RAY-ruh AY-vuss -- (n.) A rare or exceptional person or thing.
You have probably heard the phrase "rare bird" used to describe oddballs, rare humans, marvels, and geniuses of interesting kinds. But the original phrase is the Latin "Rara Avis." Here, the line between rare and peculiar blurs -- Rara Avis takes the quirky 'peculiar' and elevates it to a more elegant 'exceptional' -- and the elegant 'exceptional' is brought down to earth with a splash of the quirky 'peculiar.' So rarely do we find Rara Avises in life that we have reason to forget to use this word and in forgetting to use this word, perhaps we forget to spot them. The wisdom of this phrase is that it reminds us that rare and exceptional people and things are like rare birds and birdwatching -- you have to search for them, patiently seeking, quietly watching the world from a hidden perch. Each day we are incentivized to succumb to the infinite noise and distractions of the world -- in the process, we forget to study the camouflage around us, we forget that we are surrounded by rare birds and exceptional things everyday; if only we took the time to look.
~Wordeby's by Chanel Rion
🦋 ART: McClelland Barclay
🦋 STYLE: Poster Art and Illustrations
🦋 NATIONALITY: American
🦋 St. Louis born artist and illustrator Barclay studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Born in 1891, by the 20's and 30's Barclay's illustrations were featured in the nation's top magazines including Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and Cosmopolitan. After WWII broke out, Barclay served in the U.S. Navy -- spending two years as a poster illustrator producing some of the most familiar WWII posters known today. Barclay determined to become a front-lines combat illustrator and eventually served on both the Atlantic and the Pacific theaters. In 1943, promoted to Lt. Commander, Barclay's ship was torpedoed by the Japanese and Barclay's body was never recovered.
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