Succulent Saturday - SciFi Museum Fantasy Exhibit

On museum day, after seeing the Fechin at the Frye, a friend took me to a fabulous preview of the new Fantasy exhibit at the SciFi Museum -

My friend was doing a review of this exhibit, so we got a nearly private tour from the curator. There was only another media rep, some miscellaneous workmen putting last minute touches on things, and us.

They have a nice selection of print examples - from graphic novel art, to early manuscripts of The Lord of the Rings, etc...

There are also a number of interactive tables - this one talks about fantasy archetypes. You can take a quiz and see which of the 20 archetypes *you* are (I am apparently a trickster.)

The big main room is vaguely medieval in feel - lots of lanterns and barred cells -

-old European looking stone walls -

A dragon in a jeweled cell on top of his golden hoard...

A 16th century suit of gorgeous, decorative armor -

There's an enormous 'scaled' tree in the center -

And fun costumes! Originals from the likes of The Wizard of Oz -

-The Princess Bride -

-Labyrinth, amongst a number of others....

Another of the interactive displays will allow you to make your own fantasy map - which you can get printed out and purchase to take home.

There is a room of fantasy art - from concept art from the movie Brave to this ginormous Brom original (gorgeous - but the lighting was no good for photographing in there)...

And there were a number of  movie paraphernalia - like this maquette from The Dark Crystal -

Swords from the Dread Pirate Roberts, Inego Montoya, and the Highlander.

Staff and crown from the Snow Queen in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The 'library' inside the giant tree had some treats as well -

Another super-cool interactive table - with all kinds of fantasy literature and music information.

This was one of my favorites - a copy of an actual letter from 1908 for Peter Pan. :-)

The whole thing is beautifully thought out and gorgeously put together.  My only wish was that it was about four times as large - it only scratches the surface of fantasy wonders.  Definitely worth seeing though!

Workshop Report -

See the last of our adventures here. :-) What a great weekend...

Brom/McCaig Workshop Weekend!

The inimitable Brom and Iain McCaig are teaching a workshop this weekend for TLCWorkshops. For updates, check out the TLCWorkshop blog - here!

Surprise Last-Minute Epic Workshop of Awesome

Going through IMC withdrawal?

 How about a TLCWorkshop at the end of summer?

Featuring the astonishing pairing of Brom and Iain McCaig -

The Magic Art of Visual Storytelling - 
Friday - Sunday, August 17-19


See TLCWorkshops for all the details!

Succulent Saturday - FaerieCon West Part II

The panels we attended were exceptionally good! Impressive, articulate, smart and informative panelists. (This one was actually on Steampunk - which was fun and ironic. Musician, modder, and authors).

(they seemed just as enamored of the audience as were with them. :-)

There were a number of authors there that I've read, or now want to read. I recently finished up Lisa Mantchev's Theatre Illuminata trilogy (fun and theatrical!). 

Also got to chat with Julie Kawagawa, Charles de Lint, Jesa MacBeth, etc...

There were a number of artist's also in attendance. Brom (who is guesting everywhere this year!)

Daniel Merriman, Amy Brown, Toby Froud, and more artistic goodness!

The talks on the state of publishing were a bit overwhelming and potentially depressing - things are changing SO quickly, it's hard to know how to keep up or where to go next. Robert Gould (super mega-transmedia mogul and the Con's organizer) had many impressive, thought provoking things to say. I have much to think on now...