art on the way of fire

A chance encounter: director Sara Dosa was looking for footage of erupting Icelandic volcanoes, and she stumbles upon the spectacular photos and films of Maurice and Katia Krafft.

She immersed herself with her producer, Ina Fichman, in the archives of volcanologists who died at Unzen, kept at Images'Est in Nancy.

The focus was on the material left by the Krafft spouses

“Through our research and our conversations, we understood that they were living the life they dreamed of living, a life full of meaning and love. They knew that they could die at any moment doing this type of work. It's not that they wanted to die, but they had made peace with this idea. It's not about celebrating their death, but celebrating their life," Sara told La Presse/Canada.

" It was when we really learned who they were as people, and the fact that they were not only married but also in love with volcanoes, that we were like, 'OK, we want to make a movie about these people." , said Sara Dosa to AFP.

Volcanoes, " that's what brought them together in the first place, and it was the engine, the fuel of their relationship ".

" Fire of love ", this documentary from National Geographic and the prestigious independent distributor Neon is the subject of rave reviews and first awards. It was also screened in a limited number of US theaters.

In the original English version, the director chose not to dub Katia and Maurice Krafft, who speak mainly French, and opted for subtitles.

The French version also uses subtitles rather than dubbing for narration, performed by filmmaker Miranda July.

Sources:

- media: La Presse.ca, Le Figaro Culture, Imazpress, RTBf

- Overblog / Earth of fire: These photographers who enchant us ... Katia and Maurice Krafft - link

-  " Femmes d’alsace - De Sainte Odile à Katia Krafft … portraits de femmes rebelles "

Two eruptive episodes are reported by the PVMBG on April 15, 2022 at Anak Krakatau.

The first occurred at 03:27 WIB with the height of the ash column observed at ± 1000 m above the summit (± 1157 m above sea level). It is observed that the ash column is white to black with a thick intensity towards the southwest. This eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 50 mm and a duration of 305 seconds.

The second took place at 10:34 a.m. WIB with the height of the ash column observed at ± 700 m above the peak (± 857 m above sea level). It is observed that the ash column is white to gray with a thick intensity towards the southwest. This eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 40 mm and a duration of 153 seconds.

Activity level is at 2/waspada

Sources: PVMBG, Magma Indonesia

The lava dome growth continues at Sheveluch.

A strong fumarolic activity, and incandescence of the lava dome, and hot avalanches accompany this process. Satellite data from KVERT showed explosions sent ash up to 6.5 km above sea level, an ash cloud moving southeast from the volcano.

The extrusive eruption of the volcano continues. Ash explosions up to 10-15 km a.s.l. could occur at any time. Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

The aviation color code remains orange

Source: KVERT

After a period of increasing activity noted by the instruments, an overflight of the summit of Villarica was carried out on April 14, 2022, attesting to the presence of a small lava pit inside the chimney of the volcano.

Activity remained at levels considered low, suggesting stability of the volcanic system. The technical alert level remains green, with a danger zone within 100 meters of radius around the crater.

Source: P.O.V.I. & Sernageomin

For a hundred years it has been a tradition to lay a carpet in the town square of Orotava in Tenerife.

The natural material was used for the realization of the ephemeral carpet. We had to adapt to unexpected events to have a work that lasts and is appreciated. Volcanic sand is usually collected in several places in the municipality (from sea level to the top), mainly in the Teide National Park, in places determined by the management plan of the national park. Mineral remains that have been removed by national park operators (for road cleaning, for example) are also reused. The rocks offer 7 natural colors that allow you to remove 21 different shades.

This year, eight tons of ash from the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma will be used in the traditional making of carpets in honor of Corpus Christi in La Orotava, declared Assets of Cultural Interest (BIC) and the one of the major meetings of the patronal festivals of this City, which will take place next June.

This was confirmed yesterday to the DIARIO DE AVISOS by the mayor of La Orotava, Francisco Linares, who pointed out that with this initiative of the Association of Carpet Manufacturers of La Orotava, the municipality intends "to give public recognition to the palmeros for their exceptional behavior during the natural emergency that left more than 7,000 families homeless, and remember that Isla Bonita still needs everyone's help.

The mayor explained that the ash will mainly be used in the Teide sand carpet of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, known as the large tapestry or monumental tapestry, whose production is currently led by the carpet manufacturer Domingo González Expósito.

