Showing posts with label dragons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dragons. Show all posts

Friday, January 27, 2012

Friday Flowers: Year of the (Snap)Dragon

Antirrhinum: Red Snapdragons

Jabberwocky
(By Lewis Carroll)

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.


"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"


He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.


And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!


One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.


"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.


'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.



Yeah, I'm in a whimsical mood tonight. ;-)

Taking the theme of dragons, I decided to celebrate Lewis Carroll's birth date, born in 1832. It's not my normal type of poetry selection, but Jabberwocky is an interesting change of pace. The occasional dash of literary nonsense is a good thing.

Antirrhinum: Orange Snapdragons

Likewise, the snapdragons earned another Friday Flower appearance as part of the draconic theme. Additionally, I had a whole bunch of photos from a recent trip to the Huntington Gardens that I wanted to share with you all.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Year of the Dragon

Circle of Zodiac Heads (Dragon) by Ai Weiwei

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

I decided to celebrate by showing a few of my favorite dragons that I've seen over the last year. I'll keep my eyes open for more to share, as a running blog theme, over the course of this year. ;-)

Imagine: If Only There Were Dragons by Kent R. Kraber

Seiryu: Blue Dragon by Yoskay Yamamoto

Enjoy!!!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Dragon, Goddess, and Osprey at the Library

Frank Mando's Pele - Fire Goddess on display at the Manhattan Beach Civic Plaza

Continuing on my public art viewing, I visited the sculpture garden at the Manhattan Beach Civic Center. Over the past couple of years, there have been year long exhibitions of sculptures in front of the library, police department and at the entry to the civic plaza. It really enhances the public space.

Here are some photos of the five at the plaza.

Osprey by Maria T. de Castro


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Summoned By The Jade Emperor

Ai Weiwei's Circle of Zodiac Heads on public display at LACMA (Rat and Ox)

As promised here are some photos of the current public exhibition of Ai Weiwei's Circle of Zodiac Heads at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It's a really cool display, recreating the famous bronze heads from the Zodiac Fountain of the Chinese Imperial Palace in Yuan Ming Yuan. The originals were looted by foreign troops during the 2nd Opium War in 1860.

The pieces are expressions of Chinese nationalist iconography, especially as testaments against western colonialism. However, they are also designed to be separate from any fixed location, being wanderers of the world's cultural venues. It's an interesting contrast of thematic emphasis.

In any case, they are wonderful sculptures of the Chinese Zodiac animals.


Ai Weiwei's Circle of Zodiac Heads (Tiger and Rabbit)

Unlike the western zodiac, the Chinese assign a sign for the entire year. We are currently in the Year of the Rabbit.