Volume 1 Issue 1

Welcome

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many issues of the Masonic Art Exchange Newsletter, all of you receiving this either belong to the Facebook group of the same name or have a friend, colleague or brother who does. You will hopefully have read the aims of the group and what we hope to accomplish if you’re not totally sure I will be including this later in the newsletter. Martyn below beat me to the quote I was aiming to use however I think the following quote covers my feelings almost as well,

‘a picture paints a thousand words.’

Since entering into our fine craft I have been ‘bombarded’ with many new and familiar images as I progressed through my lessons. In Ireland we don’t really use the tracing boards but I am aware that in many jurisdictions this is one of the first encounters with the symbolism and history behind Freemasonry with which a newly initiated mason is greeted, and who can deny that the Tracing Boards are art in its purest form the pictorial telling of a story of beauty which are beautiful themselves. You will no doubt notice much of this first issue is information easily found on the net or that has already appeared in the group but I hope in the coming months YOU brethren will make contributions and hopefully make/keep our newsletter interesting, informative and fun.

That is my introduction; I have never been the most eloquent with words and forgive any spelling errors you may find as you read through but this is maybe one of the many reasons I have always had a keen interest in art. We really want your feedback and contributions and if you know anyone mason or not, who may enjoy reading this brief newsletter please forward it on to them.

Yours Fraternally David Naughton-Shires Ormonde Lodge 201 (IC)

I was delighted when David asked me to become involved in this group; whilst both David and I are relatively new to Freemasonry we share similar passions for both art and Freemasonry. Art has always played a crucial role, it is after all universal and plays a part in our daily lives and manifests itself in different mediums such as architecture, literature and theatre etc. Are has been used from time immemorial as a means of depicting events from cave walls in prehistoric times to the life and death of Jesus depicted in biblical times. Art records history and is often created for a specific purpose or reason. It can be used to express ideas and beliefs and can record experiences of people.

In the past many cultures have used art as a means of creating jewellery, masks or clothing. In some countries art was used in initiation with tattoos or in Native American culture as a method of painting your face showing status and power. As I said most art has some sort of reason behind it, literal, traditional, religious or in our case symbolic. Freemasonry itself is often defined as:

“a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols...”

Freemasonry is littered with examples of symbolism. My personal favourite is the Badge of the first Office I held, the Trowel “used to spread the cement of Brotherly Love and Affection, which is symbolically the cement that unites us into one sacred band of friends and brothers.”

Yours Fraternally Martyn W. Greene Lodge of Dunblane #IX (SC) Lodge Bailie Nicol Jarvie #1036(SC) 

 

Introduction from President and Creator of the MAE

Vice‐President of the MAE 

 

 

 

When trying to decide what to include in this first  newsletter  I  decided  that  it  probably made  a  lot  of  sense  to  include  the  first pieces  of  artwork  posted  on  the  group  in facebook  this  was  a  little  strange  for  me initially  because mine  was  the  first  posted but I am delighted to say there are a growing amount of  images which have been posted and as per the rules we can use.  

To  the  left  are  some  of  those  images  and below  are  the  rules  just  for  your  own information  particularly  if  you  have  been forwarded  this  from  a  friend  in  the  group and haven’t popped  in yourself.  If you have not  and  you’re  not  a  ‘facebooker’  there  is the option of  joining  the  forum  that can be found at: 

masonicartexchange.proboards.com 

The Rules: POSTERS 1. The work MUST be yours (if you post someone else’s work as yours you will be removed) the work remains yours. 2. If you post you must be prepared for others to use the artwork. USERS 1. If you use someone’s work you MUST inform them where it is being used. 2. CREDIT them 3. If required provide a copy of the publication i.e. Tresleboard it's being used in. 4. The work is to be used for non-profit publications etc unless agreed with the artist. If you want to request artwork please leave a request in the discussion wall or via email to create@theimagedesigns.com (subject line must include MAE) but bear in mind it then becomes 'public domain'