Linares pointed out that the ashes of La Palma will be the great novelty of this edition of the ephemeral artistic tradition of the village and will provide "a special and unique black color, very different from that usually extracted from the lands of the Cañadas del Teide".

Source: Diario de Avisos

Deux épisodes éruptifs sont rapportés par le PVMBG ce 15 avril 2022 à l'Anak Krakatau.

Le premier s'est produit à 03h27 WIB avec la hauteur de la colonne de cendres observée à ± 1000 m au-dessus du sommet (± 1157 m au-dessus du niveau de la mer). On observe que la colonne de cendres est blanche à noire avec une intensité épaisse vers le sud-ouest. Cette éruption a été enregistrée sur un sismographe avec une amplitude maximale de 50 mm et une durée de 305 secondes.

Le second a eu lieu à 10h34 WIB avec la hauteur de la colonne de cendres observée à ± 700 m au-dessus du pic (± 857 m au-dessus du niveau de la mer). On observe que la colonne de cendres est blanche à grise avec une intensité épaisse vers le sud-ouest. Cette éruption a été enregistrée sur un sismographe avec une amplitude maximale de 40 mm et une durée de 153 secondes.

Le niveau d'activité est à 2 / waspada

Sources : PVMBG , Magma Indonesia

La croissance du dôme de lave se poursuit au Sheveluch.

Une forte activité fumerolienne, et une incandescence du dôme de lave, et des avalanches chaudes accompagnent ce processus. Les données satellitaires du KVERT ont montré que des explosions ont envoyé des cendres jusqu'à 6,5 km au-dessus du niveau de la mer, un nuage de cendres se déplaçant vers le sud-est du volcan.

L'éruption extrusive du volcan continue. Explosions de cendres jusqu'à 10-15 km  a.s.l. pourrait survenir à tout moment. L'activité en cours pourrait affecter les aéronefs internationaux et volant à basse altitude.

Le code couleur aviation reste orange

Source : KVERT

Après une période d'activité croissante relevée par les instruments, un survol du sommet du Villarica a été effectué ce 14 avril 2022, attestant de la présence d'une petite fosse de lave à l'intérieur de la cheminée du volcan.

L'activité est restée à des niveaux considérés comme faibles, suggérant une stabilité du système volcanique. Le niveau d'alerte technique reste au vert, avec une zone de danger dans les 100 mètres de rayon autour du cratère. 

Sources : P.O.V.I. & Sernageomin

Depuis une centaine d'années, la tradition veut que soit rélisé un tapis sur la place de la ville d'Orotava à Ténérife.

La matière naturelle a été utilisé pour la réalisation du tapis éphémère. Il a fallu s’adapter à des événements inattendus pour avoir une œuvre qui dure et soit appréciée. Du sable volcanique est habituellement recueilli en plusieurs endroits de la municipalité (du niveau de la mer au sommet), principalement dans le parc national du Teide,  dans des lieux déterminés par le plan de gestion du parc national. Les restes de matières minérales qui ont été enlevés par les exploitants du parc national (pour le nettoyage des routes, par exemple) sont également réutilisés. Les roches offrent 7 couleurs naturelles qui permettent de retirer 21 teintes différentes.

Cette année, huit tonnes de cendres provenant de l'éruption du volcan Cumbre Vieja à La Palma seront utilisées dans la confection traditionnelle des tapis en l'honneur de Corpus Christi à La Orotava, déclarés Bien d'Intérêt Culturel (BIC) et l'un des les grands rendez-vous des fêtes patronales de cette Ville, qui auront lieu au mois de juin prochain.

Cela a été confirmé hier au DIARIO DE AVISOS par le maire de la Orotava, Francisco Linares, qui a souligné qu'avec cette initiative de l'Association des fabricants de tapis de La Orotava, la municipalité entend " rendre une reconnaissance publique aux palmeros pour leur comportement exceptionnel pendant l'urgence naturelle qui a laissé plus de 7 000 familles sans abri, et rappelez-vous que l'Isla Bonita a encore besoin de l'aide de tous.

Le maire a expliqué que la cendre sera principalement utilisée dans le tapis de sable du Teide de la Plaza del Ayuntamiento, connu sous le nom de grande tapisserie ou tapisserie monumentale, dont la production est actuellement dirigée par le fabricant de tapis Domingo González Expósito.

