Journal articles on the topic 'Folk sculptor'

Tadeusz Staich (1919–1987) was a Tatra guide, author of sightseeing essays and a poet, author of poems about the Tatra Mountains. During the war he took part in secret teaching and in the resistance movement. In 1956, together with Hanna Pieńkowska, he published a monumental book Drogami skalnej ziemi (Rock Roads). It was a monograph of Podhale’s sightseeing, documenting the state of his spiritual and material culture around 1955. His last work — published posthumously — was a monograph of the historic church in Dębno. The main character is a folk sculptor Józef Janos.

The article is devoted to the artistic legacy of Bashkir sculptor Ruslan Nigmatullin, one of the leading masters of contemporary visual arts in the republic. The relatedness of artistic expressive means of music with those in the plastic arts, their expressive elements become more apparent in the comparison of music and abstract art in the process of generation of the artistic image. The authors examine the artist’s oeuvres in the context of the particularity of sculpture as a peculiar art which requires from the viewer the knowledge of the laws of artistic form-generation and an understanding of their language, based on such elements as mass and space. The article presents an analysis of the artist’s works made of stone, metal or wood, while the artist himself sees their source as being connected with music. During the course of his entire artistic path Ruslan Nigmatullin has created sculptures in different directions: realism, decorative plastic and abstract art. The master’s art works, according to the authors of the article, are all unified by an inner figurative idea: when looking at the sculptor’s works it is possible to observe their inherent qualities: contemplation, abstraction and pure sound — natural, ethnic and sometimes purely songrelated, enhancing their relatedness to music. The artist considers one of the sources of his inspiration to be the historical Asian melodies, which share common roots with the ethnic music of the Bashkirs, Kazakhs and Tuvans. The authors provide an analogy between the folk songs of these peoples and their instrumental tunes, the latter being marked with a concise, measured rhythmic structure, and the artist’s works, his ability to create new forms, frequently just as abstract as the melodies with which it is associated.

e article concerns the question of the reincarnation and the development of ideas in visual arts - from form to form and from one world to another. The affirmation of the abstract idea in the contemporary American art and presumably the prototypes related to this process - the works of K. Brancusi and K. Malevich. Certain ideas characterize the creativity of these authors - Konstantin Brancusi and the folk presentation of ideas and forms, Kazimir Malevich with thematerial "Form, Color and Sensation" in "Contemporary Architecture", issue 5 of 1928. Meditation practice must be considered as reflection, concentrating attention on an object that is external to the body to help achieve the visual image and the meaning of the idea. The exhibition (in the “Arario”gallery) by the South Korean author (sculptor) Um Tai-Jung isat the core of the study, in some of his works are found prototypes or quotes from works by K. Brancusi and K. Malevich.The movements of ideas in the context of East - West, West - East and East - East, as well as the works of Um Tai-Jung "Mandala" and "Stranger Holding Two Wings" are analyzed. It might be concluded that these works as new objects themselves have been created as giving rise to meditation. Based on Malevich’sstatement that the achievement of the world is inaccessible to the artist, it can be said that just as reality cannot be achieved, the artist’s creativity is also unattainable to the viewer, except as meditation.

For the masters of modern art of Kazakhstan, along with the importance of samples of classical culture and discoveries of modernist art, Kazakh folk art is becoming a single field of tradition today. Intertextuality, constant dialogue with different layers of world and national painting and sculpture determine the search for new expressiveness in art. This article describes the role of intertextuality in the development of new forms of artistic statements, namely, as in the works of modern Kazakh sculptors (S.Bekbotayev, D.Sarbasov, Z.Kozhamkulov), jewelers (A.Mukazhanov), tapestry masters (A.Bapanov), the importance of the values of native culture as a space of cultural memory is preserved. Experiments with the material are perceived as a ritual, a creative act, a search for their own author's style, modern means of expression of the artist. It is shown that the danger of losing one's own national identity associated with the process of globalization explains the interest of the masters in the author's myth-making, designed to awaken the spiritual foundations of the nation in the minds of contemporaries. Through mechanical details, sculptors create new myths in order to streamline the ethical and psychological state of a modern person, while in the works of masters of decorative and applied art, bricolage is practiced as a combination of different materials and textures, meanings and images closest to the construction of a myth.

The article deals with the features of mythopoetic models in S.T. Konenkov’s sculpture. Despite the fact that monographs, albums, dozens of articles are devoted to the maestro’s works and they are quite well studied, the nature of the mythologism of S.T. Konenkov’s artistic thinking has not been fully revealed. In the ideological context of Soviet art studies, which were based on the methodology of the “social history of art”, only the fact of the sculptor’s deep interest in archaic folk traditions was noted, while this topic can be considered as a natural manifestation of the myth-making process characteristic of the art of the 20th century as a whole. Using the example of S.T. Konenkov’s works, the article attempts to retrace the formation specifics of the “non-classical artistic language” of mythopoetics in the Russian land, which consisted in the fact that, unlike Western European artists who would immerse in the exotic world of archaic art of non-European origin (primarily Africa), Russian masters were fascinated by their home antiquity. When considering the mythological structures that served as the basis for the mythopoetic models of S.T. Konenkov’s sculptural projects, three basic groups can be conditionally distinguished: a direct appeal to ancient mythology, pagan Slavic reminiscences, and a mythological interpretation of a freshly created new world. It is thanks to myth-making that the characters of S.T. Konenkov’s sculptural compositions, despite all the heterogeneity of specific subjects, belong to the integrity of a single cosmos created by the mythopoetic consciousness of the maestro. At the same time, the common mythological foundations of the Russian sculpture development in that period determine the commonality of the mythopoetic models, characteristic not only of S.T. Konenkov’s works. In many ways, they are also quite clearly manifested in the works of S.D. Erzia, A.S. Golubkina, and others.

Abstract Folk art revivals were incubators for modernist movements in painting, sculpture, architecture, applied arts, and performing arts. The upsurge of national sentiment in late Imperial Russia and official economic support of handicraft industries (known as kustar’) promoted the marketing of wood crafts and textiles made at Abramtsevo, Talashkino, and other centers in western Russia and Ukraine. Parallel developments drew upon both folk traditions and patriotic ideals in the central and eastern European countries that had suffered territorial encroachments by Russia, Prussia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Artists’ groups and art colonies showed special respect for regional landscapes, peasant communities, and local artistic traditions. Their activities reflected nationalist ideologies, as well as practical, economic, and philanthropic concerns. The variety of circumstances and motivations sheds light on the phenomena of art colonies, new valuations of applied art forms, and the enduring importance of education in traditional crafts.

Utworzenie autonomicznego województwa śląskiego w ramach polskiego państwa narodowego oraz diecezji katowickiej wiązało się z reorganizacją systemu władzy, w którym poczesne miejsce zajęły grupy polsko-śląskich duchownych oraz urzędników i świeckiej inteligencji. Ich wzajemna rywalizacja oraz wspólne dążenie do nacjonalizacji Górnoślązaków w duchu polskim inspirowały dwa odmienne, choć spokrewnione dyskursy, w których wykorzystywano środki obrazowe. Wśród nich znaczącą rolę odgrywały alegoryczne wizualizacje Polski, zakorzenione w tradycjach sztuki polskiej przełomu XIX/XX wieku. W wystrojach gmachów Sejmu Śląskiego i Śląskiego Urzędu Wojewódzkiego oraz starostwa powiatowego w Katowicach zastosowano motyw Polonia Triumphans. W pierwszym z przypadków rzeźbiarz Jan Raszka nadał personifikacji wczesnośredniowieczną stylizację, nawiązującą do piastowskiego „złotego wieku”, a u jej tronu umieścił asystę w osobach hutnika i górnika, stylizowanych na kresowych rycerzy. Inna z płaskorzeźb przedstawia Polonię jako Nike i Wolność prowadzącą do boju powstańca śląskiego, zobrazowanego jako hutnik z młotem, oraz żołnierza walczącego z Czechami o Śląsk Cieszyński. Wątek zbrojnej walki o granice pojawia się także w malowidłach Felicjana Szczęsnego Kowarskiego w budynku starostwa, gdzie ukazaną w postaci greckiej heroiny Polonię z mieczem i tarczą flankują postaci śląskich herosów – całość programu ma jawnie rewizjonistyczną wymowę. Wyraźnie większe bogactwo wątków prezentuje zespół trzech obrazów Józefa Unierzyskiego, zamówionych do kościoła mariackiego w Katowicach. Ich centralną postacią jest Maria Królowa Korony Polskiej, przybierająca cechy Polonii Triumphans. Fundamentem łączności Górnego Śląska z Polską jest tu wspólna katolicka wiara. Górnośląski lud pod przywództwem bliskich mu kapłanów włącza się u stóp Madonny w nurt polskiej historii, określony dziejową misją przedmurza chrześcijaństwa, wnosząc jako wiano żywą religijność i pracowitość. Na zlecenie proboszcza ks. Emila Szramka malarz zaprezentował zrastanie się z polskością jako naturalny i obustronnie korzystny proces. The creation of the autonomous Silesian voivodeship within the borders of the Polish nation state and of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Katowice meant a profound change in the distribution of power, the groups of Polish-Silesian clergy and Polish bureaucrats, as well as secular intelligentsia gaining increasingly in importance. Their rivalry and common effort to polonize Upper Silesians inspired two different, although interrelated discourses, visual means being involved in both of them. Among the motives, implemented in the propaganda, allegorical depictions of Poland - rooted in the traditions of the Polish art of the turn of the twentieth century – played a significant role. In the decorations of the edifices of Silesian Sejm and Silesian Voivodeship Office and of the county authorities they were shaped as the personification of Polonia Triumphans. In the former case the sculptor Jan Raszka represented the allegory as an early medieval figure, reminding of a „golden age” of the Piast dynasty, seated on the throne and accompanied by a coal miner and a foundry-worker, stylized as borderland knights. In another bas-relief Polonia was depicted as Victory and Liberty leading into battle a Polish-Silesian insurgent, rendered as a foundry-worker with a hammer in his hands, and a soldier, fighting against Czechs for Teschen Silesia. The strand of military fighting over disputed territories occurs also in the paintings by Felicjan Szczęsny Kowarski in the Katowice County Hall, where Polonia, depicted as a Greek heroine with a sword and a shield, is accompanied by Silesian heroes and the meaning of the decoration is manifestly revisionist, advocating moving Polish border westwards. A conspicuosly wider range of contents is reflected in a series of three paintings by Józef Unierzyski, ordered for St. Mary’s Church in Katowice. Their central figure is Mary the „Queen of the Polish Crown”, assuming the features of Polonia Triumphans. The connection between Upper Silesia and Poland is founded here on the common catholic faith. At the feet of Madonna Upper Silesian folk, led by clergy, that remains faithfull to its popular roots, and bringing its vivid religiosity and dilligence, joins the stream of the Polish history, determined by the historical mission of antemurale christianitatis,. Commissioned by the parson Emil Szramek, the painter represented the growing together of Upper Silesia and Poland as a natural and mutually profitable process.

