Geniarts kickstarter - family trees as art

Occasionally I get an email with something just a little different that catches my eye, and today was no different, with a message from Brussels based Geniarts (www.geniarts.com). The firm is seeking to raise €55,000 through a crowdfunder campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geniarts/geniartscom-when-a-family-tree-becomes-art.

Here's the blurb:

For more than 5 years Geniarts has been developing the next generation of family tree templates, by creating a website dedicated to contemporary artists who imagine new family tree templates.

In three simple steps, your family tree becomes the heart of a work of art !

The bottom line is that the company is seeking to create a new series of family tree style templates that can be displayed as art, but to do so it needs to raise the Kickstarter money by Mon, July 3 2017 6:19 PM BST. You can pledge money to purchase one of the designs at a certain size, depending on your budget - if all of the money is raised, you'll get the design you've pledged for, and if not, you won't, and no money will go to the project.

There's also a wee video to go with it:

(This is also available at https://youtu.be/cKl2jp16cm0)

I'm not sure if this is quite my thing, but it may very well be your kind of thing - and I am very much a member of the 'God loves a trier' school of thought!  So do take a look, see if it is up your street, and in the meantime, good luck to the Geniarts team!

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102.
For details on my Scottish & Irish genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.
For my genealogy research service, please visit http://www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk.

New William Shakespeare portrait found

It's been a while since I've had an dealings with Country Life magazine (I worked as a researcher on a BBC2 documentary in Bristol about its 100th year anniversary in 1996!), but this story looks a good 'un - the discovery of a new image of William Shakespeare, thanks to the cracking of a Tudor code surrounding the illustration in a 16th century book.

The full story is available at http://www.countrylife.co.uk/features/world-exclusive-the-true-face-of-shakespeare-revealed-for-the-first-time-video-72243

Chris

The latest British GENES podcast is available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/podcasts.html. For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Are General James' Wolfe's letters to leave UK?

Interesting post on the Art History News blog - are 232 personal letters of James Wolfe, the British general who defeated French forces near Quebec City at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, addressed to his parents and detailing his career, about to leave Britain? Certainly seems so, as no-one is willing to stump up the £900,000 to save them. The defeat of the French at the battle was a major factor in the future creation of modern Canada.

For more on the story visit http://www.arthistorynews.com/articles/2407_Which_is_more_important__a_portrait_or_a_letter.

(With thanks to @arthistorynews)

Chris

My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, starts Nov 13th - see http://pharostutors.com.

Parliamentary Archive project seeks two artists

An opportunity for the more artistic amongst us! The UK Parliamentary Archives (www.parliament.uk/documents/parliamentary-archives/Connecting%20communities%20and%20Arts%20in%20Parliament%20Specification.pdf) is seeking two artists to sign up to a residency programme to help link two projects together - People and Parliament: Connecting with Communities with Parliament's Arts in Parliament.

The brief boils down to the following:

• To produce two digital artistic reflections of the outreach work that the People and Parliament: Connecting with Communities project produced (one based around the Norwich partnership and the other based around the Cardiff partnership) and to set it within the context of the Arts in Parliament programme by using a different and exciting means of interpretation and access medium.
• To demonstrate the role the Arts can play in the interpretation of the work of Parliament.

Project partners include Norfolk Record Office and Glamorgan Archives - the full brief is at www.parliament.uk/documents/parliamentary-archives/Connecting%20communities%20and%20Arts%20in%20Parliament%20Specification.pdf

(With thanks to @GlamArchives)

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)