Antikythera – Ancient Technology Revealed

You know me… curious as all get out.  I’ve found an incredible object; a powerful convergence of astronomy, mathematics, and the watchmaker’s art.

Most of us remember the Cosmic Clock in Tomb Raider and how it indicated planetary alignments.  Great story; planetary alignments every 5-thousand years; broken triangle of power; great stuff of Hollywood.

However, such objects may be more real than we suppose.  In the Mediterranean Sea, off the Greek island of Antikythera was found a cosmic clock (some call it a computer) which indeed predicts both solar and lunar eclipses.  It even told the Greeks where and when the next Olympic Games were to be held.

The Antikythera Mechanism is, today, little more than corroded plates of bronze about 9cm thick.  Discovered in 1901 by sponge divers the crumpled mass remained little understood until a research team reexamined the object in 2006.

This type of mechanical computation is some fifteen-hundred-years ahead of its time.  Devices of similar complexity and accuracy weren’t created until the 18th century.  This beautiful, encrusted stack of bronze faces and gears has been examined with the latest in x-ray tools and these images have allowed a master builder to replicated it.  We even have a video for you to enjoy!

Explore. Seek. Discover.

Artist’s Way Blog

Without trying to over-do a single subject, I have just stumbled across an enriching blog focused on The Artist’s Way.  There are loads of Categories wherein you’ll find creative nourishment and lots of other resources.  You’re even invited to submit imagery of some of your creations to be posted.

I don’t want to go on and on about this, so…

Become more today than you were yesterday!

Know The Truth & Grow

Oh my goodness… it’s been almost a month.

I’ve been reading some great books.  Watching some great docs.  I’ve been taking some time for me as we have now finished closing our theatre company.

When I engage in creative transitions I turn to, among others, the writings of Julia Cameron.  She has written a series of books, the first of Which is The Artist’s Way, a book of hope, direction, and nourishment for recovering creatives (artists of all stripes).

I’ve just finished her autobiographically oriented book, Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance.  Right now I’m racing through a wonderful work of counsel and wisdom called, Letters to a Young Artist: Building a Life in Art.

Finding Water is really a journey through Cameron’s own collection of Morning Pages.  If you do not yet know what Morning Pages are, you really need to read, The Artist’s Way.  It’s a book wherein we, the reader, walk with Cameron through a really challenging dry-spell.  In so doing we can learn to take our eyes off of ourselves, seek perople amd tools of help, healing, nurture, and nourishment.

I found a couple of sections to be redundant, but on the whole the book is a genuine journey through Cameron’s head in a time of simply holding on, something most of us “creatives” do from time to time.

Letters to a Young Artist is literally a collection of responses by Cameron to questions she recieves from artists all over the country.  It’s a distilled collection of questions and responses which, in true Cameronesque fashion, cut to the heart of the matter and says what needs to be said.  Cameron doesn’t pussy-foot around.  She’s never brutal, but she is direct.  That’s how much love and care she has for those of us who read her books for counsel.

If you really want to pursue art – whatever the medium- get your hands on the works of this author, Julia Cameron.  You’ll be nurtured and nourished with the truth.

Open. Enlarge. Create.