During New York City's newly opened Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA's) fourth exhibition season of 1932–33, while director and intellectual leader Alfred H. Barr, Jr. was on sabbatical leave in Europe, interim director Holger Cahill mounted a show of 18th- and 19th-century American arts and crafts. Offered for sale in New England as antiques at the time of the show, the items on display in Cahill's American Folk Art: The Art of the Common Man in America 1750–1900 obscured the divisions between the avant-garde and the traditional, between high art and the everyday object. In an exhibit of items not easily categorized as modern nor properly considered art, MoMA admitted such local antiques and curiosities as weather vanes and amateur paintings into spaces otherwise reserved for the likes of Cézanne and Picasso.

The development of modern industrial design has a great influence on the product design, not only on the function and structure of products, but also on the combination between these elements and culture. As one famous folk craft of Shaanxi Guanzhong Xifu, Fengxiang sculpture consists of lot totems, pattern, shape, color and craft elements which could be used in design. Tableware design combined with traditional culture can reflect the functions; at the same time improve the artistic quality of products and rich the interest. Products are endowed with the traditional culture elements, in this way, the product is not only a product, but the new soil of the traditional culture.

In India, we find the worship of great mother in varying forms. The Female figures from Indus civilization indicate the fertility cult. , the early records of terracotta sculpture are the evidences. Since IInd century A.D. Devi Durga, Lakshmi and Matraka are remain popular and worshipped. The goddess on a lion depicted first time in Kushan Period. Some of the goddess is the anthromorphic personification of nature. The Yakshis are the nature goddess. In Folk societies, socialization, education, recreation and communication of new ideas moral values and knowledge are inculcated by the women. They are the active bearer of oral tradition in India.

This article first elaborates Huaiyang Clay Dogs through their historical and cultural background as well as species classification, analyzing their modeling concepts: with reproduction worship as the main line, warding off evil and ensuring peace for the assistance, and auspicious for the embellishment. On this basis, the article makes further analysis of Huaiyang Clay Dog’s modeling techniques such as common image and structure, complex proliferation, overstated shape-changing, ideographic symbol, combination of painting and sculpture, interpreting the modeling implied meaning of Huaiyang Clay Dog and putting forward the research concept that advocates a combination of Modeling techniques and moral. By researching modeling moral and practices of the Huaiyang Clay Dogs, the rich implication this kind of folk art will be further excavated, promoting traditional culture.

AbstractLiberations through the senses are the soteriological practices of the Tibetan Buddhists, a counterpart to and an elaboration on what in Europe is occasionally described, somewhat contemptuously, as "rattling off one's prayers". Linked with folk beliefs and rituals and labelled "naive sensualism" in European ethnographic terminology, Tibetan "liberation through senses" are all those religious behaviours (as well as related sacred objects) - such as listening to and repeating mantras, circumambulation of stūpas, looking at sacred images, tasting relics, smelling and touching sacred substances - which are accompanied by a belief that sensual contact with a sacred object (sculpted figure, painting, mandala, stūpa, holy man, tree, mount, book, substance, etc.) can give one hope and even certainty of achieving liberation. This study argues against ethnological conclusion, classifying such a kind of behaviour as a typical example of non-reflective folk-religiousness. The text is concerned with an in-depth interpretation of "liberations through the senses." The soteriological idea of endless repetition, associated with the process of destroying the discursive consciousness, is projected on the background of comparative religion. Subsequently, the full soteriological cycle, beginning with rattling off prayers and ending with "a borderline experience," is traced in the Tibetan and other religious materials.

Rock Canyon near Provo, Utah is an ideal outdoor laboratory. The canyon has been known and explored for many years by scientists and students for its fascinating geology, biology, and botany. It is also a favorite location for rock climbers, hikers, and other outdoor enthusiasts. Facilities near the mouth of the canyon including parking, restrooms, a lecture amphitheater, and a covered pavilion with picnic tables provide an ideal location for visitors. Geology is the focal point of this beautiful canyon with a history that stretches from the Precambrian (about 700 million years ago) to the Wasatch fault and Lake Bonneville, which covered much of western Utah at its peak roughly 18,000 years ago. Excellent exposures of the rocks allow visitors to see features clearly and piece together the history of the canyon. The oldest rocks are glacial deposits of the Mineral Fork Tillite. The tillite is overlain by a thick section of Paleozoic rocks of Cambrian to Permian age, all of which have been deformed into an asymmetric, overturned fold formed during the Sevier orogeny, a roughly 140 to 50 million year old mountain building event. The upper reaches of the canyon were sculpted by glaciers during the Pleistocene and deposits of the Provo and Bonneville levels of Lake Bonneville are found at the mouth of the canyon, now cut by a recent alluvial fan. Also, at the mouth of the canyon are excellent exposures of features associated with the Wasatch fault.

Affirming himself during the postmodern period, it is as if sculptor Kuzma Kovačić never cared about the appearance of the new artistic trend. His oeuvre does not display any inclination, not even a rudimentary interest in postmodern compiling and referencing of historical sources. The age of fragmentary visual models creaed by the idea about the loss of cultural unity which attempted to construct itself on the shards of the broken ‘art-historical vase’ did not seem to touch him at all. On the other hand, Kovačić is not a follower of the preceding modernist period which emphasized the experimental nature of art, formal and analytical models where subject matter was identified with material and technique. It seems that in his case, the call of heritage and stories from the native region had outshone any interest in being part of the chronological succession of trends and generations. Grgo Gamulin once wrote that this sculptor ‘observes and forms the seasons, sea, stations of the Cross, sermons, epistles, evangelists and saints’. It seems that he is not so much looking towards what is new on the artistic horizon as towards what the home region of Hvar, the Mediterranean and Christianity have left imprinted on the millennial physiognomy of landscape and people. Kovačić wants to direct our attention to the context of culture and tradition, but also to the structure of surface, and in this, between the private and collective, the significant and insignificant, the intimate and public, he does not see any obstacle. Equally so, he does not make a difference between the traditional representational materials in sculpture and he extensively uses trivial everyday material: cotton, glass, sponge, resin, paper, cellophane, cardboard, plexi-glass, polyester, silver and gold leaves, sand, soil, polystyrene, nails, quicklime and light. The philosophy of Kovačić’s oeuvre convinces us that nothing in the world is so insignificant so as not to have a particular role in the grand scheme of things. Thus, behind proud structures of human vanity, behind large buildings, imperial residences, triumphal arches, but also in nondescript stones of human modesty one can find the hidden wisdom of eternity. For this reason, even when producing monumental works such as the doors of Hvar Cathedral, Kovačić does not indulge in the ceremonial pomp of the glorious past. Besides, he does not belong to those who reconstruct large building complexes, he is not attracted to the monuments of earthly powers and wonders of the world which aim at the sky which remains always equally distant. On the contrary, he is fond of the scratches on the wall, a clumsy record in stone, which resist the progress of time as if by a miracle, outliving many famous palaces and dilapidated temples by its perpetuity. It can even be said that these frail impressions which defy transience impress him more than the structures envisaged and created to last unchanged forever. The doors he made for Hvar Cathedral are a good example of this. They have nothing in common with the classic Gothic-Renaissance forms. Here, Kovačić seems to address deeper layers of traditional forms, and in compact and robust forms we recognize the early Christian manner, but also that of the folks people’s touching sentimentality (and piety) which did not care for the refined rules of elite culture.Neither did Kovačić lose his head by pleasing the snobbish politicians and the newly converted believers when he worked on the so-called tasks of national sovereignty, following the late 1990s change of government in Croatia. However, it can be noticed that he moved away from the works such as “Velegorki”, “Lo, the Sea is Sweating with Blood” (“Evo se more znoji krvavim znojem”) and “The Description Of the Origins of Croatian Sculpture” (“Opis početaka hrvatskog kiparstva”) to the lyrical realism evident in his depicting of popes, saints, the “Altar of the Homeland”, Christ, The Last Supper, Franjo Tuđman and Gojko Šušak. Of course, this does not mean that he has lost vitality and potency, nor that these works are bad, but simply that he took a turn towards a certain type of realism and depiction of figures, instead of representing them as signs and symbols, as he had done before the “renascence of national sovereignty”.One of the large public projects by Kuzma Kovačić was the “Altar of Croatian Homeland” on Medvedgrad. This project, executed during the presidency of Franjo Tuđman (1994), caused much public dispute, whether concerning the restoration of the feudal burg or the idea that altars without a liturgical purpose should be erected to the Homeland. However, it was generally accepted that Kuzma Kovačić’s sculptural complex was the best that happened to this lay sanctification of the place. In spite of the drawing on the geometry of Croatian chequers, with Medvedgrad Kovačić also showed that he is neither a minimalist nor a reductionist who distils forms into geometric purism. His geometry is narrative, his cubes and glass shapes contain the trace of human hand, stamps of the ages and symbolical signs. However, his projects, connected to state commissions, were criticised by parts of the general public, not because of their insufficient artistic merit and obsequiousness to political establishment and their doubtful taste (in particular that which likes to see itself as generating projects of national sovereignty and veers towards kitsch), but because of the political context which was causing hatred. The same happened to the monumental public statues of Franjo Tuđman and Gojko Šušak which were evaluated mostly in the overheated political sphere of opinions for or against the persons portrayed. Not many, not even the apologeticists of HDZ nomenclature, considered Kovačić’s sculptures and their form. Perhaps the best example is the statue of Dražen Petrović which, unlike those mentioned, had no political context and thus did not cause any controversy. In any case, it is certain that even when working on large public statues or in churches, Kovačić is equally successful in mastering the monumental form, and in the intimistic rendition of the miniature form which represents the majority of his oeuvre (and also the best). In doing so, the dimensions themselves (i.e. large scale) do not mean that Kovačić has given up on sculpture which is inherently intimistic, compact, non-representational and which directs its power towards the core, rather than expanding into external rhetoric.

This paper discusses issues common to architecture, sculpture and acoustics and presents the authors' design of an acoustic ceramic module, currently in the prototype stage. The project was conceived to create a system of ceramic tiles that can create a space as well as enhance the acoustics of its interior. Modularity ensures that through numerous combinations many patterns can be produced from one tile design. The ceramic materials used may vary, from porous chamotte to the smooth surfaces of casting slips to glazing. The key issue, apart from shaping an interior architecture, was to focus on the acoustic function of the tiles. The creative process was of a two-fold nature: Its visual aspect focused on individualization of the space, while its functional one was to ensure acoustically comfortable interiors.

Tissue folding is a fundamental process that sculpts a simple flat epithelium into a complex three-dimensional organ structure. Whether it is the folding of the brain, or the looping of the gut, it has become clear that to generate an invagination or a fold of any form, mechanical asymmetries must exist in the epithelium. These mechanical asymmetries can be generated locally, involving just the invaginating cells and their immediate neighbours, or on a more global tissue-wide scale. Here, we review the different mechanical mechanisms that epithelia have adopted to generate folds, and how the use of precisely defined mathematical models has helped decipher which mechanisms are the key driving forces in different epithelia. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Contemporary morphogenesis'.