Linares a souligné que les cendres de La Palma seront la grande nouveauté de cette édition de la tradition artistique éphémère du village et fourniront "une couleur noire spéciale et unique, très différente de celle habituellement extraite des terres des Cañadas del Teide".

Source : Diario de Avisos

Sara Þórðardóttir Oskarsson is an Icelandic artist, who has just made her dream come true: to paint a volcano on a ... erupting volcano.

That of Fagradalsfjall offered him this "golden opportunity".

As she comments: “ Materials play a central role in my work. I mostly employ non-traditional materials and processes within the settings of 'painting.' I largely incorporate chemistry and try to develop the work. by experimenting with the materials I use, this often involves accessing the expertise of scientific disciplines and using materials still in development in the field of chemistry.

Matter itself is not fully understood, nor is our relationship to it. How consciousness comes from matter is a mystery. By sourcing a wide range of materials and incorporating chemistry into my work, I want to take apart or melt down the physical world and rearrange it on the canvas. The material loses all meaning and form before being reorganized into a functioning, understandable, living. "

Brief biography:

Born in Reykjavík in 1981, she moved with her family to Dundee, Scotland in 1985, where her father had gone to study medicine, and where she lived until her teenage years.

Nostalgic for Scotland, she moved there when she was 17. She was planning to study chemistry there ... until she decided to focus on her other area of ​​interest, art, at the Edinburgh College of Art, and she harmonized these two subjects in order to enhance them.

Today her paintings are based on chemistry and ideologically and philosophically connect with the work she does in politics, where she serves as the Pirate Party MP in the Icelandic Parliament. It can be described as a very interdisciplinary approach to the challenges within each subject.

This other work by Sara Oskarsson, titled "Fire and Ice", is commented on on the New Blood Art page:

" A duality of layers appears in Oskarsson’s large and tempestuous canvases. Their surfaces carry a tense underlying materiality that at once fractures yet combines their abstract play of colours. Her complex transformation of materials indicates her interest in chemistry, one that advances Jackson Pollock’s alchemical philosophy. "

Sources: various media (Frettabladid - The Telegraph- New Blood Art - Saatchi Art - Facebook - Instagram)

To fully understand Meredith Stoudenmire's works, you need to know a little about her background.

Born in Greenville in 1975, a city in South Carolina in the United States, where she still lives and works, she discovered volcanoes in a geology class at the University.

They have always fascinated her, although she branched out into the arts; She obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking, before moving into painting.

Her work remains symbolically inspired by volcanoes, and in his most recent series, by adventure and childish attraction to risk taking.

Although she has not hiked on all the illustrated volcanoes, she is documenting herself thanks to the photos found on the internet to feed her creative spirit.

Photos taken of his children have inspired several series of paintings.

Seeing her little girl hopping above crevasses filled with lava, in her series "Cracks are hot lava", we tremble for her safety and we hope that the adventure will end well for her.

She paints her little boy asleep on a raft on the "Yellow river", or canoeing on a river-volcano, and we sail with him towards danger.
 

She is currently working on a series of watercolors that will illustrate a book being written ... a volcano-dragon spits its ash plume while dragging its magmatic chamber, as if pulsed out of the ground, towards the lakes of Kelimutu, above the hot springs of Yellowstone, above Dallol or Crater Lake.

So many adventures in perspective !

Sources:

Thanks to Meredith for her correspondence, all the mark of her smile.

You can find it on:

- Volcano Answers - art by Meredith Stoudenmire - http://www.volcanoanswers.com/

- On his Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Meredith-Stoudenmire-Art-925531421171931/posts/?ref=page_internal

- On Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/volcanoanswers/?hl=fr&fbclid=IwAR33I8LcV2Z0nhRRCz-6Dwy1TRhXqA5wcZ_4m1g_i0v3kDykmVr5yx2Jb38

Thanks also to Sylvain Chermette, 80 jours voyages, who introduced me to the artist.

Faced with the Covid-19 pandemic which is hitting Italy hard, the Neapolitan artist Gennaro Regina, one of whose favorite themes is Vesuvius, reacted in April 2020 by producing some "volcanic" works, which reveal as many artistic emotions than messages.

He put on his Facebook page less recent works related to the theme.

