Preparing for liftoff.
On Tuesday, a bonsai tree boldly went where no bonsai tree has gone before.
Azuma Makoto, a 38-year-old artist based in Tokyo, launched two botanical arrangements into orbit: “Shiki 1,” a Japanese white pine bonsai tree suspended from a metal frame, and an untitled arrangement of orchids, lilies, hydrangeas, and irises.
Pair this with that time Anamanaguchi sent a slice of pizza into space and the past couple of years have been good for orbital art. After being launched from the site of Burning Man in Nevada, the botanical rigs traveled to about 90,000 feet before descending back to Earth, where they were found around five miles from the launch site. —MN
Have the various space agencies ever left plants suspended in the vacuum for extended periods of time, and if so, any ideas of the physical impact on the remains?
Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a stunning book binding depicting the crucifixion. According to the caption on Flickr, the book dates from the twelfth century, but this binding is much later. Can you spot the engraved 15—-49 above the cross? This suggests the binding was produced around that time. Isn’t it beautiful?
Image source: Creative Commons licensed by e-codices via Flickr.
Christ Rejected
Benjamin West (1738-1820)
1814
Oil on canvas
The English novelist Jane Austen was particularly impressed by West’s contribution to the genre: “I have seen West’s famous Painting, and prefer it to anything of the kind I ever saw before…[it] is the first representation of our Savior which ever at all contented me.”
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
This episode scared the hellmouth out of me
Neon moiré.
Throughout Bible Readings for the Home Circle (1888). Original from Princeton University. Digitized March 18, 2008.