The Guarapiranga Dam region, in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, has been an endemic area for Brazilian spotted fever (BSF), a tick-borne disease caused by the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii. In this particular area, R. rickettsii is known to be transmitted to humans by Amblyomma aureolatum, a typical dog tick that is not associated with horses. In other BSF-endemic areas, R. rickettsii transmission is associated with Amblyomma sculptum, a tick species that typically infest capybaras and horses. The Guarapiranga Dam bears abundant populations of capybaras and horses; however, since nothing is known about a possible cycle of transmission of R. rickettsii by A. sculptum in this area, this study evaluated such transmission by performing a serosurvey of horses living in the Guarapiranga Dam region. A total of 206 equids living in the margins of the Guarapiranga Dam were serologically tested for antibodies reactive to five Rickettsia species, four of the spotted fever group (R. rickettsii, R. parkeri, R. amblyommatis, R. rhipicephali) and one basal group species, R. bellii. Overall, 171 (83%) equids reacted positively to at least one Rickettsia species. A total of 160 (78%), 123 (60%), 80 (39%), 72 (35%), and 71 (34%), equid sera reacted to R. bellii, R. rickettsii, R. parkeri, R. rhipicephali, and R. amblyommatis, respectively, with endpoint titers ranging from 64 to 1024 for R. bellii, and 64 to 512 for the remaining four Rickettsia species. Endpoint titers to R. bellii (median: 256) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than the endpoint titers to the other four Rickettsia species, for which the median values varied from 64 to 128. A total of 65 (32%) equid sera showed endpoint titers to R. bellii at least 4-fold higher than those to any of the other four antigens, indicating that they have been exposed to R. bellii or a very closely related species. Our results provide serological evidence that the sampled equids were not frequently exposed to R. rickettsii-infected ticks. Since horses are a highly suitable sentinel for R. rickettsii transmission by A. sculptum, we conclude that this tick species has no epidemiological role in the transmission of R. rickettsii in the BSF-endemic area of the Guarapiranga Dam in the metropolitan area of São Paulo Municipality.

In the two decades since the establishment of the people’s Republic of China, the challenges facing porcelain production have changed significantly. Porcelain production is one of the most important and oldest traditions in China. In the 1950s, porcelain craftsmen became involved in the creation of new forms of interior plastics. Many of the pieces they created are now part of museum collections and represent the history of the development of Chinese interior porcelain. Using the example of three museums and three reference monuments, the article examines the key trends in the development of porcelain art and stylistic changes that occurred during this period. The following museums have been selected as examples to showcase the specifics of Chinese porcelain art from this period: the China Ceramic and Porcelain Museum located in Jingdezhen City, which is the country’s first major art museum specializing in ceramics; the Chinese Fine Arts Museum in Beijing, which specializes in collecting, researching and displaying works of Chinese artists of modern and contemporary eras; and the Guangdong Folk Art Museum, which specializes in collecting, researching and displaying Chinese folk art. All of these museums are engaged in collecting porcelain, including interior porcelain plastics from the mid-20th century. In the collections of the aforementioned museums, three works were selected for analysis. These are three paired compositions created in the second half of the 1950s: the sculpture “An Old Man and a Child with a Peach” by Zeng Longsheng, “Good Aunt from the Commune” by Zhou Guozhen and “Fifteen coins. The rat case” by Lin Hongxi. These porcelain compositions reveal close relations with Chinese national culture and not only reflect various scenes, but are also aimed at expanding the role of porcelain in decorating residential interiors.

This is the first English translation of a remarkable two-part lecture given by Cornelius Castoriadis at the École des hautes etudes en sciences sociales in January 1992. The lecture features within a series on social transformation and the task of creative forms of labour. In this installment Castoriadis explores the significance of art through a creative reading of Aristotle's famous definition of tragedy in the Poetics. He rejects Aristotle's dependence on the mimetic tradition in search for a vision of art as the unveiling of the creative resources that lie within the human being. Yet he retains Aristotle's vivid depiction of art as a form of production that is at once cognitive, emotive and social. Art, for Castoriadis, affects a transformation on the level of imagination that opens us anew to the fundamental questions of human being and doing. Through his extensive knowledge of western forms of artistic production Castoriadis draws lucid connections between Aristotle, Shakespeare, Kant, Hegel, Greek sculpture, renaissance painting, modern literature and folk music to explore the work of art as a ‘window into chaos’, a creative production that gives form to what cannot be formed: the ground of creativity at the heart of the imagination.

Two new species from China, Bryochoerus liupanensis sp. nov. and Pseudechiniscus chengi sp. nov. (Tardigrada: Heterotardigrada: Echiniscidae), are reported. Bryochoerus liupanensis sp. nov. is characterized by median plates 1 and 2 divided into four parts while median plate 3 is divided into three parts, and by two lateral plates on each side of all median plates. The new species differs from Bryochoerus intermedius in having a different cuticular sculpture and different lateral plates. Pseudechiniscus chengi sp. nov. is characterized by: head plate faceted, cephalic papilla dome-shaped, pseudosegmental plate with a longitudinal median fold, all plates including the dorsal plates and plates on legs with ornamentation composed of dense round dots, differing in size, and lacking striae between the dots. Pseudechiniscus chengi sp. nov. is most similar to Pseudechiniscus santomensis but differs by: lacking striae between the round dots on dorsal plates, lacking the tiny projections on the caudal margin of pseudosegmental plate, and the divided pseudosegmental plate.

Based on the material deposited in the Marine Biological Museum of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, the present paper reports 26 turrid species, which belong respectively to three genera of the subfamily Turrinae, including four new species, Gemmula grandigyrata sp. nov., Gemmula flata sp. nov., Lophiotoma pseudocosmoi sp. nov., and L. verticala sp. nov., and four species newly recorded from the China seas. Gemmula grandigyrata sp. nov. is peculiar in the genus in having a large conical protoconch of six whorls; Gemmula flata sp. nov. is similar to the “martini series Powell, 1964” in the shell profile, but can be easily separated from the species of this series by the shell sculpture; Lophiotoma pseudocosmoi sp. nov. differs from the close species of the genus Lophiotoma and a similar species of the genus Gemmula, G. cosmoi (Sykes, 1930), by the peripheral carina and the shell height; Lophiotoma verticala sp. nov looks like a species of genus Fusiturris, F. undatiruga (Bivona, 1832), but differs from the latter by the stronger axial fold, less conspicuous spiral folds, stronger peripheral carina and deeper sinus.

Mechanical metamaterials are usually designed to show desired responses to prescribed forces. In some applications, the desired force–response relationship is hard to specify exactly, but examples of forces and desired responses are easily available. Here, we propose a framework for supervised learning in thin, creased sheets that learn the desired force–response behavior by physically experiencing training examples and then, crucially, respond correctly (generalize) to previously unseen test forces. During training, we fold the sheet using training forces, prompting local crease stiffnesses to change in proportion to their experienced strain. We find that this learning process reshapes nonlinearities inherent in folding a sheet so as to show the correct response for previously unseen test forces. We show the relationship between training error, test error, and sheet size (model complexity) in learning sheets and compare them to counterparts in machine-learning algorithms. Our framework shows how the rugged energy landscape of disordered mechanical materials can be sculpted to show desired force–response behaviors by a local physical learning process.

This paper explores the complex semiotic entanglement between discourse, ideology and practical application surrounding the neoliberal welfare policy known as workfare. It focuses particularly on the Flexible New Deal - the version of workfare trialled in the UK from 2009 to 2010 under New Labour. The Flexible New Deal was a privately administered, for-profit, payment-by-results scheme which made receipt of welfare benefits conditional upon reciprocal activity – in particular, attendance at workfare centres for “re-training”. This paper provides a Marxist-semiotic analysis of an actual Flexible New Deal centre, based on participant observation in 2010. This is framed within a wider analysis which proposes that an economic undercode dialectically interacts with class-racist ideology to semiotically sculpt the victims of structural unemployment into an apparent culture of pathological dysfunction – a theatrical illusion which nevertheless renders each unemployed person victim to a mendacious “rhyming up” with media folk-devils. In conclusion, this paper argues that via the term “underclass”, individual states of poverty are transformed into the perception of a socially-cancerous, welfare funded, expanding state (i.e. nation) within the State. This elision of personal and plural, and transubstantiation of the processes of poverty into people, is marked by the novel signifier “s/State”.

On the base of typical hypothetical reconstructions according to the stages of the development of the attire upon archaeological material the comparative history of attires of two states is restored. At the end of the 11th – in the beginning of the 12th century and later, the features of heavy metal attire were preserved, in Volga Bulgaria – of Finno-Ugric and nomadic, in Old Rus’ – mainly of Slavic one. At the end of the 11th – the first half of the 12th century noisy attires of different designs were formed. In the first half – the middle of the 12th century filigree, niello, openwork weaving were combined in Bulgarian jewelry. Adornments were complemented with bead pendants of new shapes. In Rus’, enamel attire of the sacred-ascetic style created innovations, the niello one was distinguished with a variety of ornamentation (wide bracelets), the filigree retained Slavic traditions. At the end of the 12th – the first third of the 13th century the best jewelry was created. In Bulgaria the temporal rings were complemented by a miniature filigree sculpture, necklaces and chains with pendants presented. Original filigree bracelets with oval endings were famous. In Rus’, enamel and black attires were made in exaggerated and lush styles; luxurious frames of jewelry with filigree technique were used. Filigree attire changed constructively, moving away from folk traditions. In Bulgarian attire the traditions of local and eastern jewelry combined; in Russian attire – of local and Byzantine jewelry.

ABSTRACT The Sheepscot River estuary in west-central coastal Maine is a typical example of a long linear embayment sculpted by glacial ice flowing nearly parallel to bedrock strike. After initial déglaciation 13,500 yrs. BP it was covered by glaciomarine mud, the Presumpscot Formation. Isostatic rebound resulted in a rapid sea-level fall and the channeling, winnowing, and consolidation of the Presumpscot Formation, until sea-level reached a lowstand about 65 m below present, 9500 yrs. BP. Subsequent sea-level rise caused flooding of the paleovalley of the Sheepscot, with reworking of the Pleistocene. High resolution seismic reflection profiling, vibracoring, and surficial mapping has allowed reconstruction of the Quaternary stratigraphy and the generation of an evolutionary model of sedimentary environments. At present the estuary exhibits three zones : an outer zone stripped of sediment, a middle zone undergoing erosion by tidal currents and slumping on bluffs and channel margins, and an inner zone of sediment accumulation on flats and in marshes, with redistribution of sediments by tidal currents. This three-fold division held throughout the Holocene transgression, with sediments being temporarily stored in the upper regions of the estuary, and reworked as sea-level rise continued.

AbstractWithin the Hydroporini, the Deronectes-group of genera are characterised by having the mesosternal fork and metasternal keel separated (or secondarily fused), the ventral elytral ridge posteriorly elevated but without ligula, and the male protarsus ventrally without adhesive discs. The genera of the group, viz. Deronectes Sharp, 1882, Stictotarsus Zimmermann, 1919, Scarodytes Gozis, 1914, and Nebrioporus Regimbart, 1906, are reclassified and a hypothesis of their phylogenetic relationships is presented. Karyotypes of 14 European species of Hydroporinae are discussed. Nebrioporus is extended to include most species with parameres with apex hook-like and sclerotised, with Potamonectes Zimmermann, 1921, as a junior synonym, syn. n. Nebrioporus s. str. and Zimmermannius Guignot, 1941 are recognized as subgenera of Nebrioporus. Scarodytes is kept as a separate genus because of its characteristic ventral sculpture and seemingly higher number of autosomes than in Nebrioporus. The species with simple parameres previously placed in Potamonectes are transferred to Stictotarsus together with S. bertrandi (Legros, 1956), previously in Deronectes. Consequently, Trichonectes Guignot, 1941, is a junior subjective synonym of Stictotarsus, syn.n. In an appendix, a check-list is provided for the species of the Deronectes-group. The subgenus Nebrioporus s. str. is divided into three species-groups: the kilimandjarensis-, the abyssinicus-, and the depressus-groups.

