ODD TRUTHS: THE CRYSTAL-HUNTERS OF CHAMONIX Would you scale a mountain and battle ice-storms for a geode the size of a baseball? It’s a daredevil’s dream. Not everyone can pull it off. Crystal-hunters are an unique breed of adventurer; part rock-climber, mineralogist, and collector. In Chamonix, where the rest of the world takes to the ski…
FANTAST IN FOCUS: MICHAEL PARKES Weaving dreams is no easy task, but Michael Parkes is no ordinary artist. His painted worlds— like Cirque du Soleil performances rendered as trompe-l’œil frescoes—are bold, fantastic, and utterly astonishing. Like a whirling, many-coloured vortex, they collectively suck the viewer into a twilight zone of symbols and secrets. Parkes, a winner…
FANTAST IN FOCUS: DARMON RICHTER In 2011, Darmon Richter stumbled upon some of Bulgaria’s fading national treasures. Amazed and intrigued at the Communist-era buildings and colossi across the country, Darmon set out to scour the land and describe the history behind the architecture in his photographs and essays. Now, in 2015, Darmon is just putting the…
In Mika Suutari’s images of Finland’s countryside, the ‘sound’ of silence peals through small-town farmhouses, rural cornfields, and starlit skies. I spoke with Mika to find out how he’s created the perfect pairing of solitude and beauty. As an aside, you might want to try viewing his photos with the following trailer music. You’ll be happy you did….
FANTAST IN FOCUS: J.W. OCKER Possibly Edgar Allan Poe’s greatest fan, J.W. Ocker is an accomplished author whose articles and op-eds have appeared in places like Atlas Obscura, The Rue Morgue Magazine, The Boston Globe, and The Atlantic. He also runs his own travel blog, O.T.I.S: Odd Things I’ve Seen, and has written two “Grimpendiums” focusing…
ODD TRUTHS: NOBLE DREW ALI, A JAZZ AGE PROPHET Timothy Drew (also known as Noble Drew Ali) rose to prominence in the midst of the Roaring Twenties, the era of bootleggers, speakeasies, and flappers. Although he was part of this milieu, Drew was destined to be the spokesman for what he saw as a spiritual answer…
Like a supernova, Giordano Bruno burst onto the Renaissance ideosphere, shocking and captivating his peers with the explosive literary ejections of his supermassive intellect. He wandered across Europe, dividing his time between meetings with royalty and seminars amongst literati in cities like Oxford and Paris. Although he was most famous for his system of memory and his works of…
Marsilio Ficino’s ascendancy was the result of an unlikely meeting of minds. In 1439, Florentine banking magnate Cosimo de’ Medici started attending philosophical lectures by Gemistos Plethon, a Byzantine Platonist. Although Plethon was part of an official envoy of Greek officials who had been meeting to discuss the future of the Christian church, he might have also been one…
Nigel Hoyle and Vanessa Woolf are the power couple behind several London folk acts. In her role as a raconteur and cultural educator, Vanessa is the presiding spirit of London Dreamtime. She speaks and performs in classrooms, collaborates with artists and historians, and resurrects folktales under the shadow of the night; taking her audience to London’s riversides,…
Like a Narnian portal, Daniel Merriam’s work is one of transport. Without the flick of a wand, his fairies carry you off to carnivalesque and ‘Peter Pan-ish’ neverlands. Merriam was born and raised in the United States and spent his early years working in architectural design. Merriam is also the founder and owner of Bubble…