PUTTING/LINKING/POSTING YOUR ARTWORK TO THIS GROUP CONSTITUSES THE AGRREEMENT THAT YOU AGREE TO THE ABOVE RULES THE ARTWORK CAN NEITHER BE USED FOR NOR DEPICT ANYTHING CONSIDERED TO BE DEFLAMITARY TO FREEMASONRY OR SOCIETY IN GENERAL. THE ADMINS DECISION IS FINAL IN ANY DISPUTE. PLEASE CHECK BACK OFTEN FOR UPDATES. FINALLY

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The opinions expressed on in this newsletter represent those of the individual authors and, unless clearly labelled as such, do not represent the opinions or policies of any Masonic Lodge, Grand Lodge or recognized Masonic body. 

 

TRUE BLUE #98 IN BOLTON ONTARIO.  by Chris Plante, Toronto.

 

SCOTTISH RITE LOGO by John Bridegroom, P.M. Chesterton, IN

 

THE ROSE OF THE WORLD by Boris Petrovic, Belgrade, Serbia

 

OFFICIAL GOAT RYDAH by Kendall Jewel, Memphis, TN

 

UNTITLED by David Naughton-Shires, IRELAND

        

The above images are just a small selection of other available in the group.

 

 

 

Art is quite an all encompassing word and covers many different medium (is that the right word).

Art is not just paintings or logos or photographs or illustrations, it is also books, poems and other written forms.

This group was created to mainly cover the ‘pictorial’ form of Art but I think it is important to include the other forms.

Some of the world’s greatest artists and authors have been members of this great craft and I am hoping that over the coming months someone out there would like to investigate some of them and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and tell us a little bit about them.

I will leave it up to your imagination on how to define an artist as the definition is as varied and exciting as the definition of Art itself.

I will attempt to start the ball rolling with a very light introduction of just such an artist, and do not consider this attempt to be a definitive example because as I have pointed out at the beginning of this newsletter my strengths have never really been in the written word, and also as we are not printed newsletter we are not limited for space.

Unlike the gentleman below.

.

 

Author, Author.

 

  Rudyard Kipling Introduction To An Artist. By David Naughton-Shires

Rudyard Kipling 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936

My awareness of  Rudyard Kipling came probably first at about the age of 15 when I watched the movie, ‘The 

Man Who Would Be King’ starring Sean Connery, and Michael Caine as the main characters and Christopher Plummer as Kipling himself, this lead me to read his short story of the same name I later realised this was also my first real encounter of the ‘world’ of fraternal societies, the mystery of Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan being able to rely upon a ‘brother’ so much as they did in the tale, and their encounter of the symbolism of the craft in that far away land of Kafiristan.  

The man who wrote this story and many others that are familiar from our own youth and passing into adulthood such as; ‘The Jungle Book’ (how many read the book BEFORE seeing the movie?) and Gunga Din was born in Bombay,  India on December 30th 1865 to Alice Kipling (née MacDonald) and (John) Lockwood Kipling. Lockwood was a freemason [3] and an artist himself and taught architectural sculpture at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art and Industry in Bombay. [1] 

Kipling was soon joined by a younger sibling and as was the custom in British India, at the age of six he and his three‐year‐old sister, Alice ("Trix"), were taken to England to be schooled with a couple who took in children of British nationals living in India. The two children were live with the couple, Captain and Mrs. Holloway, at their house, Lorne Lodge, in Southsea (nr Portsmouth) for the next six years. Kipling wrote later in memoirs that he was treated appallingly whilst in their care [2], in the spring of 1877; Alice Kipling returned from India and removed the children from Lorne Lodge.  