A work of art – a link between the present and the past. History and patriotism in non-professional art In her article, the author discusses art of non-professional artists who shape the national identity in an original way. In the former professional art, the works which illustrated and uplifted history were very popular. This phenomenon is still present among folk, naive, intuitive artists, generally speaking – non-professionals. The work of their hands and imagination is a tool serving the purpose of national values and ideas, and is sometimes the basis for broader considerations on the human condition. They balance between historical facts and ahistorical generalities. The martyrdom of the Polish nation with emphasis on the events of WWII has been inspiring artists, stimulating their imagination and artistic creation. Therefore numerous ‘monuments of patriotic art’ can be found in the wood sculpture, ceramics, painting, and glass painting works from the art collection of the Toruń Maria Znamierowska-Prüfferowa Ethnographic Museum. Dzieło sztuki na granicy przeszłości i przyszłości. Historia i patriotyzm w sztuce nieprofesjonalnejW swoim artykule autorka prezentuje sztukę twórców nieprofesjonalnych, którzy w sposób oryginalny kształtują tożsamość narodową. W dawnej sztuce profesjonalnej dzieła, które ilustrowały i uwznioślały historię były bardzo popularne. To zjawisko jest nadal aktualne wśród twórców ludowych, naiwnych, intuicyjnych, ogólnie nazywając – nieprofesjonalnych. Dzieło ich rąk i wyobraźni jest narzędziem w służbie wartości i idei narodowych, a niekiedy stanowi podstawę do szerszych rozważań nad kondycją człowieka. Balansują oni między konkretem historycznym a ahistoryczną ogólnością. Martyrologia narodu polskiego z naciskiem na wydarzenia II wojny światowej inspirowała i inspiruje twórców, pobudza ich wyobraźnię i zmusza do twórczej kreacji. Stąd też zarówno w rzeźbie w drewnie, w ceramice, na obrazach, w malarstwie na szkle, w zbiorach sztuki toruńskiego Muzeum Etnograficznego im. Marii Znamierowskiej-Prűfferowej możemy odnaleźć bogatą reprezentację „pomników sztuki patriotyzmu”.

Most proteins have evolved to spontaneously fold into native structure and specifically bind with their partners for the purpose of fulfilling biological functions. According to Darwin, protein sequences evolve through random mutations, and only the fittest survives. The understanding of how the evolutionary selection sculpts the interaction patterns for both biomolecular folding and binding is still challenging. In this study, we incorporated the constraint of functional binding into the selection fitness based on the principle of minimal frustration for the underlying biomolecular interactions. Thermodynamic stability and kinetic accessibility were derived and quantified from a global funneled energy landscape that satisfies the requirements of both the folding into the stable structure and binding with the specific partner. The evolution proceeds via a bowl-like evolution energy landscape in the sequence space with a closed-ring attractor at the bottom. The sequence space is increasingly reduced until this ring attractor is reached. The molecular-interaction patterns responsible for folding and binding are identified from the evolved sequences, respectively. The residual positions participating in the interactions responsible for folding are highly conserved and maintain the hydrophobic core under additional evolutionary constraints of functional binding. The positions responsible for binding constitute a distributed network via coupling conservations that determine the specificity of binding with the partner. This work unifies the principles of protein binding and evolution under minimal frustration and sheds light on the evolutionary design of proteins for functions.

Cuba assumes a special place in the genealogy of the latin American Baroque and its twentieth-century recuperation, ongoing in our twenty-first century—the neobaroque. As Alejo Carpentier has pointed out (and as architectural critics confirm), the Caribbean lacks a monumental architectural baroque heritage comparable with that of the mainland, such as the hyperornate Churrigueresque ultrabaroque of central Mexico and Peru (fig. 1). Nevertheless, it was two Cuban intellectuals, Alejo Carpentier and José Lezama Lima, who spearheaded a new turn in neobaroque discourse after World War II by popularizing the notion of an insurgent, mestizo New World baroque unique to the Americas. Carpentier and Lezama Lima are the key authors of the notion of a decolonizing American baroque, a baroque that expressed contraconquista (counterconquest), as Lezama punned, countering the familiar identification of the baroque with the repressive ideology of the Counter-Reformation and its allies, the imperial Catholic Iberian states (80). Lezama and Carpentier argue that the imported Iberian state baroque was transformed into the transculturated, syncretic New World baroque at the hands of the (often anonymous) native artisans who continued to work under the Europeans, grafting their own indigenous traditions onto the iconography of the Catholic baroque style. The New World baroque is a product of the confluence (however unequal) of Iberian, pre-Columbian, and African cultures during the peaceful seventeenth century and into the eighteenth in Spain's and Portugal's territories in the New World. The examples studied by Lezama and Carpentier are all from the monumental baroque sculpture and architecture of Mexico, the Andes, and Brazil's Minas Gerais province: the work of the Brazilian mulatto artist O Aleijadinho (Antônio Francisco Lisboa [1738–1814]; see fig. 2 in Zamora in this issue) and the indigenous Andean artist José Kondori (dates unknown; see fig. 1 in Zamora), central Mexico's Church of San Francisco Xavier Tepotzotlán (fig. 1), and the folk baroque Church of Santa María Tonantzintla (see fig. 3 in Zamora), to mention a few landmarks and names.

Tissueinhibitors ofmetalloproteinases (TIMPs) are the endogenous inhibitors of the matrix metalloproteinases, the ADAMs (adisintegrinandmetalloproteinase) and the ADAM-TS (ADAM withthrombospondin repeats) proteinases. There are four mammalian TIMPs (TIMP-1 to -4), and each TIMP has its own profile of metalloproteinase inhibition. TIMP-4 is the latest member of the TIMPs to be cloned, and it has never been reported to be active against the tumor necrosis factor-α-converting enzyme (TACE, ADAM-17). Here we examined the inhibitory properties of the full-length and the N-terminal domain form of TIMP-4 (N-TIMP-4) with TACE and showed that N-TIMP-4 is a far superior inhibitor than its full-length counterpart. Although full-length TIMP-4 displayed negligible activity against TACE, N-TIMP-4 is a slow tight-binding inhibitor with low nanomolar binding affinity. Our findings suggested that the C-terminal subdomains of the TIMPs have a significant impact over their activities with the ADAMs. To elucidate further the molecular basis that underpins TIMP/TACE interactions, we sculpted N-TIMP-4 with the surface residues of TIMP-3, the only native TIMP inhibitor of the enzyme. Transplantation of only three residues, Pro-Phe-Gly, onto the AB-loop of N-TIMP-4 resulted in a 10-fold enhancement in binding affinity; theKivalues of the resultant mutant were almost comparable with that of TIMP-3. Further mutation at the EF-loop supported our earlier findings on the preference of TACE for leucine at this locus. Drawing together our previous experience in TACE-targeted mutagenesis by using TIMP-1 and -2 scaffolds, we have finally resolved the mystery of the selective sensitivity of TACE to TIMP-3.

The oligomeric complex transport protein particle I (TRAPPI) mediates nucleotide exchange on the RAB GTPase RAB1/Ypt1. TRAPPII is composed of TRAPPI plus three additional subunits, Trs120, Trs130, and Trs65. Unclear is whether TRAPPII mediates nucleotide exchange on RAB1/Ypt1, RAB11/Ypt31, or both. In Aspergillus nidulans, RabORAB1 resides in the Golgi, RabERAB11 localizes to exocytic post-Golgi carriers undergoing transport to the apex, and hypA encodes Trs120. RabERAB11, but not RabORAB1, immunoprecipitates contain Trs120/Trs130/Trs65, demonstrating specific association of TRAPPII with RabERAB11 in vivo. hypA1ts rapidly shifts RabERAB11, but not RabORAB1, to the cytosol, consistent with HypATrs120 being specifically required for RabERAB11 activation. Missense mutations rescuing hypA1ts at 42 °C mapped to rabE, affecting seven residues. Substitutions in six, of which four resulted in 7- to 36-fold accelerated GDP release, rescued lethality associated to TRAPPII deficiency, whereas equivalent substitutions in RabORAB1 did not, establishing that the essential role of TRAPPII is facilitating RabERAB11 nucleotide exchange. In vitro, TRAPPII purified with HypATrs120-S-tag accelerates nucleotide exchange on RabERAB11 and, paradoxically, to a lesser yet substantial extent, on RabORAB1. Evidence obtained by exploiting hypA1-mediated destabilization of HypATrs120/HypCTrs130/Trs65 assembly onto the TRAPPI core indicates that these subunits sculpt a second RAB binding site on TRAPP apparently independent from that for RabORAB1, which would explain TRAPPII in vitro activity on two RABs. Using A. nidulans in vivo microscopy, we show that HypATrs120 colocalizes with RabERAB11, arriving at late Golgi cisternae as they dissipate into exocytic carriers. Thus, TRAPPII marks, and possibly determines, the Golgi–to–post-Golgi transition.

Although human existence is enveloped by ideologies, remarkably little is understood about the relationships between ideological attitudes and psychological traits. Even less is known about how cognitive dispositions—individual differences in how information is perceived and processed— sculpt individuals' ideological worldviews, proclivities for extremist beliefs and resistance (or receptivity) to evidence. Using an unprecedented number of cognitive tasks ( n = 37) and personality surveys ( n = 22), along with data-driven analyses including drift-diffusion and Bayesian modelling, we uncovered the specific psychological signatures of political, nationalistic, religious and dogmatic beliefs. Cognitive and personality assessments consistently outperformed demographic predictors in accounting for individual differences in ideological preferences by 4 to 15-fold. Furthermore, data-driven analyses revealed that individuals’ ideological attitudes mirrored their cognitive decision-making strategies. Conservatism and nationalism were related to greater caution in perceptual decision-making tasks and to reduced strategic information processing, while dogmatism was associated with slower evidence accumulation and impulsive tendencies. Religiosity was implicated in heightened agreeableness and risk perception. Extreme pro-group attitudes, including violence endorsement against outgroups, were linked to poorer working memory, slower perceptual strategies, and tendencies towards impulsivity and sensation-seeking—reflecting overlaps with the psychological profiles of conservatism and dogmatism. Cognitive and personality signatures were also generated for ideologies such as authoritarianism, system justification, social dominance orientation, patriotism and receptivity to evidence or alternative viewpoints; elucidating their underpinnings and highlighting avenues for future research. Together these findings suggest that ideological worldviews may be reflective of low-level perceptual and cognitive functions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms’.

