Moon Song

Arthur Dove "Me and the Moon" 1937

Dove wanted to represent unseen rhythms, the spirit that lies beneath, spaces in between our senses. He also wanted to capture his own personal interpretations of nature.  

Me and the Moon was inspired by a song he listened to on the radio of the same name popular in 1936. 

He let the sounds stimulate his visual imagination, painting a deep night sky. The vibrating strata of colour that surround the pale yellow of the rising moon achieve Dove’s description of his work as “music for the eyes”. It creates a sensation that resonates in harmony with Shakespeare’s words about the song of moonlight.

Inside Moon Song is a link to its Exploration Page where you can find out more and sign up to its creative world.

William Shakespeare "The Merchant Of Venice" 1600

"How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony."

Moon Song's words, above, are from act V, Scene 1, delivered by Lorenzo introducing the theme of music, romance and the night. His monologue continues:

"Sit, Jessica: look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,"

He refers here to a "music of the spheres." This was a popular Elizabethan notion, according to which the revolution of each planet around the earth produced a sound, and the combination of all the individual sounds of the planets made a "divine harmony."

"Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."

This aligns with Dove’s idea that there is a harmonic reality obscured from our regular sensory perception which Dove tries to access through his work. Carrying Moon Song and regularly imbibing its combination of art and words, we believe, brings us a little closer to that divine harmony.

Inside Moon Song is a link to its Exploration Page where you can find out more and sign up to its creative world.

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Our traditional methods give the leather an unmistakable warm and brilliant shade that becomes more intense with daily use and the passing of time.

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In Nottingham, England we work with leather printing pioneers. Utilizing their specialist procedures, artworks are re-created like a tattoo, with ink absorbing deeper into the leather, resulting in unparalleled colour vibrancy, image quality and colour durability.

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Just across the Nottinghamshire Wolds in Melton Mowbray our pouches are handcrafted in small batches using traditional methods. This, along with the natural variation in these artisan products, means each one is unique. Expertly made to the very highest quality they are double-stitched at pressure points and lined with the finest cotton twill. 

In short, ART WRD pouches are made to inspire you and be loved for a lifetime.

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