Illuminated Manuscript, Modern Interpretations

"In the 8th Century, near what are now Scotland and England, Benedictine monastic scribes created a Bible that today is one of the longest surviving monumental manuscripts in the Western world.
Nearly 1,300 years later, renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson approached the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s University and Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, with his life-long dream: to create the first handwritten, illuminated bible commissioned since the invention of the printing press. The Saint John’s Bible uses ancient materials and techniques to create a contemporary masterpiece that brings the Word of God to life for the contemporary world."

Coming to Tacoma Art Museum is this remarkable document, The St. John's Bible, the first illuminated bible since the invention of the printing press. And it's not small feat.  More than 1,000 vellum pages measuring 2 by 3 ft. Done by artists the world over using ancient techniques and modern interpretations this is a monumental effort.  

We're also looking forward to the talk by Beautiful Angle co-founder Lance Kagey “Typography through World History”, 7 p.m. July 17. It should be a great event for the Puget Sound region.

Sea Queens, Pirates, And a Pop-Up Moby-Dick

New arrivals for Tacoma grand festival of Tall Ships - a visit of over 20 masted vessals including the great three masted CGC Eagle. Impressive weekend for Tacoma which was voted the best port for the previous Tall Ships festival in 2005. This year should prove to be bigger and better.

Jane Yolen, the great children's author, has just come out with a great new young adult title, Sea Queens - Women Pirates Around the World. Yolen brings us to Artemisia, the admiral-queen of Persia in 500 BC; Grania O'Malley, the Irish "pirate queen" who challenged Queen Elizabeth I's British ships; Madame Ching, who sailed the South China Sea in the early 1800s; and then other female pirates on their ships, in battle, and in disguise.

Another great book for the festival - Moby-Dick, A Pop-Up Book, by Sam Ita. The epic struggle of Ahab, Ishmael, and Queequeg as they chace the fabled whale across the seas is redone in a pop-up graphic novel. As Robert Sabuda says, "Unlike any other version of Moby Dick ever created."

Both books will take you back to the days of sails, yardarms, and chanties. And what a great weekend to take in the sea and watch the ships go by.