The paper is about the set of drawings and documents by Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos for the Town-hall of Szeged dated to 1881–1883 (Hungarian National Archives, Csongrád-Csanád County Archives, Szeged [MNL CSML], Collection of Building Plans and Documents of the Municipality of Szeged, marked Lecher Ödön, Pártos Gyula: A Szegedi Városházhoz készített tervek, rajzok és iratok, [Plans, drawings and documents for the Szeged Town-hall], XV.2b. 45. d.-49.d). The elaborated theme includes ground-plans, rosette, baluster and skylight plans, detail plans of staircase and main cornice, plan of the roof of the main staircase, 37 drawings of ornamental sculpture, window pillars, window frames and rail chains, painter’s stencils signed by Ödön Lechner, two façade versions, tower detail, details of the main portal, drawings of the vault around the clock, of the ornaments of room doors and cornice elements. The building logbooks, list of submissions to the competition with code-names and the contracts signed with the building contractors are also valuable sources.In addition to eighty drawings of diverse sizes and techniques, the collection includes the construction documents, accounts, correspondence, building logbooks, planning competition calls, and a colour plan for the tiling of the Szeged Town-hall now in the Architectural Collection of the Kiscelli Museum of the Budapest History Museum (inv.no. 117). I evaluate the drawings both within the conception of an architectural work and also as separate graphic sheets, and try to describe their background in terms of the history of architecture, art and ideas.I am led to conclude that the Szeged Town-hall was the first project to manifest Lechner’s ambition to lay the groundworks of a national architecture based on the more abstracted and universal basic forms of folk art but keeping abreast of European tendencies. The drawings are invaluable in that they add more information to the chronology of Lechner’s artistic career and lend stress to the fact that folklore and local history researches, the intellectual approach, the synthesis of local and international achievements, a thorough knowledge of the history of ceramics, the redefinition of traditions played at least as important roles in creating the concept of a building as individual intention and creative imagination.The paper was supported by the Ernő Kállai Art Historical Research Grant.

Two new Mesozoic gastropod species, provisionally attributed to the minute (height < 5 mm) coiled neomphalid genus Retiskenea?, are described from three geographically isolated, Early Cretaceous, hydrocarbon seep-carbonate sites at Wilbur Springs, Rice Valley, and Cold Fork of Cottonwood Creek, northern California (USA). A fourth paleo-seep locality at Paskenta, of probable Upper Jurassic age, also yielded a single specimen of a morphologically similar microgastropod that may be a neomphalid with affinities to the Lower Cretaceous specimens described herein. the limestone lenses are ~2-260 m in length, ~1-5 m in diameter, and surrounded by forearc siliciclastics of bathyal turbidites or sedimentary serpentinites in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous (Tithonian-Albian) Great Valley Group and its equivalents. the Lower Cretaceous microgastropods are tentatively placed in Retiskenea? based on similar shell characters: size, globose shape, inflated reticulate protoconch, number and distinct inflation of the body whorls, and fine, prosocline sculpture of the final body whorl. the fossils occur in carbonate microbialites that formed in seafloor sediments during archaeal anaerobic oxidation of methane in the zone of bacterial sulfate reduction, associated with H2S- and CH4-rich fluid seepage. the California Retiskenea? fossils commonly are found in gregarious clusters, or closely affiliated with thin worm tubes or, in one case, a larger gastropod.These Mesozoic records increase the total known species attributable to this cold-seep endemic genus from two to four. Its spatial and temporal distribution thus may have spanned ~9,000 km around the Pacific Rim from at least ~133 m.y. to the present in 10 subduction-related seep sites from California (possibly Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous), Washington (middle Eocene-Upper Oligocene), and modern offshore Oregon, the eastern Aleutians, and the Japan Trench. If the generic placement of these microgastropod fossils is correct, the California records are the oldest-known occurrences of Retiskenea, consistent with an estimated minimum Mesozoic origin for the 'hot vent' Neomphalidae, as inferred from molecular analyses published on other living members of the family.

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Ossicular discontinuity can occur as a result of erosion by chronic otitis media or due to trauma. Reconstruction of the ossicular chain aims to surgically optimize the middle ear transformer mechanism. The goal of this study was to devise a protocol to manage the ossicular discontinuity, provide good hearing to the patients and to demonstrate that use of ossicle for ossicular reconstruction is a safe, physiological, practical, successful and cost effective method.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> The present study is retrospective study of 50 patients who underwent ossiculoplasty in our institute over the period of 2 years. Most patients presented to us with a history of chronic intermittent ear discharge and decreased hearing. Detailed clinical examination included general examination and local examination of ear, nose and throat. Examination of ear included otoscopy, tuning fork tests, and examination under microscope. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The average pre-operative air-bone gap in patients with ossicular disruption was 34.95 dB and after ossiculoplasty was 12.93 dB. The mean air-bone closure after surgery was 27.88 dB. In most cases the post-operative air bone closure was within the range of 20 dB. The hearing results in ossiculoplasty are dependent on various factors but middle ear status in one of the most important factor in deciding the final outcome.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The ossiculoplasty using autograft has stood the test of time and the results are superior to that of prosthesis. They have less rate of complications, are economic and easily available. The expertise to sculpt the ossicle can be easily developed with practice.</p><p> </p>

Grundtvig ’s Norse Mythological Imagery - An Experiment that Failed?By Flemming Lundgreen-NielsenSince his early youth, Grundtvig worked frequently and diligently with Norse mythology. From 1805 to 1810 he tried in a scholarly way to sort out its original sources and accordingly its ancient meanings, though Grundtvig even as a philologist preferred to give spontaneous enthusiasm aroused by a synthetic vision a priority above linguistic proofs (Norse Mythology, 1808). After a pause of some years, Grundtvig in 1815 returned to Norse mythology, allowing himself a more free and subjective interpretation in lieu of an all-encompassing conception. From now on aiming to turn the Norse myths into an accessible store of modeme national imagery, he adapted a favourable evaluation of Snorri’s Edda, which until then he had been regarding as late, distorted information.Drawing mainly upon previously unprinted material the paper demonstrates, how Grundtvig around 1820, 1832, in the 1840’s and during the Schleswig-Holstein war 1848-50 tried to revive Snorri’s Edda for actual commonday use. To put Grundtvig’s opinions in a historical perspective, other contemporary statements are included, such as a Copenhagen press and pamphlet feud on the potential usefulness of Norse mythology to sculptors and painters (1820-21) and a public lecture in favour of Greek mythology and Christian civilization given by professor Madvig (1844).Grundtvig’s own attempts to mobilize the Norse gods in current affairs are illustrated in selected examples from his poetical works. The conclusion indicates that his project was a failure: none of his ballads and poems popular then and today deal with Norse mythology, and although his Norse Mythology, 1832, became a handbook for teachers of the Folk Highschools, neither later poets nor philosophers employed the Norse mythological imagery he recommended. In the war 1848-50 Grundtvig wanted to take advantage of situations from myths and legends such as Thor battling the giant Hrungnir and prince Uffe the Meek killing two Saxons, but the majority of the Danes cherished heroes of the people such as the brave unknown army soldier celebrated in a 1858-statue and the little homblower from a bestselling verse epic. At the end of his life, Grundtvig continued to write poetry in Norse mythological terms, but apparently made no efforts to get his manuscripts printed - why is not known.Among the reasons to be suggested for the failure of Grundtvig’s Norse mythological imagery, the victorious ideas in Romantic 19. century poetry and arts pertaining to originality and individualism, the prominent place of traditional classical mythology in the minds of the cultured public, and the political emphasis in the mid century period on democratization are probably most decisive.Finally attention is given to the fact that the proverbial phrase about ’freedom to Loki as well as to Thor’, the only surviving popular dictum from Grundtvig’s Norse mythological writings, almost invariably is misunderstood to be a token of boundless tolerance to both parties in the struggle between good and evil. However, several instances can be mentioned to prove that Loki, mythologically half god, half giant, in Grundtvig’s understanding does not represent evil as much as a gifted intellectualism without religious faith, possessing potential to acquire it.An English version of the paper with less regard to quotes from unprinted Grundtvig manuscripts and more attention to introductory paragraphs on Danish literary history is published in Andrew Wawn (ed.): Northern Antiquity. The Post-Medieval Reception of Edda and Saga, Hisarlik Press, 1994, p. 41-67.

The genusHypoxisL. (Hypoxidaceae) in the East TropicalA complete key with full descriptions and distributions of all knownHypoxistaxa found in the East Tropical Africa is presented in the monograph. The morphology of all species, subspecies and varieties is described, including such important taxonomic characters for this genus like tuber flesh color, tunic type, indumentum and seed testa sculpture. A succulent leaf structure is described forH. kilimanjaricavar.prostrata.The anatomical studies were conducted as a part of taxonomical analysis. They have positively evaluated a taxonomic significance of leaf anatomy characters, such as succulent structure, occurrence of bulliform cells in epidermis outside the keel zone, type and distribution of trichomes. The studies of theHypoxisleaf anatomy added new data concerning anatomical differentiation of the cataphylls and the inner leaves. Also differentiated mesophyll and simultaneous presence of different types of stomata on one leaf are reported. It has been shown that in some species mucilage canals are present in the inner leaves and that this character is not constant. The number of vascular bundles, which can be determined only on the basis of a leaf section, is useful only in species with a small number of veins, not increasing with a plant age. Because of lack of constancy in distribution, number of stomata accessory cells cannot be used as a diversifying character for the East African species ofHypoxis.The wax crystals are revealed to exist in many species ofHypoxis.The anatomical characters of scapes were also studied in a taxonomic context. A sclerenchyma distribution, as well as number of vascular bundles can be used for a species determination. The presence of sclerenchyma prevents the scapes from bending down after anthesis. The studies of phenology revealed that there are two groups of taxa, one with a resting period and the other without it. It is connected with a climate in which the species occurs. The study of distribution maps of the species occurring in the East Africa are provided for this area, as well as for their entire range. This new knowledge, along with a revision of literature data, led to a new conclusion as to a number of allHypoxisspecies in Africa, which is now estimated to be 55. The revision demonstrates that distribution of many of theHypoxisspecies is connected with White's phytochoria. It proves that not only South Africa, but also the Zambesian Region is a very important center of diversity of this genus. The number of endemic taxa ofHypoxisfor the East Tropical Africa is very low, including only one species and one subspecies. Additionally, a study of vertical ranges ofHypoxisis presented. It reveals that most of the species in East Africa grow in the mountains and they show preferences of dispersal in particular altitudinal levels. The analysis of the vertical distribution within the entire ranges of different taxa has showed differences in the altitudinal position depending on the geographic location. The human influence onHypoxisis studied in terms of their use in folk medicine and believes. Most of the species ofHypoxissurvive quite well in East Africa, being a visible component of various types of grasslands. Some species however are under threat of extinction. This is due to their incapability of surviving in changed habitats, especially in shade of cultivated plants. Another threat is a large-scale collection of species believed to cure the HIV, or sold as a substitute of similar taxa, assumed to possess such qualities. The IUCN categories are proposed for the East African taxa ofHypoxis.

Имя Эрнста Людвига Кирхнера практически не рассматривается в ряду мастеров скульптуры. Однако, наряду с Эрнстом Барлахом и Вильгельмом Лембруком, он принадлежит к числу крупнейших мастеров скульптуры первой трети XX века. В статье рассматриваются различные периоды творчества художника и их отражение в искусстве скульптуры – от романтических увлечений народным искусством, в том числе африканским, и классического экспрессионизма до неореализма «Новой вещественности». Рассматриваются специфические особенности произведений пластики в зависимости от возможностей разного материала, их отношение к произведениям живописи, а также роль этого вида искусства в творчестве мастера. The name of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is very seldom considered in the series of names of sculptures. However, together with names of Ernst Barlach and Wilhelm Lehmbruck, his name belongs to the numbers of the great sculptors of the first third of 20-th century. The article deals with the different periods of the masters work and demonstrate, how they reflect in sculpture: from early romantic enthusiasm for the folk art, including African art and classic expressionism to the neorealism in form of «New Objectivity»/«Neue Sachlichkeit». The author says about specificity of materials in sculpture objects of Kirchner, also their interaction with painting and about the role of plastic in art heritage of painter.

