, remnants of these labels continue to haunt us. Art is considered to be predominantly a right-brain activity, grounded in the three “I’s”: intuition, improvisation and imagination. By extension, the presumption is that artists are wishy-washy, spontaneous and free-spirited.

With this in mind, one might be tempted to look at David Bynoe’s artistic concoctions and wonder whether his empirical nature would be more aptly suited to a career like engineering. As I listen to his enthusiasm while describing the “nuts and bolts” (literally and figuratively) of his latest kinetic installation, I cannot help but picture him working for a place like NASA, designing the latest prototype of a high-tech spaceship. I instantly catch myself and realize that even I, with my art education, am not impervious to thinking in such compartmentalized ways.

Bynoe seems at ease with how he has chosen to reconcile his analytical and artistic sides. While all of his art is grounded in problem solving, he takes great pleasure in the freedom his artistic license grants him.

“I’m good at giving myself a lot of room for error. I’m pretty sloppy,” he says, though the craftsmanship in his installation piece says otherwise.

The artist revels in accomplishing feats that would not likely keep the rest of us up at night, such as how to make a functional canoe that weighs under six kilograms (a canoe on the market weighs anywhere between 30 to 35 kilograms); or the premise of his current exhibition: How to emulate an elusive force like wind in a gallery, and — here is the tricky part — not have it appear too mechanical?

Machine for Preserving the Wind consists of a series of wooden pegs designed to mimic a field of wheat blowing in the wind. Each peg is attached to a cast concrete counterweight, which pivots on a base. A series of ropes attached to two cams (wheels with irregular shapes) control the structure’s movement. The ensemble is powered by a motor, one that is typically used in a household furnace. The “art” in the piece lies in Bynoe’s elegant solution to making each peg move independently of the others, resulting in an eerily realistic sensation of wind gusts.

Many variables, from how much torque is needed to move such a structure, to determining the pattern on the wheels that would allow for a 14-minute lapse without repetition, played into the sculpture’s organic effect. Insisting it is just simple math and common sense, I get instant flashbacks of my physics class as he explains the RPM input/output, reduction due to friction, additional weight due to kinetic movement — I get the sense it is far more complex than he lets on.

“The process,” he says, “is no different than problem solving through any sculpture: You start with the outcome you want and work your way backwards. Once you wrap your head around it, the design follows the function.”

Calling himself slightly anti-social, he admits he has a weird obsession with working everything out by himself. He attributes this characteristic to his training in jewelry design, which he says forces you to be picky and think everything through. Unlike other art forms, jewelry is not very forgiving.

“If you get it wrong, you have to throw it away,” he says.

To an extent, his art practise revolves around letting go of this rigidness.

“Part of it was realizing it doesn’t have to be perfect for it to work.”

Bynoe’s right brain versus left brain dichotomy extends into his daily life. By day, he does research, graphic design and mapping for his dad’s company. By night, he is eager to go from his digital, intangible creations to working with his hands and making something physical. His day job is also what has allowed him to develop his artistic voice.

“After I graduated from ACAD,” he says, “I didn’t really know what kind of art I wanted to make.”

He decided that having a day job that paid for his bills would allow him to make art that didn’t necessarily have to be commercially viable. Still, it likely wouldn’t be too difficult to sell people on a canoe that weighs not much more than their backpack.

Being in his late 20s, it is hard to say where his ingenuity will take him next, but for now, his art can serve as a reminder of the fact that while often placed on opposite sides of the spectrum, engineers and artists are not all that different: both are interested in the how’s of life and are curious observers of nature’s mysterious ways.

M - Daily Word Dose

Minutiae - 1. A small or trivial detail; precise details: The captain cannot be concerned with the minutiae of shipboard life.

Misogyny -1. Hatred, dislike or mistrust of women: The rap album was full of blatant misogyny.

Misty-eyed - 1. Having the eyes blurred, as with tears  2. Having a sentimental or dreamy quality: She had a misty-eyed view of the past.

Modicum -1. A moderate or small amount: He hasn't even a modicum of common sense.

Muster - 1. To call (troops) together, as for inspection  2. To cause to come together; gather: Bring all the volunteers you can muster.  3. To call forth; summon up: She was mustering up the strength to handle the ordeal.

L - Daily Word Dose

Languish - 1. To be or become weak or feeble; droop; fade  2. To lose vigor and vitality: I became languished after a long day of cold calling and rejection  3. To undergo neglect or experience prolonged inactivity; suffer hardship and distress: He languished in prison for 10 years.

Loom -1. To appear indistinctly; Come into view in indistinct and enlarged form: The mountainous island loomed on the horizon  2. To rise before the vision with an appearance of great or portentous size: Suddenly a police officer loomed in front of him. 3. To assume form as an impending event: A battle looms at the convention.

Loquacious - 1. Talking or tending to talk much or freely; talkative; chattering; babbling; garrulous: The loquacious host talked for hours about his adventures in Africa.  2. Characterized by excessive talk; wordy: It was easily the most loquacious play of the season.

Lull -1. To put to sleep or rest by soothing means: She lulled the child by singing. 2. To soothe or quiet  3. To give or lead to feel a false sense of safety; cause to be less alert, aware or watchful.

Lurch - 1. An act or instance of swaying abruptly: The train suddenly lurched forward 2. A sudden tip or roll to one side, as of a ship or staggering person  3. An awkward, swaying or staggering motion or gait: When you release the hand break, the vehicle may begin to lurch

When East Meets West

Published in FFWD Weekly on June 9, 2011 http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/arts/visual-arts/when-east-meets-west-7577/

Brian Batista’s first solo exhibition, Sacred Images, is full of peculiarities. The first is that his body of work features paintings despite the fact that he is trained in media arts and sculpture.

