Search results for ""Author Elizabeth Ashley""
Collective Ink Meeting the Melissae: The Ancient Greek Bee Priestesses of Demeter
The Eleusinian Mysteries were the most prestigious initiation of the ancient world. The ritual’s secrets were protected by death vows and have been speculated about for more than 4,000 years. The nine-day festival was run by a group of women called Melissae, or “bees”: married women, second only in rank to the Priestess of Athena Polias, who presided over Athens. They amassed incredible wealth, fame, and political status. Temple accounts from the period reveal that it was the priestesses’ money that paid for Greece's glorious architecture. Fees were earned for sacrifices and granting access to divinity. In return, the priestess made Greece a magnificent place to live. Oracles, diviners, soul midwives and creatrixes of innumerable festivals, these women ensured that the city-state kept favour with the goddess. They achieved that by emulating the ways of the world’s most successful matriarchal community, a bee colony. Herbal textbooks speak of a relationship between these women and the Lemon Balm herb (Melissa officinalis). Journey into the past and into the enchanting dreamscape of the hive with aromatherapist Elizabeth Ashley. A delightful odyssey for anyone interested in herbal wisdom, ancient Greek history, female empowerment, and humankind’s greatest allies, the bees.
£20.99
Hatje Cantz Ted Stamm: Series
Ted Stamm’s paintings, drawings and performative works show the New York artist’s constant engagement with his time and his tireless experimental way of working. He developed a minimalist visual language that often appears strictly geometric and simple, yet conveys a great sense of freedom. His iconic works and cross-media conceptual approaches went on to influence a wide range of artists in the generation that followed. This new monograph on the work of this American artist is the most comprehensive published to date. Examining Ted Stamm’s series and artistic language through essays by renowned scholars that place his work in the context of its time and discuss his contribution to the art historical canon, it provides an in-depth insight into Stamm’s multifaceted oeuvre.
£43.20