В статье рассматривается использование таких не типичных материалов для творческой работы скульпторов, как керамика и фарфор. Как известно, с этими материалами в основном работают мастера декоративно-прикладного и народного искусства. Однако на примере своего собственного опыта, а также скульпторов-членов своей семьи (Афины Попандопуло и Софьи Тугариновой), автор статьи – скульптор Дмитрий Тугаринов – рассказывает о преимуществах работы именно с керамикой и фарфором, а также анализирует место и роль этих материалов в истории в целом. Автор не забывает и о сегодняшней ситуации в изобразительном искусстве, приводя ряд аргументов именно в пользу этих двух вечных материалов – керамики и фарфора. The article observes the use of nontypical materials in the creative work of sculptors such as ceramics and porcelain. It is well known that masters of decorative and folk art mainly work with these materials. However, using the example of his own experience, as well as his family member sculptors (Afina Popandopulo and Sofiya Tugarinova), the author of the article, sculptor Dmitry Tugarinov, talks about the advantages of working with ceramics and porcelain, and also analyzes the place and role of these materials in history in general. Also the author doesnt forget about the current situation in the visual arts, citing a number of arguments in favor of these two eternal materials ceramics and porcelain.

This paper makes analyses of the myth and magic world of the creative heroes, sculptors, and heroic titans has probably played an important role in the formation of epic heroes, folk heroes, and even the primary function during the development of artistic thought.

In Huseyngulu Aliyev's works, we always see the successful expression of harsh color transitions, tonal spots, light effects, instant glare in the formation of dynamism, as well as the artist's unique creative position with different compositional structures in the more exciting presentation of these effects. In his work "Molla Nasreddin", which is currently preserved in a private collection in Norway, the artist expressed the deep expression of dynamism in the composition, both in the intensity of movements, sudden jumps, hymns of speed, and the contrasting transition of colors from light to dark or vice versa. It is interesting to recreate the artistic solution of the instantaneous plot in which the fruit of the old man, sitting on a fast-running donkey, spreads in the air and begins to scatter in the air. The clear language of caricatures created by Huseyngulu Aliyev, which combines both matte and bright tones of colors such as green, yellow and brown, is very thought-provoking due to their mobility and dynamism. Created in 1993, the interesting language of expression of the works, which is a vivid example of the idea mentioned in the cartoons with ink and pen, attracts attention. In "Unsuccesfull" the intention of a thief in a black mask to plunder the country, but before that the looting of these places ended in the failure of his plan. The astonishment of the robber looking at the empty baskets and glasses scattered on the ground makes it possible to imagine the facial features he covers. The clear language of caricatures created by Huseyngulu Aliyev is also very thought-provoking due to their mobility and dynamism. Created in 1993, the interesting language of expression of the works, which is a vivid example of the idea mentioned in the cartoons with ink and pen, attracts attention. In "Unsuccesfull" the intention of a thief in a black mask to plunder the country, but before that the looting of these places ended in the failure of his plan.The astonishment of the robber looking at the empty baskets and glasses scattered on the ground makes it possible to imagine the facial features he covers. Among the graphic examples created in the mentioned period, the unique composition of the work "Roads" attracts the attention of the audience with its interesting composition, which has a great meaning. The artist sang the song of a long way with the movement of crowded people in the same direction. The march of people who join the movement on an empty background expresses their common thinking and will. Here, the artist has successfully implemented mass thinking, not where and why the roads go. It is well-known that art, which came to art by chance, but managed to introduce itself in any way, has gained popularity in our time. The artist's very interesting and humorous composition in his caricature "Patriot of art" created about 20 years ago is dedicated to this type of "artists". The stage hymn of the performance of a long-eared man holding his tambourine in his hands in an artistic form clearly expresses the artist's purpose. The solution of the symbolic meaning given to some scenes of life by the artist using folk sayings in the unique compositional structure gives the basis to evaluate the artist's creativity by presenting it in a different form in each work. For example, in his 2001 work, “They Make the Old Moon a Star”, he praised an astrologer sitting on his back with his head cut off and turning the old moon into a star in the sky. The artist was referring to people who were ungrateful and apostate (Figure 2.91). In Huseyngulu Aliyev's caricatures, artistic exaggerations, different assessments of events or directing them in accordance with the content of the work are of interest as creative extraordinary creative discoveries. For example, the artist, who turned a fragment from the world-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker" into the content of the painting, watched the two snakes collide, fight, and try to poison each other, thinking deeply about world events. Here, the sharpness of the artistic generalization in such a difficult scene as the destruction of the same sex makes the viewer think (Figure 2.96).

Бурятская буддийская деревянная скульптура является уникальным видом искусства, вобравшим в себя основы иконографического канона, владение резцом, росписью, своеобразным художественным видением образов божеств в силу синтеза буддийской и местной шаманистской культур. В ней ярко проявился сплав буддийского канона и народной интерпретации облика божеств. В современный период данный вид искусства испытывает трудности, связанные с практически полной утратой линии преемственности между поколениями старых мастеров из числа ламского духовенства, репрессированных в 1930-е годы, и мастеров рубежа XXXXI веков. В данном контексте буддийская деревянная скульптура М.Ц. Гомбоева является важным звеном в деле сохранения и развития этой традиции. Автор подробно описывает процесс работы художника, техники, инструментарий как в резьбе по дереву, так и в работе по металлу. В результате исследования выявлено соотношение буддийского канона и национальных бурятских традиций и черт, фольклорная интерпретация канонических сюжетов, образов, колорита. В творчестве М.Ц. Гомбоева отмечена преемственность со школой С.-Ц. Цыбикова и работами монгольского художника Дзанабадзара. Buryat Buddhist wooden sculpture is a unique art form, which incorporates the basics of the iconographic Canon, the possession of a chisel, painting, a kind of artistic vision of the deities images because of the synthesis of Buddhist and local shamanistic cultures. A fusion of the Buddhist Сanon and a folk interpretation of the deities character is clearly manifested in it. In the modern period, this art form is experiencing difficulties associated with the almost complete loss of continuity between generations of old masters from among the Lama clergy, repressed in the 1930s, and masters of the turn of the 20th 21st centuries. In this context, the Buddhist wooden sculpture of M.Ts. Gomboev is an important link in the preservation and development of this tradition. The author describes in detail the process of the artist, technology, tools both in woodcarving and in metal work. An important result of the study is the correlation of the Buddhist Canon and national Buryat traditions, a folklore interpretation of canonical plots, images, and color. There is a continuity with the school of S.-TS. Tsybikov and the works of the Mongolian artist Dzanabadzar in the creative heritage of M.Ts. Gomboev.

