iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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The Kimono Gallery @roger1952.bsky.social · 4h

Nestled in the secluded mountains of Obanazawa, Yamagata Prefecture, Ginzan Onsen (literally "Silver Mountain Hot Spring") traces its origins to the early seventeenth century, when it flourished as a silver mining site during the Edo period.

Enfolded within a snow-bound mountain gorge at dusk, the multi-tiered wooden inns of Ginzan Onsen rise like luminous lanterns along the banks of the steam-wreathed Ginzan River. Heavy, pillowing drifts of fresh snow weigh upon dark tiled rooflines (kawara), balconies, and wooden eaves, while soft, swirling flakes fill the indigo twilight air. Cast-iron gas lamps lining the stone promenade emit a warm, golden radiance that glints upon the snow-slick bridges where travelers beneath dark umbrellas navigate the evening. Calligraphic wooden signboards (kanban) and paper-screened windows glow softly from within, framing the scene in rich chiaroscuro. The photograph evokes a deeply immersive sensory atmosphere: the sharp, freezing bite of mountain air mingling with thick, sulfurous plumes of geothermal steam rising from the riverbed, the soft crunch of snow and the rhythmic clatter of wooden clogs (geta) echoing off dark timber facades, the faint aroma of woodsmoke and hot mineral water, and the comforting contrast of golden gaslight against the icy mountain chill.
Following the decline of the mines and a disastrous flood in 1913 that destroyed much of the original settlement, local innkeepers rebuilt the village along both sides of the river during the late Taisho and early Showa eras (1910s–1930s). This reconstruction birthed the town's signature multi-storied wooden ryokan, constructed in a distinctive fusion of traditional Japanese timber joinery and subtle Western structural influences known as Taisho Roman. These historic four-story wooden structures, adorned with delicate kote-e (plaster relief carvings) and carved cedar balustrades, represent a landmark achievement in Japanese monozukuri (artisanal mastery and heritage woodworking). The installation of gas street lamps in the mid-twentieth century preserved the nostalgic, romantic atmosphere of a bygone era, establishing Ginzan Onsen as a monument to Japan's bathhouse culture and rural architectural heritage.

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 8h

Three thousand years ago, a Greek potter looked at a bowl and thought: ‘You know what this needs? A leg!’ Clay bowl with leg-shaped handle!🦵😆 Early Geometric period 850 BC. Altes Museum, Berlin 📷 by me #Archaeology

My photo shows an ancient Greek pottery bowl with a rounded, deep body, wide open mouth and flared rim. It has a large handle shaped like a human leg, extending from the left side of the bowl in my photo, bending at a right angle and ending in a flat foot. The bowl has a camel-coloured surface decorated with dark brown geometric patterns, which include zigzags and meander motifs arranged in horizontal bands around the body of the bowl and along the leg. From Attica, Early Geometric period, circa 850 BC. It sits on a light stone coloured surface in a display case at the Altes Museum in Berlin.

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Art & Nature @capecodfairytales.bsky.social · 14h

#Poetry #Painting #EverdayMagic Nature is not stingy with her miracles We simply forget to look 🎨 Xuan Loc Xuan

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The Kimono Gallery @roger1952.bsky.social · 13h

Dating to the early fourteenth century during the late Kamakura period (1185–1333), Japan, this sacred image represents Esoteric Buddhism’s (Mikkyō) vision of the Bodhisattva of the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel and the Wheel of the Law.

Seated in a pose of contemplative ease (mahārājalīlāsana), this early fourteenth-century wooden sculpture of Nyoirin Kannon—the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in the form of Chintamanichakra—inclines its head gently to rest a right hand against its cheek, absorbed in profound meditation over the salvation of all sentient beings. The six-armed deity sits with the right knee raised and the sole of the foot pressed inward, its fluid, asymmetrical posture balancing supreme celestial authority with intimate, earthly accessibility. Luminous patches of gold leaf (haku) cling to the rounded contours of the torso, face, and tall, braided topknot, softening into the dark, burnished patina of the underlying lacquered cypress (hinoki). One right hand holds the wish-fulfilling jewel (nyoi-hōju) at its chest, while upper arms reach out to hold the wheel of the Law (hōrin) and stabilize the body against the earth. Intricate, microscopic geometric lace rendered in cut gold leaf (kirikane) glimmers along the hems of the flowing garments. The sculpture projects an intensely serene sensory atmosphere: the cool, porcelain-like touch of century-aged wood and smoothed lacquer, the faint, lingering scent of incense embedded in cypress grain, the soft glow of gilded surfaces in low light, and the profound, unbroken silence radiating from downcast, crystal-inlaid eyes.

The creation of such an icon exemplifies the supreme summit of Japanese Buddhist sculpture (busshi) and the spirit of monozukuri (artisanal mastery and sacred craft). Influenced by the realistic innovations of the Kamakura-period Kei school, the statue employs the joined-block wood technique (yosegi-zukuri), which allowed sculptors to hollow out the interior to prevent warping and insert realistic crystal eyes (gyokugan) from within the head.