Kipling remembers, ".....often afterwards, the beloved Aunt would ask me why I had never told anyone how I was being 

treated. Children tell little more than animals, for what comes to them they accept as eternally established. Also, badly‐treated children have a clear notion of what they are likely to get if they betray the secrets of a prison‐house before they are 

clear of it". [2] 

In January 1878 Kipling was admitted to the United Services College, at Westward Ho!, Devon, a school founded a few years earlier to prepare boys for the armed forces. Towards the end of his stay at the school, it was decided that he lacked the academic ability to get into Oxford University on a scholarship and his parents lacked the ability to finance him; consequently, Lockwood Kipling obtained a job for his son in Lahore (now in Pakistan), where Lockwood was now Principal of the Mayo College of Art and Curator of the Lahore Museum. Kipling was to be assistant editor of a small local newspaper, the Civil & Military Gazette. It is a similar scene where ‘Kipling’ first meets Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan as they are about to head out on their great adventure.  

So with his new career ahead of him Kipling sailed for India on 20th September 1882 and arrived in Bombay almost a month later 18th October. He described his arrival years later:  

"So, at sixteen years and nine months, but looking four or five years older, and adorned with real whiskers which the scandalised Mother abolished within one hour of beholding, I found myself at Bombay where I was born, moving among sights and smells that made me deliver in the vernacular sentences whose meaning I knew not. Other Indian‐born boys have 

told me how the same thing happened to them."[2] 

In 1885 the Lodge of Hope and Perseverance #782 of the English Constitution was looking for a secretary[3] Kipling’s Father Lockwood was approached as the brethren had heard of young Kipling and with special dispensation at the age of twenty years and six months  Rudyard Kipling became a freemason and secretary of his Lodge .Kipling worked hard at the Civil & Military Gazette which was published six days a week and soon started to write his own prose and short stories in 1886 with the change of the editor Kipling was asked to contribute short stories to the publication.  Then in the January of 1888 Plain Tales from the Hills, Kipling's first prose collection was published in Calcutta. His writing continued at a frenetic pace and during the following year, he published six collections of short stories: Soldiers Three, The Story of the Gadsbys, In Black and White, Under the Deodars, The Phantom Rickshaw, and Wee Willie Winkie, containing a total of 41 stories, some quite long. By now he had also transferred to the sister of the Civil & Military Gazette in Allahabad. 

In early 1889 after leaving The Pioneer after a dispute and selling rights to some of his work he used the money which included six months’ severance pay from The Pioneer to return to London which he and many others considered to be the literary centre of the world. On the 9th of March 1889 he set of on his travels after roving through much of the USA and meeting giants of the writing world such as Mark Twain he arrived at Liverpool Docks in October 1889. He was soon to take the London literary scene by storm. 

Rudyard Kipling was in London and went from strength to strength in both his literary and Masonic career. Kipling died at the age of 70 and in his long life he played quite a big role. As far as freemasonry he also received his Mark Master Degree in a Lahore Lodge and affiliated a craft lodge in Allahabad.  In London he affiliated as an honorary member to Motherland Lodge number No. 3861, was a member of Authors Lodge No. 3856 and was also a founding member of Lodge Builders of the Silent Cities No. 4948.  He also joined fellow mason Robbie Burns as one time poet laureate of Canongate Kilwinning Lodge No. 2 in Edinburgh. [3]  

As I mentioned in the introduction this is just a very brief delve into the life of a man who in my humble opinion was a true artist and still continues today to delight many generations with the tales of a young boy raised in the Jungle and I personally thank him for an early introduction into a fellowship of men who I am now very happy to count myself part of. 

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I have put this together from a few sources some which I am unable to credit as there was no author given however the three main references were as follows for the life of Kipling: 

[1]Gilmour, David. 2002. The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York. 

[2] Kipling, Rudyard (1935/1990) Something of myself and other autobiographical writings. Cambridge University Press.  

And for the information on his Masonic ‘career’: 

[3] http://www.freemasons‐freemasonry.com/kipling.html I do recommend reading this paper if you get the chance. 

 

 

Well  this brings us  to  the end of the  first  Masonic  Art  Exchange Newsletter  I know  it’s very short and  lacking  in content but  in this first  instance  it  is  an  attempt  to show  what  we  could  achieve  if we  come  together  and  work toward a common goal.  

