THE BRITISH SERIES BY FRANK SKILLMAN This latest group of visual arts was inspired by a month as a Boswell Scholar visiting London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, cities where my family last made their way before coming to the USA. I was the first to return. Bozzy’s Farewell refers to Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh and James Boswell’s journal entry on his departure from Scotland in 1762. Though not a member of the flock, I took what I describe as a Catholic approach to St. Pancras in a Moment. While in London I had a room in Bloomsbury near the Saint Pancras Station, which is down the block from St. Pancras Church, where I attended an installation exhibit in its catacombs and later listened to the organist and choir rehearse hymns in the upper chamber. A rare structure supported by caryadids, built in the 19th Century. I’d never heard of this saint. Here’s what Catholics Online have to say about him: “We have no reliable historical information about this martyr. Legend tells us he was born at the end of the third century and brought up by an uncle in Rome after the death of his parents. Both he and his uncle became Christians. Pancras was beheaded in 304 during Diocletian's persecution. He was only 14 years old. Pancras is especially venerated in England because Augustine of Canterbury dedicated his first church to Pancras and his relics were presented as a gift to the king of Northumberland. A district in London is named St. Pancras after him” St. Pancras’ Walk started out as one of those accidental snap shots of the floor of the place, that, as a giclee print, had some interesting depth and reflection, on which the Saint and some angels appear like Elvis on a pie crust. Charlie’s Disguise – My mother, the Glaswegian and Jacobite sympathizer of the family, would tell us stories about Bonnie Prince Charlie. One of our favorites was about how he escaped back to Europe disguised as Flora MacDonald’s Irish maid. The work on paper was done on Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Matte and archival stock. |
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