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Ali khaliq @khaliqali.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

George Cooper is in Iceland www.facebook.com/share/p/1D24...

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Art & Nature @capecodfairytales.bsky.social · 10h

#Poetry #Painting #TheLostSpells Enter the wild with care, my love And speak the things you see - Jackie Morris 🎨 Eugen Gorean

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 18h

#FindsFriday Alert and sparky, a 4th C BC red-figured rhyton in the form of a horse's head. From tomb in ancient pre-Roman Peucetian city of Thuriae, one of the largest in Puglia. Excavated 1957, in Monte Sannace displays in Gioia del Colle museum.

A drinking vessel in the shape of a horse's head with a cup-shaped behind it at one end to the left.
It has a handle shown on the bottom of the the cup-shaped section of the vessel, with the head pointed downwards to the right at an angle. Mostly glazed in black, the cup has red-figured warriors with white spears and headbands, and red decoration running round the top and the intersection with the head. The horse has a thin bridle in a yellow-gold colour, a wide open red eye and ears standing up slightly forward.

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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 9h

"La Femme-Escargot" circa 1900

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fravery.bsky.social @fravery.bsky.social · 9h

The Red Forest, 2026 by Jef Bourgeau

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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 3h

‘Blue Beard’ by Eune Ryu

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Patrick Kapty @patrickkapty.bsky.social · 11h

Mesoamerican Ballplayer Rattle ceramic c. 600-750 CE Nopiloa culture Veracruz, Mexico See ALT for historical info... #handmade #ceramic #rattle #accompaniment #ballplayer #Mesoamerican #BallGame #lifeordeath #Nopiloa #culture #Veracruz #Mexico #precolumbian #prehispanic #ancientart #art #sculpture

Originating around 1500 B.C. among the Olmec, the Mesoamerican ballgame was the first team sport in human history. While there were localized variations in the game that was played from New Mexico to Honduras to the Caribbean, there were also many consistent features. Players' hands were only used to put the ball into play, after which it was deflected with the hips, knees, elbows, feet, and head. At the end of the game, players from the losing team were sometimes sacrificed in accordance with the belief that human bloodletting and sacrifice were essential practices for maintaining agricultural fertility and cosmic order. This rattle in the form of ballplayer from Veracruz (Gulf Coast of Mexico) wears typical ballgame equipment including a u-shaped yoke around his hips, a kneepad (yugito), and a helmet with a harpy eagle crest on top. Carnivorous birds like eagles were commonly associated with the ballgame because of their predatory nature - a desirable trait for a successful player in this life or death sport. Rattles like this one, as well as ceramic whistles, conch shell horns and drums provided accompaniment during the ballgame.

Mesoamerican Ballplayer Rattle
ceramic
c. 600-750 CE
Nopiloa culture
Veracruz, Mexico

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Ruofan 🚎 王若凡 @ruofan.ca · 13h

what they would call me if i was really good at pottery

A museum exhibit of a goat figurine labelled Pottery Goat

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The Mouthy Renegade Writer @mouthyrenegade.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Would you be on board with that plan?

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Art & Nature @capecodfairytales.bsky.social · 4h

#Poetry #Painting #Sunset As a late autumn's sun began to set, a glaze of golden orange cast violet shadows upon the desolate beach. With the falling sun, she rose, her faith renewed by nature's beauty in a spectacular autumn sunset. - Jamie Cortland 🎨 Kevin Kia

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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 2h

“The Moon’s Daughter” by Seb McKinnon

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Titania @titaniasrealm.bsky.social · 11h

Apple cider for everyone 🎨 Anastasiia Panchenko

Illustration of two foxes selling apple cider in an orchard at night.

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Patrick Kapty @patrickkapty.bsky.social · 12h

Double Headed Lizard with a snake in its mouth pendant cast gold c. 700-1530 CE Diquis culture Costa Rica #handmade #cast #gold #doubleheaded #bicephalous #lizard #snake #battle #Diquis #culture #Panama #CostaRica #zoomorphic #pendant #jewelry #ancientart #art #precolumbian #precolumbiangold

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Daniel Álvarez @dalvarez-01.bsky.social · 3h

A Late Classic Maya ceramic brazier (cazuela), dating to 600–800 CE, from Xcajipé. Interesting intricate geometric decorations. #Maya #Archaeology

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Daniel Álvarez @dalvarez-01.bsky.social · 7h

Three Maya faces stacked one above another. These sculptural forms recall the stacked masks of Chaac, the Maya rain god, commonly used to decorate temples and palaces in the Puuc architectural tradition of the Yucatán Peninsula. #Maya #Archaeology

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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 13h

Jade Apple jar to lubricate postage stamps. St. Petersburg, 1899-1904.