Every act of art is able to reveal, balance and revive the relations between a territory and its inhabitants (François Davin, Southern Forest Sculpture Walk Catalogue)Introducing the Understory Art in Nature TrailIn February 2015, a colossal wildfire destroyed 98,300 hectares of farm and bushland surrounding the town of Northcliffe, located 365 km south of Perth, Western Australia (WA). As the largest fire in the recorded history of the southwest region (Southern Forest Arts, After the Burn 8), the disaster attracted national attention however the extraordinary contribution of local knowledge in saving a town considered by authorities to be “undefendable” (Kennedy) is yet to be widely appreciated. In accounting for a creative scene that survived the conflagration, this case study sees culture mobilised as a socioeconomic resource for conservation and the healing of community spirit.Northcliffe (population 850) sits on a coastal plain that hosts majestic old-growth forest and lush bushland. In 2006, Southern Forest Arts (SFA) dedicated a Southern Forest Sculpture Walk for creative professionals to develop artworks along a 1.2 km walk trail through pristine native forest. It was re-branded “Understory—Art in Nature” in 2009; then “Understory Art in Nature Trail” in 2015, the understory vegetation layer beneath the canopy being symbolic of Northcliffe’s deeply layered caché of memories, including “the awe, love, fear, and even the hatred that these trees have provoked among the settlers” (Davin in SFA Catalogue). In the words of the SFA Trailguide, “Every place (no matter how small) has ‘understories’—secrets, songs, dreams—that help us connect with the spirit of place.”In the view of forest arts ecologist Kumi Kato, “It is a sense of place that underlies the commitment to a place’s conservation by its community, broadly embracing those who identify with the place for various reasons, both geographical and conceptual” (149). In bioregional terms such communities form a terrain of consciousness (Berg and Dasmann 218), extending responsibility for conservation across cultures, time and space (Kato 150). A sustainable thematic of place must also include livelihood as the third party between culture and nature that establishes the relationship between them (Giblett 240). With these concepts in mind I gauge creative impact on forest as place, and, in turn, (altered) forest’s impact on people. My abstraction of physical place is inclusive of humankind moving in dialogic engagement with forest. A mapping of Understory’s creative activities sheds light on how artists express physical environments in situated creative practices, clusters, and networks. These, it is argued, constitute unique types of community operating within (and beyond) a foundational scene of inspiration and mystification that is metaphorically “rising from the ashes.” In transcending disconnectedness between humankind and landscape, Understory may be understood to both culturalise nature (as an aesthetic system), and naturalise culture (as an ecologically modelled system), to build on a trope introduced by Feld (199). Arguably when the bush is cultured in this way it attracts consumers who may otherwise disconnect from nature.The trail (henceforth Understory) broaches the histories of human relations with Northcliffe’s natural systems of place. Sub-groups of the Noongar nation have inhabited the southwest for an estimated 50,000 years and their association with the Northcliffe region extends back at least 6,000 years (SFA Catalogue; see also Crawford and Crawford). An indigenous sense of the spirit of forest is manifest in Understory sculpture, literature, and—for the purpose of this article—the compilation CD Canopy: Songs for the Southern Forests (henceforth Canopy, Figure 1).As a cultural and environmental construction of place, Canopy sustains the land with acts of seeing, listening to, and interpreting nature; of remembering indigenous people in the forest; and of recalling the hardships of the early settlers. I acknowledge SFA coordinator and Understory custodian Fiona Sinclair for authorising this investigation; Peter Hill for conservation conversations; Robyn Johnston for her Canopy CD sleeve notes; Della Rae Morrison for permissions; and David Pye for discussions. Figure 1. Canopy: Songs for the Southern Forests (CD, 2006). Cover image by Raku Pitt, 2002. Courtesy Southern Forest Arts, Northcliffe, WA.Forest Ecology, Emotion, and ActionEstablished in 1924, Northcliffe’s ill-founded Group Settlement Scheme resulted in frontier hardship and heartbreak, and deforestation of the southwest region for little economic return. An historic forest controversy (1992-2001) attracted media to Northcliffe when protesters attempting to disrupt logging chained themselves to tree trunks and suspended themselves from branches. The signing of the Western Australian Regional Forest Agreement in 1999 was followed, in 2001, by deregulation of the dairy industry and a sharp decline in area population.Moved by the gravity of this situation, Fiona Sinclair won her pitch to the Manjimup Council for a sound alternative industry for Northcliffe with projections of jobs: a forest where artists could work collectively and sustainably to reveal the beauty of natural dimensions. A 12-acre pocket of allocated Crown Land adjacent to the town was leased as an A-Class Reserve vested for Education and Recreation, for which SFA secured unified community ownership and grants. Conservation protocols stipulated that no biomass could be removed from the forest and that predominantly raw, natural materials were to be used (F. Sinclair and P. Hill, personal interview, 26 Sep. 2014). With forest as prescribed image (wider than the bounded chunk of earth), Sinclair invited the artists to consider the themes of spirituality, creativity, history, dichotomy, and sensory as a basis for work that was to be “fresh, intimate, and grounded in place.” Her brief encouraged artists to work with humanity and imagination to counteract residual community divisiveness and resentment. Sinclair describes this form of implicit environmentalism as an “around the back” approach that avoids lapsing into political commentary or judgement: “The trail is a love letter from those of us who live here to our visitors, to connect with grace” (F. Sinclair, telephone interview, 6 Apr. 2014). Renewing community connections to local place is essential if our lives and societies are to become more sustainable (Pedelty 128). To define Northcliffe’s new community phase, artists respected differing associations between people and forest. A structure on a karri tree by Indigenous artist Norma MacDonald presents an Aboriginal man standing tall and proud on a rock to become one with the tree and the forest: as it was for thousands of years before European settlement (MacDonald in SFA Catalogue). As Feld observes, “It is the stabilizing persistence of place as a container of experiences that contributes so powerfully to its intrinsic memorability” (201).Adhering to the philosophy that nature should not be used or abused for the sake of art, the works resonate with the biorhythms of the forest, e.g. functional seats and shelters and a cascading retainer that directs rainwater back to the resident fauna. Some sculptures function as receivers for picking up wavelengths of ancient forest. Forest Folk lurk around the understory, while mysterious stone art represents a life-shaping force of planet history. To represent the reality of bushfire, Natalie Williamson’s sculpture wraps itself around a burnt-out stump. The work plays with scale as small native sundew flowers are enlarged and a subtle beauty, easily overlooked, becomes apparent (Figure 2). The sculptor hopes that “spiders will spin their webs about it, incorporating it into the landscape” (SFA Catalogue).Figure 2. Sundew. Sculpture by Natalie Williamson, 2006. Understory Art in Nature Trail, Northcliffe, WA. Image by the author, 2014.Memory is naturally place-oriented or at least place-supported (Feld 201). Topaesthesia (sense of place) denotes movement that connects our biography with our route. This is resonant for the experience of regional character, including the tactile, olfactory, gustatory, visual, and auditory qualities of a place (Ryan 307). By walking, we are in a dialogue with the environment; both literally and figuratively, we re-situate ourselves into our story (Schine 100). For example, during a summer exploration of the trail (5 Jan. 2014), I intuited a personal attachment based on my grandfather’s small bush home being razed by fire, and his struggle to support seven children.Understory’s survival depends on vigilant controlled (cool) burns around its perimeter (Figure 3), organised by volunteer Peter Hill. These burns also hone the forest. On 27 Sept. 2014, the charred vegetation spoke a spring language of opportunity for nature to reassert itself as seedpods burst and continue the cycle; while an autumn walk (17 Mar. 2016) yielded a fresh view of forest colour, patterning, light, shade, and sound.Figure 3. Understory Art in Nature Trail. Map Created by Fiona Sinclair for Southern Forest Sculpture Walk Catalogue (2006). Courtesy Southern Forest Arts, Northcliffe, WA.Understory and the Melody of CanopyForest resilience is celebrated in five MP3 audio tours produced for visitors to dialogue with the trail in sensory contexts of music, poetry, sculptures and stories that name or interpret the setting. The trail starts in heathland and includes three creek crossings. A zone of acacias gives way to stands of the southwest signature trees karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor), jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), and marri (Corymbia calophylla). Following a sheoak grove, a riverine environment re-enters heathland. Birds, insects, mammals, and reptiles reside around and between the sculptures, rendering the earth-embedded art a fusion of human and natural orders (concept after Relph 141). On Audio Tour 3, Songs for the Southern Forests, the musician-composers reflect on their regionally focused items, each having been birthed according to a personal musical concept (the manner in which an individual artist holds the totality of a composition in cultural context). Arguably the music in question, its composers, performers, audiences, and settings, all have a role to play in defining the processes and effects of forest arts ecology. Local musician Ann Rice billeted a cluster of musicians (mostly from Perth) at her Windy Harbour shack. The energy of the production experience was palpable as all participated in on-site forest workshops, and supported each other’s items as a musical collective (A. Rice, telephone interview, 2 Oct. 2014). Collaborating under producer Lee Buddle’s direction, they orchestrated rich timbres (tone colours) to evoke different musical atmospheres (Table 1). Composer/Performer Title of TrackInstrumentation1. Ann RiceMy Placevocals/guitars/accordion 2. David PyeCicadan Rhythmsangklung/violin/cello/woodblocks/temple blocks/clarinet/tapes 3. Mel RobinsonSheltervocal/cello/double bass 4. DjivaNgank Boodjakvocals/acoustic, electric and slide guitars/drums/percussion 5. Cathie TraversLamentaccordion/vocals/guitar/piano/violin/drums/programming 6. Brendon Humphries and Kevin SmithWhen the Wind First Blewvocals/guitars/dobro/drums/piano/percussion 7. Libby HammerThe Gladevocal/guitar/soprano sax/cello/double bass/drums 8. Pete and Dave JeavonsSanctuaryguitars/percussion/talking drum/cowbell/soprano sax 9. Tomás FordWhite Hazevocal/programming/guitar 10. David HyamsAwakening /Shaking the Tree /When the Light Comes guitar/mandolin/dobro/bodhran/rainstick/cello/accordion/flute 11. Bernard CarneyThe Destiny Waltzvocal/guitar/accordion/drums/recording of The Destiny Waltz 12. Joel BarkerSomething for Everyonevocal/guitars/percussion Table 1. Music Composed for Canopy: Songs for the Southern Forests.Source: CD sleeve and http://www.understory.com.au/art.php. Composing out of their own strengths, the musicians transformed the geographic region into a living myth. As Pedelty has observed of similar musicians, “their sounds resonate because they so profoundly reflect our living sense of place” (83-84). The remainder of this essay evidences the capacity of indigenous song, art music, electronica, folk, and jazz-blues to celebrate, historicise, or re-imagine place. Firstly, two items represent the phenomenological approach of site-specific sensitivity to acoustic, biological, and cultural presence/loss, including the materiality of forest as a living process.“Singing Up the Land”In Aboriginal Australia “there is no place that has not been imaginatively grasped through song, dance and design, no place where traditional owners cannot see the imprint of sacred creation” (Rose 18). Canopy’s part-Noongar language song thus repositions the ancient Murrum-Noongar people within their life-sustaining natural habitat and spiritual landscape.Noongar Yorga woman Della Rae Morrison of the Bibbulmun and Wilman nations co-founded The Western Australian Nuclear Free Alliance to campaign against the uranium mining industry threatening Ngank Boodjak (her country, “Mother Earth”) (D.R. Morrison, e-mail, 15 July 2014). In 2004, Morrison formed the duo Djiva (meaning seed power or life force) with Jessie Lloyd, a Murri woman of the Guugu Yimidhirr Nation from North Queensland. After discerning the fundamental qualities of the Understory site, Djiva created the song Ngank Boodjak: “This was inspired by walking the trail […] feeling the energy of the land and the beautiful trees and hearing the birds. When I find a spot that I love, I try to feel out the lay-lines, which feel like vortexes of energy coming out of the ground; it’s pretty amazing” (Morrison in SFA Canopy sleeve) Stanza 1 points to the possibilities of being more fully “in country”:Ssh!Ni dabarkarn kooliny, ngank boodja kookoorninyListen, walk slowly, beautiful Mother EarthThe inclusion of indigenous language powerfully implements an indigenous interpretation of forest: “My elders believe that when we leave this life from our physical bodies that our spirit is earthbound and is living in the rocks or the trees and if you listen carefully you might hear their voices and maybe you will get some answers to your questions” (Morrison in SFA Catalogue).Cicadan Rhythms, by composer David Pye, echoes forest as a lively “more-than-human” world. Pye took his cue from the ambient pulsing of male cicadas communicating in plenum (full assembly) by means of airborne sound. The species were sounding together in tempo with individual rhythm patterns that interlocked to create one fantastic rhythm (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Composer David Pye). The cicada chorus (the loudest known lovesong in the insect world) is the unique summer soundmark (term coined by Truax Handbook, Website) of the southern forests. Pye chased various cicadas through Understory until he was able to notate the rhythms of some individuals in a patch of low-lying scrub.To simulate cicada clicking, the composer set pointillist patterns for Indonesian anklung (joint bamboo tubes suspended within a frame to produce notes when the frame is shaken or tapped). Using instruments made of wood to enhance the rich forest imagery, Pye created all parts using sampled instrumental sounds placed against layers of pre-recorded ambient sounds (D. Pye, telephone interview, 3 Sept. 2014). He takes the listener through a “geographical linear representation” of the trail: “I walked around it with a stopwatch and noted how long it took to get through each section of the forest, and that became the musical timing of the various parts of the work” (Pye in SFA Canopy sleeve). That Understory is a place where reciprocity between nature and culture thrives is, likewise, evident in the remaining tracks.Musicalising Forest History and EnvironmentThree tracks distinguish Canopy as an integrative site for memory. Bernard Carney’s waltz honours the Group Settlers who battled insurmountable terrain without any idea of their destiny, men who, having migrated with a promise of owning their own dairy farms, had to clear trees bare-handedly and build furniture from kerosene tins and gelignite cases. Carney illuminates the culture of Saturday night dancing in the schoolroom to popular tunes like The Destiny Waltz (performed on the Titanic in 1912). His original song fades to strains of the Victor Military Band (1914), to “pay tribute to the era where the inspiration of the song came from” (Carney in SFA Canopy sleeve). Likewise Cathie Travers’s Lament is an evocation of remote settler history that creates a “feeling of being in another location, other timezone, almost like an endless loop” (Travers in SFA Canopy sleeve).An instrumental medley by David Hyams opens with Awakening: the morning sun streaming through tall trees, and the nostalgic sound of an accordion waltz. Shaking the Tree, an Irish jig, recalls humankind’s struggle with forest and the forces of nature. A final title, When the Light Comes, defers to the saying by conservationist John Muir that “The wrongs done to trees, wrongs of every sort, are done in the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, for when the light comes the heart of the people is always right” (quoted by Hyams in SFA Canopy sleeve). Local musician Joel Barker wrote Something for Everyone to personify the old-growth karri as a king with a crown, with “wisdom in his bones.”Kevin Smith’s father was born in Northcliffe in 1924. He and Brendon Humphries fantasise the untouchability of a maiden (pre-human) moment in a forest in their song, When the Wind First Blew. In Libby Hammer’s The Glade (a lover’s lament), instrumental timbres project their own affective languages. The jazz singer intended the accompanying double bass to speak resonantly of old-growth forest; the cello to express suppleness and renewal; a soprano saxophone to impersonate a bird; and the drums to imitate the insect community’s polyrhythmic undercurrent (after Hammer in SFA Canopy sleeve).A hybrid aural environment of synthetic and natural forest sounds contrasts collision with harmony in Sanctuary. The Jeavons Brothers sampled rustling wind on nearby Mt Chudalup to absorb into the track’s opening, and crafted a snare groove for the quirky eco-jazz/trip-hop by banging logs together, and banging rocks against logs. This imaginative use of percussive found objects enhanced their portrayal of forest as “a living, breathing entity.”In dealing with recent history in My Place, Ann Rice cameos a happy childhood growing up on a southwest farm, “damming creeks, climbing trees, breaking bones and skinning knees.” The rich string harmonies of Mel Robinson’s Shelter sculpt the shifting environment of a brewing storm, while White Haze by Tomás Ford describes a smoky controlled burn as “a kind of metaphor for the beautiful mystical healing nature of Northcliffe”: Someone’s burning off the scrubSomeone’s making sure it’s safeSomeone’s whiting out the fearSomeone’s letting me breathe clearAs Sinclair illuminates in a post-fire interview with Sharon Kennedy (Website):When your map, your personal map of life involves a place, and then you think that that place might be gone…” Fiona doesn't finish the sentence. “We all had to face the fact that our little place might disappear." Ultimately, only one house was lost. Pasture and fences, sheds and forest are gone. Yet, says Fiona, “We still have our town. As part of SFA’s ongoing commission, forest rhythm workshops explore different sound properties of potential materials for installing sound sculptures mimicking the surrounding flora and fauna. In 2015, SFA mounted After the Burn (a touring photographic exhibition) and Out of the Ashes (paintings and woodwork featuring ash, charcoal, and resin) (SFA, After the Burn 116). The forthcoming community project Rising From the Ashes will commemorate the fire and allow residents to connect and create as they heal and move forward—ten years on from the foundation of Understory.ConclusionThe Understory Art in Nature Trail stimulates curiosity. It clearly illustrates links between place-based social, economic and material conditions and creative practices and products within a forest that has both given shelter and “done people in.” The trail is an experimental field, a transformative locus in which dedicated physical space frees artists to culturalise forest through varied aesthetic modalities. Conversely, forest possesses agency for naturalising art as a symbol of place. Djiva’s song Ngank Boodjak “sings up the land” to revitalise the timelessness of prior occupation, while David Pye’s Cicadan Rhythms foregrounds the seasonal cycle of entomological music.In drawing out the richness and significance of place, the ecologically inspired album Canopy suggests that the community identity of a forested place may be informed by cultural, economic, geographical, and historical factors as well as endemic flora and fauna. Finally, the musical representation of place is not contingent upon blatant forms of environmentalism. The portrayals of Northcliffe respectfully associate Western Australian people and forests, yet as a place, the town has become an enduring icon for the plight of the Universal Old-growth Forest in all its natural glory, diverse human uses, and (real or perceived) abuses.ReferencesAustralian Broadcasting Commission. “Canopy: Songs for the Southern Forests.” Into the Music. Prod. Robyn Johnston. Radio National, 5 May 2007. 12 Aug. 2014 <http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/intothemusic/canopy-songs-for-the-southern-forests/3396338>.———. “Composer David Pye.” Interview with Andrew Ford. The Music Show, Radio National, 12 Sep. 2009. 30 Jan. 2015 <http://canadapodcasts.ca/podcasts/MusicShowThe/1225021>.Berg, Peter, and Raymond Dasmann. “Reinhabiting California.” Reinhabiting a Separate Country: A Bioregional Anthology of Northern California. Ed. Peter Berg. San Francisco: Planet Drum, 1978. 217-20.Crawford, Patricia, and Ian Crawford. Contested Country: A History of the Northcliffe Area, Western Australia. Perth: UWA P, 2003.Feld, Steven. 2001. “Lift-Up-Over Sounding.” The Book of Music and Nature: An Anthology of Sounds, Words, Thoughts. Ed. David Rothenberg and Marta Ulvaeus. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2001. 193-206.Giblett, Rod. People and Places of Nature and Culture. Bristol: Intellect, 2011.Kato, Kumi. “Addressing Global Responsibility for Conservation through Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Kodama Forest, a Forest of Tree Spirits.” The Environmentalist 28.2 (2008): 148-54. 15 Apr. 2014 <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10669-007-9051-6#page-1>.Kennedy, Sharon. “Local Knowledge Builds Vital Support Networks in Emergencies.” ABC South West WA, 10 Mar. 2015. 26 Mar. 2015 <http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/03/09/4193981.htm?site=southwestwa>.Morrison, Della Rae. E-mail. 15 July 2014.Pedelty, Mark. Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and the Environment. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP, 2012.Pye, David. Telephone interview. 3 Sep. 2014.Relph, Edward. Place and Placelessness. London: Pion, 1976.Rice, Ann. Telephone interview. 2 Oct. 2014.Rose, Deborah Bird. Nourishing Terrains: Australian Aboriginal Views of Landscape and Wilderness. Australian Heritage Commission, 1996.Ryan, John C. Green Sense: The Aesthetics of Plants, Place and Language. Oxford: Trueheart Academic, 2012.Schine, Jennifer. “Movement, Memory and the Senses in Soundscape Studies.” Canadian Acoustics: Journal of the Canadian Acoustical Association 38.3 (2010): 100-01. 12 Apr. 2016 <http://jcaa.caa-aca.ca/index.php/jcaa/article/view/2264>.Sinclair, Fiona. Telephone interview. 6 Apr. 2014.Sinclair, Fiona, and Peter Hill. Personal Interview. 26 Sep. 2014.Southern Forest Arts. Canopy: Songs for the Southern Forests. CD coordinated by Fiona Sinclair. Recorded and produced by Lee Buddle. Sleeve notes by Robyn Johnston. West Perth: Sound Mine Studios, 2006.———. Southern Forest Sculpture Walk Catalogue. Northcliffe, WA, 2006. Unpaginated booklet.———. Understory—Art in Nature. 2009. 12 Apr. 2016 <http://www.understory.com.au/>.———. Trailguide. Understory. Presented by Southern Forest Arts, n.d.———. After the Burn: Stories, Poems and Photos Shared by the Local Community in Response to the 2015 Northcliffe and Windy Harbour Bushfire. 2nd ed. Ed. Fiona Sinclair. Northcliffe, WA., 2016.Truax, Barry, ed. Handbook for Acoustic Ecology. 2nd ed. Cambridge Street Publishing, 1999. 10 Apr. 2016 <http://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/Soundmark.html>.