Creativity, spontaneity, improvisation, panache, explosiveness ... volcanic, all these qualifiers cannot define it. He will do it himself, saying:

                                                 " Sono figlio della pop art "

Born in 1965, into a family of publishers and booksellers of art books, he mixes painting and photography since the 80s.

He was influenced by the works of Andy Warhol and pop-art, a combination of graphic art, and advertising and artistic techniques, by Vesuvius and the Neapolitan traditions ... does he not bear the first name of a bishop famous for his interaction with the volcano?

His favorite themes are the Eruptions of Vesuvius, in all its colors, The Neapolitan landscapes, of Ischia, or Capri, and Homo Ludens, really very personal.

Sources:

- Artist's website - link

- Gennaro Regina's Facebook page - link

The Ortiz-Guardian Museum in León, Nicaragua, is the National Art Gallery. It occupies three large square pavilions covered with red tiles built in the eighteenth century, deploying Andalusian around interior gardens.

My friend Ced Nordman has just sent me pictures of Nicaraguan primitivist paintings, decorating one of the rooms, to illustrate the theme of "art and volcanoes".

Starting from the observation of their own immediate reality and not from foreign aesthetic theories, these paintings spontaneously express the exuberance of Nicaraguan landscapes, exploiting the color of their flora and fauna, in works of a workmanship that approaches guidelines of so-called naive art.
 

These works, marked by a sincerity of the look, have vibrant colors; the perspective and the proportions between the elements are not always respected. The paintings are spontaneous, reflecting the sensitivity of the painter, and a world, happy, festive, ideally perceived.

Santiago de los Caballeros de León (its full name in Spanish is little used) is located on the León River, about 80 km northwest of Managua, and about 17 km north of the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Although less populated than Managua, León has long been the intellectual center of the nation, with a university founded in 1813. León is also an important industrial and commercial center.

It was also in this city that in 1979 the last upheavals of a ruthless civil war that lasted three years took place. The square of the city’s very harmonious grand cathedral was the scene of bloody battles in 1979 between the troops of the dictator Somoza and the ultimately victorious forces of the Sandinista uprising.

Source:

Thanks to Ced for his information and sharing his photos, wishing him a good trip among the many volcanoes of Nicaragua.

Johan Christian Dahl, Norwegian landscaper, visiting Castellamarre di Stabia, is fortunate to witness an eruption of Vesuvius.

At the beginning of 1820, through an open fracture along the western slope of the large cone, a spectacular lava flow poured towards the Pass of the Savior. The painter visited the eruptive site several times, and made sketches of molten lava, with the Bay of Naples in the background; He also notices the powerlessness of the inhabitants in the face of sulfur gas emanations exhaled by the crevices. Subsequently, in his workshop, Dahl creates spectacular oils on canvas, such as "View of Vesuvius in eruption" (1821)

"Boats on the beach near Naples" depicts the bay magnified by the erupting volcano, and the life that goes on for fishermen.

Like the previous painting, several different versions were executed ... in this theme, we see various phases of the eruption on the basis of an almost similar setting.

Johan Christian Dahl, born February 24, 1788 in Bergen and died October 14, 1857 in Dresden, is a Norwegian landscape painter.

He comes from a simple background: his father is a modest fisherman from Bergen, Norway.

As a child, Dahl studied at Bergen Cathedral to become a priest, but his early artistic abilities led him to pursue a career in painting. From 1803 to 1809, he studied with the painter Johan Georg Müller, whose workshop was then the most important in Bergen. He began to paint for theater sets, tried his hand at portraiture and views of Bergen and its surroundings.

Dahl continued his studies at the Academy in Copenhagen, a city in which he painted the surrounding countryside.

Dahl participated in annual art exhibitions in Copenhagen from 1812, but his real breakthrough occurred in 1815, when he exhibited no less than thirteen paintings. Danish prince Christian Frederik ensures that his works are purchased for the royal collection; he also becomes a friend and a patron of the artist.
 