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Art & Nature @capecodfairytales.bsky.social · 13h

#Poetry #Painting #LostWords A Lament for Lost Words To graceful names and lovely woods farewell To acorn, adder, ash, to beech and bluebell, Farewell old friends I name you in my sonnet - Robert McFarland 🎨 Richard Lorenz

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

These are two examples of the 30 existing Ain Ghazal sculptures. Discovered in Jordan, they are c.9,000 years old & are the first known example of large scale production of human forms. They are made of lime plaster & reed making their survival all the more remarkable 🏛️📷Amman Museum (L), Louvre (R)

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Laurette @laurette1.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

A Medieval-style stone grotesque in Temple Church, London. #London #Churches #31DaysofHalloween #Photography

Temple Church was built originally by the Knights Templar in the 12C. The church suffered from severe bombing in the 2nd World War. Many of the original heads were replaced with accurate copies.

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fravery.bsky.social @fravery.bsky.social · 17h

Guido Borelli,

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Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 19h

The Sutton Hoo purse lid which was discovered in 1939 as part of the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge in Suffolk. Dating to the early 7th century, the purse lid is now part of the collections at the British Museum. 📸 My own #FindsFriday #SuttonHoo

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ΜΑΝΟΣ ΤΡΑΧΙΑΣ™ @trahias.bsky.social · 19h

Edvard Munch (Løten, 1863 – Oslo, 1944) "Morning" (1884) #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

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Titania @titaniasrealm.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

23 days until Halloween 🎨 Joy Laforme

Artwork depicting a town on Halloween, with lots of ghosts trick-or-treating.

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ΜΑΝΟΣ ΤΡΑΧΙΑΣ™ @trahias.bsky.social · 19h

Anna Gardell-Ericson 1853-1939 Swedish painter and watercolorist Boat Harbor by Moonlight - 1888 Watercolor – 65 x 48 cm Private Collection #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

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Titania @titaniasrealm.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Ariel on a Bat's Back by Louis Rhead (c. 1918)

Illustration depicting a fairy flying on a bat, in a forest onna full moon night. Three owls are watching from a tree.

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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The sea always played an important role in Richard Eurich’s art. He later described it as ‘a symbol of a certain loneliness which I have always desired; the sight of the sea has always brought that constriction of the throat caused by something of almost indescribable beauty.'

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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 15h

Getting Ready (c.1984) - George Thomas Georgiadis (1933-2010)

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Some 3,400 years ago, an Egyptian artisan captured a sense of speed and elegance in this beautifully carved handle in the shape of a horse! 🐴 ❤️ New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III, c. 1390–1352 BC. The Met 📷 by me #Archaeology

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Art & Nature @capecodfairytales.bsky.social · 14h

#Poetry #Art #Morning It is morning, and again I am the lucky person to be in it - Mary Oliver 🎨 Juan Brual

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Andy Sawyer @sawyerxx.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

King Menkaura and Queen, 4th Dynasty, 2490-2472 BC Sculpture Museum of Fine Arts - Boston

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Art & Nature @capecodfairytales.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

#Poetry #Art #Morning It is morning, and again I am the lucky person to be in it - Mary Oliver 🎨 Kaoru Yamada

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Titania @titaniasrealm.bsky.social · 14h

22 days until Halloween 🎨 Volha Kaliaha

Illustration of a ghost and a black cat looking out of a window. On the outside children are trick-or-treating.

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Landscape at Pentecost, 1929 by Australian artist Grace Cossington Smith #Womensart

Landscape painting with a view along a undulating brown track with green fields either side and a house in tbe distance

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Gary Buckley @garybuckley.bsky.social · 17h

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Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · 21h

This being the last hours of #WorldOctopusDay is a great excuse to post this superb Mycenaean stirrup jar with a hallucinogenic-stylized octopus. Somebody clearly ate the mushrooms. 😆 🏺 1200-1100 BCE. Met Museum. 📸 me

A stylized octopus with spiral, hypnotic eyes and flanked by fish covers each side of this stirrup jar, named for the shape of its handles. Mycenaean pottery often reflects Minoan-inspired themes and techniques that originated on the island of Crete. Animated marine motifs adopted from Minoan art began to appear on Mycenaean vessels in about 1500 BCE and were initially rendered in a very naturalistic manner. Here, the symmetrical composition and abstract depiction of the sea creatures are characteristically Mycenaean.

Such jars were commonly used to transport liquids.

Mycenaean, Late Helladic IIIC, ca. 1200-1100 BCE.

H. 10 1/4 in. (26 cm); diameter 8 7/16 in. (21.5 cm)

Met Museum, New York (53.11.6)

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Émilie Charmy (1878 – 1974) painter of France's early avant-garde, whose work was in the fauvist style #WomensArt

Painting featuring a sitting woman in a patterned dress against a red background

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larrysart.bsky.social @larrysart.bsky.social · 17h

Amethyst Morning, 10/9/2026 72"x 60" acrylic painting on canvas A quiet moment just before the day fully awakens.

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