Above images by June Leeloo, Terri Windling, Charles Vess, and Jeanie Tomanek, respectively…click on each image to see larger/full version.
I cannot always keep up. I try to…I long to…but I miss it sometimes. I say this to admit that one of my very favorite places to visit on the web announced the closing of its doors on May 28th and I just found out yesterday. On top of how sad this makes me feel, I feel even worse that it took me a week to discover this.
I have been very open about my inspirations for this site over the years. Neil Gaiman’s journal was my first inspiration. His habit of sharing diverse, strange, interesting things was the template by which I tried to structure my site. Lisa Snellings-Clark was another inspiration. There was something about the work she was doing and her attitude about art and life that began to push me towards exposing myself, and readers, to more art. And then there was The Endicott Studio.
The Endicott Studio site, and later its blog, was the singular website I could point most strongly to and say that what they were doing was what spoke most to my heart. And now they are saying goodbye.
(Standing Naked, art by Virginia Lee)
The Endicott Studio was also one of the primary inspirations behind the original Once Upon a Time Challenge. Reading Terri Windling’s essays on fairy tales and being introduced to so many great authors through Endicott’s recommended reading lists sparked the idea to share this form of reading with others. I won’t go into too much detail about the site or its founders here. Last year during the Once Upon a Time Challenge I wrote an article about The Endicott Studio which can be found here as well as one on its founder, Terri Windling, which is located here. They also featured such wonderful artists that I began adopting that mission, along with some of their featured artists, for my own site.
The mission of The Endicott Studio for Mythic Arts “was to promote contemporary mythic arts and to provide resources and information for mythic artists, students, and scholars.”
They go on to share:
“When we came on to the web, this mission seemed particularly important because there wasn’t much mythic arts information out there yet. Today, happily, it’s a different story. Many mythic writers, artists, and performers maintain extensive websites, and there’s also a range of good webzines, blogs, discussion forums, and print journals to chose from…”
And this is very, very true. I am not alone in being inspired by what they started and now more than ever artists and authors and musicians are maintaining a presence on the web and interacting in unprecedented fashion with those who admire them.
(Blanket of Snow, art by Virginia Lee)
“And so, dear readers, we’ve decided it’s time, after eleven years, to close the Journal of Mythic Arts . . . which includes closing down this blog as well. We’re a small, volunteer organization, and we want to carve out time to move on to some new projects…as well as for our own creative work.”
I cannot deny that I was devastated when I read that yesterday. I sat at my computer and felt the kind of stunned shock that one feels when unexpected bad news washes over you like a tidal wave. I felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me. I felt…I feel…terribly sad.
And yet I completely understand. I know that change is good. We grow, we evolve. I don’t particularly enjoy change, even wonderful change, but I think that too is a human quality that we all must face and overcome. Terri Windling has recently started her own site, The Drawing Board, that features her art and writing and has a blog as well, and co-founder Midori Snyder has recently founded her own site, In the Labyrinth, which will also carry on the great tradition started by Endicott Studio. I know that everyone involved with Endicott Studio is moving forward. This isn’t a death…in fact it is not really an end, just another path on the journey. But to me it feels like an end and thus the bittersweet feelings.
I am so happy for Terri Windling and Midori Snyder and the rest of the Endicott Studio gang. I look forward to following their pursuits as the years go on.
I said my piece over on their site as well, but I felt the need to take this space to say goodbye, to the site, if not the people behind it. I am thrilled that The Endicott Studio Blog and The Journal for Mythic Arts will continue in archive format, as will the Endicott Studio main site. All three are veritable gold mines of art, music, literature, essays, etc. all touching on the various aspects of the mythic.
Thank you so much Terri Windling for the seeds you’ve sown in my life which have grown, and will continue to grow, my love of the mythic arts. As I have said before, you are a tremendous inspiration to me and I feel honored to have been allowed to promote you and your site over the past few years.
Thank you as well Midori Snyder. You too have been an inspiration and your help and generosity with the original Once Upon a Time Challenge (with prize items and email conversations) helped make last year’s event a smashing success.
Fear not (or run trembling! 🙂 ), I will be a presence on your new blog sites.
Thank you Endicott Studio for introducing me, and my readers, to so many wonderful artists and authors and musicians over the years. So many of the books I have read and reviewed, the musicians that I have discussed, and the artists whose work has been featured in Friday Favorites was first discovered by you and I thank you so much for providing me the spark and inspiration from what you did each and every day. I will miss this site terribly.
I will certainly do my part to keep the grand tradition of showcasing artists, authors, and musicians who promote the ideals of the mythic arts.
“Myth must be kept alive.
The people who can keep it alive are the artists of one kind or another.
The function of the artist is the mythologization of the environment
and the world.”