Prince Christian Frederik wrote to Dahl in 1820 from Italy to invite him to the Quisisana Palace in Castellammare di Stabia, located at the foot of the majestic Mont Faito. - The name of the place refers to "Stabia", deriving from the old Roman name, and to "Castellammare" designating the 9th century castle around which the city developed - Charmed by the place and the view of Vesuvius, Dahl takes a series of unusual views of great artistic quality, and has thus created charming landscapes of this lesser-known corner of the Gulf of Naples and our volcano.
The luck, for Dahl, wanted at the beginning of 1820, through an open fracture along the western slope of the great cone, a spectacular lava flow towards the Pass of the Savior. This stay becomes a decisive factor in his artistic development. It is in Italy, with its strong southern light, that Dahl's art truly reaches its peak.

Sources:

- Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

- Biography - Wikipedia.

Fascinated by the nature and power of the forces that govern the planet, and its hosts whose lives they condition, Joel Rea tries to account for these interactions in his paintings using metaphor and self-portrait.

Then born a dreamlike universe, magnified by a demanding technique and a realization of extreme finesse. His paintings are full of details, which defines him as a hyperrealist painter.

Hyperrealism is an art movement that appeared in the late sixties, of American origin, characterized by a representation of the environment, characters or everyday objects, whose meticulousness and illusionist precision exceeds imitation.

His painting "Forces" depicts with a photographic precision a plume of ashes during an eruption ... and leaves room for the dream, the reflection on the place of man in the face of the power of the volcano.

The character is slightly vaulted, absorbed by the ash that flows between the fingers ... your imagination will do the rest.

Have you ever let fine ash in your knuckles?

Joel Rea was born in Queensland, Australia in 1983. He graduated from the Queenqland College of Art in 2003.

He then exhibited in Australia and the United States, and received prestigious awards.

In 2013, he was selected for the Archibald Salon Des Refuses exhibition in Sydney, the Black Swan Award for Portraiture in Perth, the Fleurieu Landscape Award in Adelaide, and won the 2013 ANL Maritime Art Award in Melbourne.

This artist is a hard worker who can spend more than 700 hours on a single work

Sources:

Joel Rea official website - link

Artis a day - link
 

In Akrotiri, at least one frescoed room has been found in every house. This characteristic is a testimony to the high standard of living of the inhabitants. They describe sports games or cultural scenes, or everyday life, with landscapes of Santorini or Egypt.

The execution is neat, the details are precise, the natural color spectrum extended. The paintings are started on a coating) wet lime, but finished on a dry support.

The pigments used are ocher and jarosite for yellow, ocher or hematite for red, and Egyptian blue. The contours are drawn in graphite. The colors are used in a united way, without gradients.

Frescoes found in the "House of the ladies" :

The storied house was named after the discovery of frescoes with female characters and papyrus, a motif borrowed from the Egyptian cult of the goddess Hathor.

Another fresco depicts the preparation of a ceremony by the mistress of the house; A lady wears heavy breasts, belonging, according to Marinatos, to a married matron.

These female figures, of different ages, represent a female feminine community of Akrotiri, during a ceremony of offerings to the goddess.

Women wear either a colorful skirt down to the ankles and a blouse with sleeves to the elbow, or a short-sleeved dress, low-cut well below the breasts. The clothes are woven and often adorned with bands.

Frescoes of "Potnia Theron", the Mistress of animals and crocus collection in bloom.

Decorating a wall on the second floor of the house Xeste 3 / room 3, a girl, the skull partly shaved (gray head) leaving a few locks of long hair and festive clothes, picks crocus flowers on a hill.

This collection shows a significant economic activity, and the trade of saffron. This fresco represents the human level of society ... the divine level is depicted in another part of the floor, with the offering of the pistils to the great goddess, sitting on a podium and holding a winged griffin on a leash. A monkey offers him a handful of crocus, while a girl prepares another basket with flowers. No direct contact between humans and the goddess. We find monkey and griffin on murals of Knossos.

This house is considered a place of initiation and rites of passage, because of the layout of the place and the various frescoes.

Fresco of the room of the blue monkeys (room B6)

The theme of the fresco, which decorates the Beta room, is the celebration of nature.

In a landscape depicting the nature of Thêra -  water in the bottom, rocks, and trees - the monkeys are represented in a composition, in various poses, with an impression of movement corresponding to their natural attitude, suggesting that the painter was able to observe directly these monkeys, imported from the eastern Mediterranean.

In Knossos we find a similar fresco, proof that both islands were occupied by men and women of the Minoan civilization.

Sources:

- Akrotiri - Thera and the Mediterranean - by Nanno Marinatos / Edit. Militos