Best of the internet - July
Featured artist: Suad Al-Attar
Suad Al-Attar, the first female artist to exhibit art in Iraq solo. I love her work. At my university's library, there is a biography of her which contains prints of all her oil paintings, which is how I found out about her. Whenever I felt overwhelmed by my workload, I would open that book. I find it so riveting and enchanting to look at her landscapes and cityscapes --- gazing at her paintings is like taking a warm bath for your mind.
A poetic essay about a town that disappeared into the sea.
Engravings made by nonhuman hominids -- What I find so cool about this is that it shows that our nonhuman relatives could have been just as sophisticated as we were, just as cultured as we were, when we coexisted at the same point in history. Neanderthals made cave paintings too! They were so close to us. So alike in human dignity.
Bioacoustics: Finding the Voices of Other Species. From the article -- "For the first time, we will be able to know whether a plant communicates to others that it is hurt or in need of water, and to understand its needs and responses to external and internal factors. For example, dry tomato and tobacco plants vibrate, producing distinct ultrasonic clicks or popping sounds, as many as 35 an hour, when stressed by dehydration or when injured." How cool is that? Listening in on plant conversations??
Glass slippers, glass neckties, glass dresses
The 1893 World's Fair included clothing made out of spun glass. And they looked fabulous.
Computer art from the 50s and 60s -- The precursor to making "digital art" as we think of it now, early computer art was often mechanical, and involved a lot of geometry. It makes sense that artists would turn to machines rather than their hands to relieve themselves of the difficulty and monotony of drawing "ninety perfect sine waves"
Whale sharks might produce noise, similar to their namesakes
Wikipedia rabbit holes of the day
Amigurumi -- The name for those cute little 3D crocheted dolls and animals. Since I volunteer at my school's Maker Hub, I'm rather in touch with the crocheted scene, as that is one of the more popular type of projects for people to work on there. I find these little animals really cute.
More on a related topic - yarnbombing, where groups of crafters will cover part of an urban landscape in knitted cozies or wraps. During covid, my local middle school's yarn club made a rainbow cozy for the tree outside the school, which stayed up for several months.