I  know  in  the  world  of Freemasonry  there  are  a million and  one  Newsletters,  Reviews, Journals,  Tresleboards  and  the like.,  Some  of  a  very  high standard and some not but what we hope to achieve with the MAE is a resource where a brother can come  to  for  advice  on  how  to improve the ‘product’ he is giving out  to  his  brethren  whatever form it may take. 

On  this  final  page  I  am  going  to place  a  few  links  to  ‘good’  sites, other  groups  in  Facebook  that may  be  of  interest  and  contact details. 

PLEASE  PLEASE  PLEASE  get  in contact  whether  it  is  to  tell  us how fantastic the newsletter was or  alternatively  to  give  us much needed  critique  on  how  to improve what we are doing after all that IS what we are here for. 

We will  see you on  the web and pray the Great Architect watches over you. 

Sincerely and fraternally, 

David & Martyn.

 

create@theimagedesigns.com (please remember to put MAE in the subject line) 

 

 Each newsletter we will highlight one facebook group you may be interested in joining all you need to do is go to your groups (click the group’s icon on the menu bar at the bottom of the page) and search for the groups by name in the search bar in the group’s area. 

 The Global Fraternal Network was created in 1994 by two DDGMs from the GL of New York as one of the first electronic forums for Freemasons to communicate internationally. Its stated objectives are promoted in three main ways...

(1) By the provision of a " tyled" site that hosts chat rooms and bulletin boards for members, (2) By an monthly email newsletter sent to all members, (3) By periodic gatherings of brethren in their own city, region, and country. 

This Facebook group is for all Freemasons from around the world to enjoy and to communicate with each other. While it is not restricted to GFN members, we encourage you to have a look at the GFN site and become one of the over 20,000 members. We will try to keep this group constantly updated with new items that we find. In establishing this group we have left it open so that any member can post links, videos, and photos to share you Masonic experiences with the world. In fact, we welcome and encourage your input. When we created this group we did not want it to be one of those Facebook groups that you join and never go to the group page again - we all have them. We want this to be a group you keep coming back to and

enjoy sharing with your friends.

THE SEARCHWORD FOR THIS GROUP IS GLOBAL FRATERNAL NETWORK

Or type the following into the address bar: http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=58695434965

At the time of the creation of this newsletter their membership stood at 1122 members, 

Each  newsletter  we  will  also  aim  to  highlight  a website which may be of interest to the members of the MAE their friends and colleagues if you have any recommendations for sites to appear here or on the forum  contact me  at  create@theimagedesigns.com please remember to include MAE in the subject line. 

 

 

The introduction from the web site does a far better job of outlining the Masonic Society than I ever could: What Is The Masonic Society? ™

"The ultimate success of Masonry depends on the intelligence of her disciples." - Albert Mackey

A significant group of passionate Masons are coming together to create what aims to be nothing less than the premier North American research society in Freemasonry. Called simply The Masonic Society, we are gathering together brothers who have a deep and abiding desire to seek knowledge, explore history, discover symbolism, debate philosophies, and in short, who will be at the forefront of charting a path for the future of Freemasonry.

As a student of Freemasonry, you are invited to join with us in the formation of this new and exciting organization. Our name, The Masonic Society, intentionally alludes to the Royal Society, the innovative organization of visionary men who were at the forefront of the Age of Enlightenment, many of whom were present at the formation of what became modern Freemasonry. Likewise, our new Society will be at the forefront of a new age of Freemasonry, and we intend to be a vibrant, active community within the fraternity. The goal of The Masonic Society is not just to look backward at the history of Freemasonry, but to foster the intellectual, spiritual and social growth of the modern Masonic fraternity. To that end, The Masonic Society extends the hand of assistance and cooperation to individual Masonic research lodges in North America. It is the desire of The Masonic Society to be a partner with these lodges, to give their members the regular opportunity to publish their papers for an international audience, and to publicize their activities.

themasonicsociety.com 

Contact details: create@theimagedesigns.com please ensure to put MAE in the subject line.