Thursday, February 25, 2010

cartoon kells

luddite i am, but i was raised with saturday morning cartoons. tonight on npr i heard about a wonderful cartoon story about the book of kells. having a budding librarian in my household is interesting. both of my children love and value books, and believe me a stay at home parent reads more books to an eager audience in a household without tv!!! i just recently sent my son a copy of simon's book, one of his favorites from childhood. and tonight  my daughter called from work to tell me there's a cartoon about the book of kells!!!


anyway, the secret of kells is something i don't want to miss. the animation is old fashioned, no glitz, but beautiful layers and flat, medieval stylized figures and objects. it is, perhaps because i have been making old-style books with vellum that i now have a connection to this sort of artifact. but what struck me so much tonight was hannah calling to tell me that there's a movie about the book of kells. she has hopes of working someday with archives and special collections, caring for cultural treasures. 
ink drawing on dyed vellum, before mounting in book

wooden boards over handmade paper, unfinished

what could be better, a snowy evening, a happy border collie, the magic of books and story? perhaps, if i had the book of kells to myself, for just one evening? or no, i would be too frightened to breathe near it. 

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link to the trailer! It looks wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! What an incredible trailer - can't wait for the movie. I love the old style animation. CGI is cool and I love Pixar but in trying so hard to mimic reality, animators have thrown away the opportunity to work in Dreamtime.

    ReplyDelete
  3. velma.....no tv?!!!!!i am impressed.....really!
    to let go of tv would open the door to new insights into music and books........
    ahhhhhh....but you still love technology with the internet don't you.......just kidding around....i really am impressed....i think i could learn to be better off without tv....although it would be hard not watching the steelers or the penguins or the olympics......i think for me it would be easier to give up my cell phone and my internet before tv!...........then again, i often dream about living in a log cabin beside a trout stream far away from anyone...as long as i have electricity to run my stevie ray vaughan cd's........but good for you velma ....i truly am impressed that you live without television......

    ReplyDelete
  4. i hate tv. i'd like to see some olympics (especially snowboarding and classic skiing) but really, how important is that? i can rent a video later. i have a tiny tv so i can watch occasional movies. i had to learn about technology for one job, for which built a web page. i use a mac because they aren't horrid like pcs. i hate my cell phone, but to economize i have a package with family. i like not being in touch all the time. i like what the internet does well, the rest is bunk. (did i say i am opinionated?)!!!

    ReplyDelete

be in touch!

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *