SKYPE is an invaluable aid when doing long distance interview across continents. Such technology enables publisher Edel Cassidy to work in any time zone on her quarterly magazine ‘Anthology’, out now with 100 colour A5 pages of travel, photography, fashion, art and miscellaneous thrill.
On-the-ground exploration remains vital with first hand accounts from other territories. Case in point: she visited London to view the ‘Carvaggio and his Followers’ exhibition of paintings at the National Gallery. It’s a big deal with many stakeholders, this touring exhibition of the artist’s work along with paintings by Flemish and Dutch artists who admired his technique and bravura brilliants.
‘Tis all substance for Anthology’s Spring 2017 publication that coincides with the Carvaggio tour to our own National Gallery in Dublin in February,
Contributors to the magazine vary from Orna O’Reilly on Puglia and a 10-page spread on the photographic Haselbeck Collection with Patricia Haselbeck. There are page portraits of contemporary Irish artists and fashion gods Dior and Zuhair Murad, as well as a local profile on designer entrepreneur Caroline Mitchell.
Winter 2016 is the second issue of this “collection of beautiful experiences”. It’s visually glorious and smartly written.
Pressed about bringing this unicorn into the grim world of publishing, Edel grins and says it goes back to the documentary ‘September Issue’. “It is the real story on Anna Wintour, editor of American ‘Vogue’… she wants every page of that magazine to be a work of art”.
Fuelled be her own background in Limerick School of Art and Design, working in the beauty business and in advertising, then taking on an MBA, she has the skillset.
Her production team is tops and “I wanted to keep ‘Anthology’ place neutral, time neutral. I also wanted it to appeal to men and women”.
Hence varied editorial content on travel, for example. “The first article [Autumn’s inaugural issue] was on the Sub Antarctic, this issue’s is on South Australia and Tasmania. They are adventure holidays and exploration. ‘Anthology’ has something out of the ordinary.”
Gifted art editor Ros Woodham crafted the Antipodean travelogue.
Read up on the sumptuous digital art work of Alexia Sinclair, above, hailed for her portrayal of historical and allegorical figures.
“Along with Tina Cassati, who was in the last ‘Anthology’ – and they have vastly different styles – she is considered way up there at the top of the digital art world.”
Original throughout, underpriced but not undersold, Anthology at €3.
