Wordeater News
Infodumping Art and Stuff
Wordeater News is a collection of information about stuff I’m interested in and think you might be, too. This platform is my way of independently promoting art, research, and information literacy. I write a lot about art, reviews, cool people I know and admire, technology, language, comics, books, media, accessibility, gender, and storytelling.
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Language Without Context
A Review of Andrew Thorne and Gary James Joynes/Brad Neyck/Van Grimde Corps Secrets at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre
Freyja T. Catton, April 8, 2023. Wordeater News.
Running at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre from March 3 - April 15, 2023, these two exhibitions feature found text and printmaking by emerging artist Thorne, and a video installation of two short films by longtime Edmonton collaborators Neyck and Joynes with the Montreal dance company, Van Grimde Corps Secrets.
This week is the last week to see the exhibitions Radio Becomes Clear by Andrew Thorne and The End of the World // The Birth of the World by Brad Neyck, Gary James Joynes, and Van Grimde Corps Secrets Dance Company…
Posters of The End of the World / The Birth of the World and Radio Becomes Clear at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre, March 3- April 15, 2023.
Left to right: Thomas Easterday, Frank Easterday, Ora Easterday, Oscar Rogers, Harriet Easterday, Ed Rogers, and Leora Easterday. Circa 1913, from family photos.
Happy Easterday!: Genealogy and Me
Freyja T. Catton, April 16, 2022. Wordeater News.
My grandpa Harry Easterday passed away last weekend, six months short of 100 years old. He was incredibly supportive of me and my various pursuits, and he was one of the first to fully embrace my chosen name, at 96. He was looking forward to reading the next Captain Zeal book!
Last year I went on a huge genealogy kick, and I had a lot of fun learning about the Easterday line. As I was originally told, “There were two brothers who came from Germany, one was rich and one was poor. We are descended from the poor one”…
Now I Know My ABC’s: Next Time Won’t You Art With Me!
Freyja T. Catton, March 25, 2022. Wordeater News.
Not every language has a writing system, but every writing system can trace back to language. The evolution of writing systems have a lot to do with the individual language, culture, and repetition of communication within the culture. When writing develops, it is used to transmit information and share knowledge consistently and in greater detail than by spoken word alone.
The invention of writing is a gradual process, not a one-time event, however cool the mythology stories of the Norse god Odin and the Egyptian god Thoth are! Instead, writing systems usually start as pictures to represent spoken language….
Minna Sundberg, Linguistic Tree. 2017.
Tammy Salzl, “Emerald Queendom” (detail), 2021. Mixed media, video and sound (photo by aAron Munson)
Regarding the Emerald Queendom
A review of Tammy Salzl's exhibition "Emerald Queendom", shown at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre April 30-July 10, 2021.
Freyja T. Catton, January 28, 2022. Wordeater News.
Emerald Queendom transports the visitor into a post-human fairy world, where the world has begun to heal.
Magic is abundant and undomesticated, defined by connection, intimacy, and openness. The concept of fairies is shared by cultures all around the globe, though known by different names- such as fae or fair folk (English), sídhe (Irish) aziza (African), mogwai (Chinese), yaksha (Hindu/Buddhist), elves (Germanic), feufollet (Cajun), nymphs and satyrs (Greek), chaneques (southeast Mexico), or menehune (Hawaii). All of these are mischievous nature spirits. They watch you when you are alone. They like to mess with humans for fun. What kind of chaos would they get into without us?…