Ho-Ho's coming to town again...

hello all,

what's happened since the last time I was here?
Well, there was a visit to the Brno local museum... we were led backstage to visit the room were about 1200 puppets are stored. [small room- mezzanine- hangers- wires- carved faces- and more]. That was simply astounding. Found that some of those puppets are about 2 centuries old. Some are very ornate and sophisticated - some are made from animal skulls- some were carved by non-professionals, at a time were puppet making as well as puppetry were prohibited by a state that feared any kind of personal expression. Those amateurs puppet-makers designed series of puppets with one similarity: the face- all the puppets are said to represent their maker's face...
A lot, very much so, of history, personal threads and national ribbons, side by side...
bonus of the visit: we were given a vintage poster of a puppet performance dated to 1987. Don't exactly know what it's called, as the text is in cyrillic.
Inspiring stuff... got to make a couple of sketches that will be used to make some printing comes the new year!!
Also. discovered a new venue north of the city centre. Stara Pekarna. Basement venue, stone walls.. the result is far from cold and damp. On the contrary, the walls exult warmth and openess. An 'alternativni folk' gig was on.. the Sestry Steinovy, two young ladies, were singing in Czech and playing the guitar. Some really delicate riffs and some delicious harmonies...
only regret: my own lack of grasp of the language.. judging from the reaction of the audience (which was quite large: it's a small venue but it was packed full), the Steinovy Sisters had a fair sense of humour.. anyway, that was a great evening.. discovering new places is definitely part of the thrill of being abroad!

Oh, on the right is poster for Brno Divadlo (theatre)... as the Czenglish phrasing would put it...

and what else? Well, more art, a lot more art...
The Moravske Galerie has a large and quite impressive collection of Czech artists from the 20th century.. It's more or less divided into decades, each experiencing a lot politically. Some of the art has been painted with the colours of politics and national issues, some other artists have had a much more intern and individual vision of the time they lived in and had very little intention of associating themselves with the political climate and instead immersed themselves in philosophies such as existentialism. Well, as far as I understood...
Some names: Emilie Medkova/ Wilem Reichmann/ Vaclav Hejna/ Frantisek Kalab/ The Krizovnicka School of Humour Without Fun ...
To find out a little more about the latter 9well, it does have an awesome name afterall...), here's a link http://vvp.avu.cz/en_index.php?load=antologie_ceska_obsah
(I wonder whether it's got something to do with the school of Pataphysics.... absurd and grotesque outlook.... well, one more thing to find out..)

So yeah, all's good..
going to France in 6 days. New year's in Belfast.... oh, really looking forward to seeing my loved ones...

happy Kruta (turkey) to yous all
for the veggies... happy Brussel Sprouts

peace and love to you
back soon