The Southern African Alliaceae Borkh. is represented by four genera (Allium L., Nothoscordum Kunth, Tulbaghia L. and Prototulbaghia Vosa) and 28 species. The pollen morphology of the endangered monotypic genus Prototulbaghia has not been described before. A comparative study of the pollen morphology of Prototulbaghia siebertii Vosa, Nothoscordum borbonicum Kunth, Tulbaghia simmleri P.Beauv. and T. violaceae Harv. is presented in this article. Scanning electron microscopy, as well as light microscopy, were used to examine the pollen. The pollen morphology of the species can be described as perprolate and monosulcate, and the surface sculpture as reticulate and heterobrochate. However, the pollen of Prototulbaghia siebertii displays a unique characteristic as the grains are folded in their breadth with the tips touching, hence causing the grain to display a triangular and disulcate appearance. It might be possible to ascribe this fold to the process of harmomegathy or a still unknown event that occurs during the development of the pollen grain. This phenomenon should be further investigated to determine the cause of folding and whether it is a unique taxonomic characteristic of this genus, and if it could be of evolutionary significance for the Alliaceae.

AbstractFew proteins have come under such intense scrutiny as superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1). For almost a century, scientists have dissected its form, function and then later its malfunction in the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We now know SOD1 is a zinc and copper metalloenzyme that clears superoxide as part of our antioxidant defence and respiratory regulation systems. The possibility of reduced structural integrity was suggested by the first crystal structures of human SOD1 even before deleterious mutations in thesod1gene were linked to the ALS. This concept evolved in the intervening years as an impressive array of biophysical studies examined the characteristics of mutant SOD1 in great detail. We now recognise how ALS-related mutations perturb the SOD1 maturation processes, reduce its ability to fold and reduce its thermal stability and half-life. Mutant SOD1 is therefore predisposed to monomerisation, non-canonical self-interactions, the formation of small misfolded oligomers and ultimately accumulation in the tell-tale insoluble inclusions found within the neurons of ALS patients. We have also seen that several post-translational modifications could push wild-type SOD1 down this toxic pathway. Recently we have come to view ALS as a prion-like disease where both the symptoms, and indeed SOD1 misfolding itself, are transmitted to neighbouring cells. This raises the possibility of intervention after the initial disease presentation. Several small-molecule and biologic-based strategies have been devised which directly target the SOD1 molecule to change the behaviour thought to be responsible for ALS. Here we provide a comprehensive review of the many biophysical advances that sculpted our view of SOD1 biology and the recent work that aims to apply this knowledge for therapeutic outcomes in ALS.

Abstract Background/Aims The role of art in rheumatology is under-investigated. Several well-known artists have suffered from rheumatic disease. Their insights and achievements potentially provide reassurance and encouragement to our patients. Creating art may also offer therapeutic benefits for patients. Finally, the artistic environment can affect mood and behaviour. We highlight several inspirational artists. Methods Four artists offer valuable insights: Michaelangelo (d. 1564) was able to master sculpture, painting and architecture despite hand osteoarthritis and persisted in working until his death, age 89. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (d. 1919) developed severe RA aged 50. He continued to paint for the rest of his life, being carried to outdoor scenes on a sedan and designing an innovative rolling canvas to complete some of his finest work. He painted on small pieces of wood at night to distract from his arthritic pain. Frida Kahlo (d.1954), the Mexican artist, experienced chronic generalised pain and fatigue in keeping with fibromyalgia. This was after a bus accident at eighteen resulted in multiple pelvic and vertebral fractures. Self-portraiture became the cornerstone of her bold art during the solitude of her convalescence. Maud Lewis (d.1970), the Canadian folk painter, had JIA in early childhood resulting in a limp and severe hand changes. She spent much time indoors due to her pain and the ridicule faced from her peers. She developed an eagerness for drawing; to the extent that she painted on any surface she could find of her small cottage. Results These artists’ own words reveal the resilience they gained from their art. Renoir stated: 'Out of doom and misery the most beautiful song may rise'. Lewis reported ‘As long as I’ve got a brush in front of me, I’m alright.’, whilst Kahlo was similarly quoted to say ‘I am broken. But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint’. A small study in 2017 with 17 patients with RA showed improvement not only in hand function but also self-perception and quality of life after participating in daily art-based intervention (origami, painting and clay modelling) for four weeks. Furthermore, a common theme between these famous artists was how they favoured bright colours in their artwork, which may have positive effects on mood. Colouring can reduce stress in children in paediatric waiting rooms. Within other settings, research suggests that visual art depicting nature can reduce anxiety in emergency department waiting rooms. Conclusion Although exceptionally talented people, the artists discussed show the inspiring possibilities of creativity despite severe rheumatic disease. We suggest sharing these stories with our patients and considering further study into the therapeutic potential of creating art in rheumatic conditions. Attention should be paid to the artistic environment in which we see our patients. Disclosure S. Amar: None. M. Lloyd: None.