The second is his seemingly arbitrary fascination with Buddhist spirituality and Tibetan thangka (scroll paintings), which inspire his paintings. Expecting a profound explanation for this unusual curiosity, Batista half-jokingly says, “My mom thinks I must be a reincarnated Japanese man because I am interested in all things Asian.”

Upon searching Tibetan thangka images on the Internet, however, it becomes easy to see why he’s so enamoured by them. The use of bold colours, rich iconographic symbols and motifs, complex narratives and fascinating technique could easily serve as muse for any artist, regardless of their stance towards Buddhist philosophy.

But it is one thing to be inspired and quite another to set out to re-create these painstakingly laborious and elaborate images that demand tremendous attention to detail and a careful study of Buddhist scriptures. Due to the explicit nature in which they must depict Buddhist deities or famous religious scenes, an artist must display a certain reverence for their sacredness and adhere to strict standards and guidelines laid out by ancient texts. To bring the issue home, each painting is so loaded with meaning that it requires a one-page explanation.

Admittedly, they also serve as cheat sheets for the artist.“Even I can’t keep track of what all the symbols mean,” Batista confesses.

Faithfulness to tradition is somewhat arbitrary, Batista says. He is careful to follow traditional measurements and render the narratives as accurately as possible, but once the drawing is laid out, tradition goes out the window.

His departure in that regard can be seen in his blatant decision to “westernize” the works. By painting on stretched canvas rather than on brocade (a decorative woven fabric), and adding frames, he is stripping them of their original purpose: namely to spread the teachings associated with important lamas or historical myths.

For Batista, it is not the religion that sparked his interest, but rather the metaphysical qualities associated with the art and its ability to reveal universal truths about the human condition.

One particular diptych shows heaven and hell in a more neutral way than most of us are used to seeing it. The “hell” painting shows a bull crushing a man. The bull in Tibetan mythology is a symbol of ignorance, thus the man is rendered paralyzed by his own ignorance. Conversely, the “heaven” painting shows a man on top of a bull surrounded by deities of wisdom and compassion, virtues highly revered by Buddhists.

Counter to the Christian tradition, this suggests that heaven and hell are right here on Earth and we have the ability to change the one we fall under by merely altering our thoughts. But whereas our society’s tendency is to attribute “bad” to “hell” and “good” to “heaven,” Buddhists do not assign such labels.

“There is no good or bad. They worship violent deities and peaceful ones equally — there’s no judgment,” Batista says.

In fact, Batista says people are assigned a deity just as we are assigned zodiac signs, but just because a deity has bad attributes doesn’t mean the person is bad. The ultimate desire for them is self-awareness and an acknowledgement that these opposing psychological traits are equally part of the journey of life.

The final peculiarity is his process. Claiming he paints more like a printmaker than a painter, Batista’s process is methodical and highly unconventional. He works from light to dark and then dark to light again, at times reversing the foreground and background and playing with the idea of making a flat, cartoon-like work that still has a hierarchy of perspective. Dismissing the easel altogether, all of his paintings are hung on the wall in his studio, and he works on them simultaneously, continuously altering the layers. On any given day, he will select one colour and move from painting to painting using only that hue.

“My paintings are never finished until someone buys them,” he says. “And if you were to decide to buy one, my response would be, ‘OK, now I’m going to finish it.’”

As a thoughtful gesture, he will think of the person who is buying it for the rest of the painting and add a personal touch.

I - Daily Word Dose

Ignoble - 1. Of low character, aims, etc; mean; dishonorable; dispicable; shameful: His mother thought playing piano at a bar was an ignoble use of his talents 2. Of low grade or quality; inferior  . 3. Not noble; of humble descent or rank.

Imbue - 1. To impregnate or inspire, as with feelings, opinions, etc: The new political leader was imbued by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi; For him to become a new God, it is necessary to imbue him with magical abilities. 2. To saturate or impregnate with moisture, color, etc.

Impetuous - 1. Of, pertaining to, or characterized by a rash action, emotion, etc; impulsive: Romeo and Juliet decided to marry after only 2 days. This impetuous behavior led to their deaths. 2. Having great impetus; moving with great force; violent: The impetuous winds.

Incessant - Continuing without interruption; ceaseless; unending: If they don't stop their incessant bickering, I'm going home! The loud and incessant chatter of the people next to us made it hard for us to hear each other.

Innocuous - 1. Not harmful or injurious; harmless: The men looked mean and dangerous, but were really quite innocuous. 2. Not likely to irritate or offend; inoffensive: She meant for it to be an innocuous comment, but he took it as an insult.  3. Not interesting, stimulating or significant; pallid; insipid: An innocuous novel

H - Daily Word Dose

Hail - 1. To cheer, salute or greet; welcome.  2. To acclaim; approve enthusiastically: They hailed the recent advances in medicine.  3. To call out in order to stop, attract attention, ask aid: To hail a cab.

Hamper - 1. To hold back; hinder; impede: A steady rain hampered the progress of the work. 2. To interfere with; curtail: The dancer's movements were hampered by their elaborate costumes.

Heap - 1. A group of things placed, thrown or lying one on another; pile: A heap of stones. 2. Informal. A great quantity or number; multitude: There are always a heap of people in Grand Central Station. 3. verb. To accumulate or amass: The investment banker heaped up riches.

Hedonistic - A person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification.

Hew - 1. To strike (something, esp. wood) with cutting blows, as with an ax: At his age, he's not able to hew trees anymore.  2. To shape or carve from a substance 3. To sever from a larger or another portion  4. To conform to a code, principle, etc: Even in a crisis, we must hew to this nation's principles of liberty, equality and justice.