~ Joseph Campbell
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For those of you expecting Etsy Week: Day Three, stay tuned, that post will arrive later today. For now please go visit the Endicott Studio blog and give Terri and Midori and the rest of the group your best wishes.
(Summer lands, art by Virginia Lee)
Thank you for highlighting this Carl. I haven’t checked in on the Endicott blog for a while, but it remains one of my favourites, and I am really sad to learn that it is closing. That said, like you, I am excited to see what change brings. I was unaware that Terri and Midori have other sites and blogs now, so I will definitely be paying them a visit asap!
The Endicott Studio blog has been more than a goldmine of information and inspiration, and I will always remember it fondly!
I was saddened with this news, but like you said there will be other exciting projects to look forward to. And I’m happy that the archives will remain online. Along with Surlalune, Endicott is a website I keep referring to and never tire of exploring.
I probably mentioned this before, but it was through the Endicott Redux blog that I discovered your blog last year, and the Once Upon a Time Challenge, which in its turn inspired me to start my own blog and to meet all the lovely and link-minded people I have met in the last year and a bit. For that alone I am forever indebted to Endicott. And then there are, like you said, all the amazing artists and authors I discovered through them.
Their work is beautiful. I can totally see why you’d be upset they were shutting down.
I have to admit that I’ve only popped over there a few times, but definitely enjoyed those few visits. But I wanted to say how heart-broken I am for you…your love for Endicott Studio has shown through brightly whenever it’s been mentioned. I’m sure you’ll enjoy The Drawing Board and In The Labyrinth, but as you said it must be incredibly bittersweet.
I can’t help but feel a little cheated – I only discovered Endicott a few months ago and now they’re going away? I’m glad that Terri and Midori are continuing to share their visions with everyone and I realize that everything has to change, but dangit . . .
Thank you for pointing us to the new, wonderful sites we can visit with the closing of Endicott, Carl. It is sad, but completely understandable, that they want to stretch out and change. I will look forward to new places to meander through.
Kerry: I too think the change will ultimately be exciting, but that only goes to temper the sadness I feel right now. I am excited to see what is around the bend though.
Ken: There certainly is plenty to go back and read in the archives if you are interested, but I share your disappointment. I highly recommend traveling over to the Endicott Studio main site and reading some of the wonderful nonfiction essays on fairy tales, mythology, etc. written by Terri Windling and others. I am especially fond of Terri’s essays and have linked to them often throughout my years of blogging. I also copied out her essay on J.M. Barrie and Peter Pan and made my friends read it before seeing Finding Neverland because I felt that doing so added so much to the experience of that already charming film.
Debi: Thanks, it is certainly the end of an era and that is what makes it so sad.
Sprite: As I said, I certainly understand their reasons and am very supportive of the decision eventhough it hurts.
Nymeth: I think I recall that, but thanks for the reminder. Getting to you is just one more wonderful thing I can credit Endicott Studio with. Yay!!!
Quix: It has been a goldmine indeed! I’m glad I could point you to their new sites and I hope you check them out.
Man, I really am behind. I had no idea they were shutting down! I miss a lot when I can’t get near my computer for days at a time.
Thank you for letting us know. I’m glad the archives will still be there.
I was saddened too to see the blog and the site close. It was such a one of a kind site and so much thought and passion was put into it. But that same thought an passion will be poured into their individual sites. I’ve been following Terri Windling’s new blog since her first post and it’s great! I’m really enjoying it and the focus on her art and works in progress. Man…really is sad news…
I’m shocked and saddened, too! Your post is a beautiful tribute to them, and you spoke eloquently for all of us that came to know them through your blog. I wish them all well and am glad the archives will remain.
I also found their site through your blog and I’m saddened to hear this news. There are some wonderful reading lists over there that I spent many hours pouring over. I wish them all the best in their new endevors.
Although I am also very saddened that I come to know of these sites at such a late stage I am glad that they will remain in archived format, so all is not lost!
I found out Monday, and I just sat at my computer, staring, for the longest time. I found Endicott through The Soul Food Cafe, a few years ago, and while I didn’t drop in regularly until the past year, I was there almost every week, getting my fill of fantasy and stories and especially, the poetry they posted. I understand why they are leaving, and I, like you, wish them so much happiness at their new endeavours (and I’ll be going to their blogs!) but – there’s a hole in the fantasy/myth blog world that wasn’t there before. what they brought was incalculable….though, since Terri gave YOU another lovely mention on the blog – to point people to YOUR blog for their fantasy fix – well, I think a whole lot of people are about to find all the wonderful fantasy you bring too to the internet, Carl!!!
Thank you Susan, I agree there is a void left in the blogging universe that certainly needs to be filled. Not sure anyone will fill it in the same way that the staff at Endicott did, but I am certainly willing to do my small part to make up for a fraction of the loss.
that is very sad. but i’d say they completed their mission, and thats cause for cheer!