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"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." |
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— Joseph Campbell
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The words above succinctly express the mission statement of the Endicott Studio.
We're an organization dedicated to myth and its expression through literary, visual, and performance arts. We believe that the world's great store of mythology, folklore, folk arts, and fairy tales is a vital part of our pan-cultural heritage.
For generations, artists have drawn upon mythic and folkloric symbolism to make contemporary art, addressing the issues of their time. Our mission is to honor mythic artists of the past,
support mythic artists working today, and to carry this tradition into the future.
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Who we are: Founded in 1987, the Endicott Studio is directed by Terri Windling and Midori Snyder, with the help of
the Endicott staff and creative contributions from an international circle of mythic artists and scholars. Endicott Kids: All money raised on this site beyond what is needed to cover the running costs of the Journal of Mythic Arts is donated to two children’s charities in Tucson: Casa de los Ninos and Talking Feather. Click here to find out more. Friends of Endicott: Our aim is to keep Endicott's online Journal of Mythic Arts free of obligatory subscription fees and easily accessible to all readers, including readers with low incomes and students seeking mythic information. In order to do this, we depend on voluntary donations to help us cover the extensive costs of putting and keeping a large web journal on-line. If you or your organization can help, please visit our Friends of Endicott page. Endicott Book Sales: You can also support the Journal each time you purchase a book on Amazon.com via the book title links on this website — or simply by entering Amazon.com to make any purchase via the link at the bottom of our homepage (which will automatically tag you as an Endicott Studio customer). Please bookmark this way of entering enter Amazon.com, and help us to support mythic arts. To contact us: Contact addresses and answers to frequently asked questions can be found on our Contact Information page. Current News and Events: Join us on the Endicott Blog for current events, reviews, and links. To join our mailing list: Click here. To find out where our name came from: Click here. |
| E D I T O R ' S S T A T E M E N T |
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My interest in myth and folklore began with the fairy tale books I devoured as a child.
It grew at university where I studied folklore and mythology, then followed me to New York City where I worked in the publishing industry as a fiction editor for many years.
I discovered that the fantasy field was where writers and artists interested in myth and folklore tended to congregate, including many who share my particular passion for feminist fairy tale literature. Fantasy, however, is not the only field in which contemporary artists are working with magical symbolism today. We also find myth and fairy tale inspired works on the |
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mainstream fiction shelves, from writers such as Kevin Brockmeier, A.S. Byatt, Angela Carter, Robert Coover, Emma Donoghue, Louise Erdrich, Alice Hoffman, Gregory Maguire, Steven Millhauser, Haruki Murakami, and Joyce Carol Oates.
We also find it on the poetry shelves in collections by Margaret Atwood, Olga Broumas, Carol Anne Duffy, Liz Lochhead, Lisel Mueller, Anne Sexton, and Joseph Stanton; we find it in children's books by Lloyd Alexander, David Almond, Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula Le Guin, Philip Pullman, and Jane Yolen.
In visual art, myth and folklore informs the paintings, sculptures, photographs and installations of a wide variety of artists including Caz Love, Tina Gulotta, Clive Hicks–Jenkins, Jaqueline Morreau, Aria Nadii, Paula Rego, Connie Toebe, Jeanie Tomanek, Cindy Sherman, and Kiki Smith. The book illustration field is rich with mythic imagery from the likes of Thomas Canty, Brian Froud, Alan Lee, P.A. Lewis, Larry MacDougall, Lauren Mills, Dennis Nolan, and Charles Vess. In addition, mythic and folkloric themes appear in the writings of psychologists ranging from Jungian scholar Marie–Louise von Franz to archetypal psychologist James Hillman; and in philosophical inquiries by writers as diverse as David Abram, Roberto Calasso, Alan Garner, Lewis Hyde, and Marina Warner. In short, the mythic arts are a lively part of twenty–first century arts and letters, and can be found in some surprising places. At the Endicott Studio it is our policy to ignore the boundary lines between artistic disciplines and literary categories to find and support works of mythic art wherever they appear. |
| —Terri Windling |
| "At its best, fantasy rewards the reader with a sense of wonder about what lies within the heart of the commonplace world. The greatest tales are told over and over, in many ways, through centuries. Fantasy changes with the changing times, and yet it is still the oldest kind of tale in the world, for it began once upon a time, and we haven't heard the end of it yet." |
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— Patricia A. McKillip
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Artwork on this page: Detail from "Out Popped the Moon" by Kay Nielsen and "Equisite Elf" by Edmund Dulac