Aesthetic Arrest: Narcissus, Annie Dillard, Mary Cassatt & Greek Old-Fashioned Honey Donuts!

“The aesthetic experience is a simple beholding of the object . . . you experience a radiance. You are held in aesthetic arrest.” - Joseph Campbell

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Aesthetic Arrest: Mid-Week Libation

Wildstar’s Wednesday Libation: The Perfect Horchata! (recipe from Cooking Con Claudia)

• For many more authentic, family-style Mexican recipes, check out Cooking Con Claudia on Youtube and Instagram!

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Reading: Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard

Happy 80th Birthday to Annie Dillard! (born April 30, 1945)

“A profound book about the natural world—both its beauty and its cruelty—from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard … In 1975 Dillard took up residence on an island in Puget Sound, in a wooden room furnished with ‘one enormous window, one cat, one spider, and one person.’ … In Holy the Firm, she writes about a moth consumed in a candle flame, about a seven-year-old girl burned in an airplane accident, about a baptism on a cold beach. … Here is a lyrical gift to any reader who has ever wondered how best to live with grace and wonder in the natural world.” [Source]

Purchase here.

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Listening #1: Cancionera by Natalia Lafourcade

“Cancionera is a musical and visual manifesto born from Natalia Lafourcade’s desire to explore the duality of her artistic self and to transform music into a space of wonder. … The songs move between original compositions and two reinterpretations of traditional Mexican repertoire, creating a continuous dialogue between the intimate and the collective, the ancient and the contemporary. … ‘No dejes de sorprenderme’ — Never stop surprising me — is the guiding thread of this journey: an invitation to embrace the unexpected, to celebrate the beauty of transformation, and to reconnect with that inner voice that sings from the heart.” [Source]

Purchase or Stream (multiple platforms)

• Official Site of Natalia Lafourcade / Upcoming Tour Dates!

• Natalia Lafourcade’s alter ego takes center stage in ‘Cancionera’ (via AP)

• Natalia Lafourcade channels her mystical side in her new album 'Cancionera' (via NPR)

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Listening #2: Lamomali Totem by Lamomali (-M-, Fatoumata Diawara, Toumani Diabaté, Balla Diabaté) feat. Angélique Kidjo, Amadou & Mariam, Seu Jorge, Philippe Jaroussky, Yamê & more!

“-M-, Fatoumata Diawara, Balla Diabaté, and Toumani Diabaté offer here a powerful and colorful journey, rich in memory and modernity. The album is a love song to Africa and a vibrant tribute to Mali — its culture, its spirituality, its struggles, and its hopes. … In 12 tracks, TOTEM brings together generations, continents, and styles. It intertwines the ancestral kora with modern beats, legendary voices with tomorrow’s promises. It’s an album for those who love Mali. For those who believe that music can heal, unite, and mend.” [Source]

Purchase or Stream (multiple platforms)

• Official Site / Official Shop / Upcoming Tour Dates!

• Lamomali: Totem – The Malian Spirit Still Shines Beyond the Grave (via Bamako Live)

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Looking: The Art of of Mary Cassatt (1844 - 1926)

“Mary Cassatt made a career painting the lives of the women around her. Her radical images showed them as intellectual, curious and engaging, which was a major shift in the way women appeared in art. … Her artwork is some of the finest of the period. She printed, sketched and painted dozens of images of mothers and children yet she never married or had children herself. … The world’s most eminent Cassatt curators and scholars reveal a riveting tale of great social and cultural change; a time when women were fighting for their rights and the language of art was completely re-written. Mary Cassatt and her modern women were at the heart of it all.” [Source]

1) In the Loge (1878); 2) The Tea (1879-1880); 3) Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge (1879) ; 4) The Child's Bath (1893); 5) Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878); 6) Reading Le Figaro (1878) ; 7) Girl Arranging Her Hair (1886); 8) Young Mother Sewing (1900); 9) Young Woman Sewing in a Garden (c. 1880 - 1882)

Woman with a Sunflower (c. 1905) by Mary Cassatt

Check out the fantastic documentary, Mary Cassatt: Painting the Modern Woman — directed by Ali Ray (via Exhibition on Screen):

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Viewing: Narcissus (1983) — directed by Norman McLaren, starring Jean-Louis Morin as Narcissus

“In this short film by Norman McLaren, dancers enact the Greek tragedy of Narcissus, the beautiful youth whose excessive self-love condemned him to a trapped existence. Skillfully merging film, dance and music, the film is a compendium of the techniques McLaren acquired over a lifetime of experimentation.” [Source]

Click here to watch Narcissus (1983) for free online at the National Film Board of Canada! Or watch via Youtube below:

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Tasting: Greek Old-Fashioned Honey Donuts - Loukoumades (recipe from Chef Akis Petretzikis)

“‘Loukoumades’, aka Greek donuts! Perfectly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, these little donuts are served with honey and walnuts for an irresistible sweet treat!” [Source]

• Click here for the printable recipe!

• For many more mouthwatering Greek recipes from Chef Akis Petretzikis, check out his wonderful website and Youtube channel!

If you’re visiting Athens and get a craving for Greek-style donuts, then we highly recommend procuring your loukoumades from Loukoumadaki Greek Desserts:

Lemon Curd-Filled Loukoumades, Traditional Honey & Cinnamon Loukoumades, and Hazelnut Cream Loukoumades from Loukoumadaki in Athens, Greece [Photo by Ryan Wildstar]

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So that’s it for this week! But we’d like to end with this week’s words of wisdom, a quotation from the immortal Truman Capote:

This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Truman Capote (1924 - 1984)

“If you weren't here, if you could be anywhere you wanted to be, doing anything you wanted to do, where would you be and what would you be doing?” — Truman Capote (via Azquotes)

Thank you for joining us for Season 3 of Aesthetic Arrest!

Cheers to that!