by Meta-morphosis V
Meta-morphosis V (primo)
Etching 76 x 56 cm.
Meta-morphosis V (secondo)
Etching 76 x 56 cm.
Meta-morphosis V (terzo)
Etching 76 x 56 cm.
.jpg)
Meta-morphosis V (Passages)
Etching 76 x 56 cm.
June 26, 2004 in Meta-morphosis, Printworks by Marja-Leena
Hi Marja-Leena, I’m listening to the Canadian election results this morning and feeling appreciative of your recent posts on the CBC and Canadian art and culture. It’s difficult to assess the state of culture in a different country, but this is something my husband and I really need to know and understand now! What will it be like for him, as a photographer, and me as a writer and (I hope, once again) painter to live there part of our time? What can we do to contribute to Canadian culture? Will it be a supportive place for us to live and work as artists?
I also wanted to say that I really like your most recent series of etchings and wish I could see them full-size!
Hello, Beth! Yes, this has been an exciting election. I try not to get into partisan politics on my blog, but I must say I am relieved that the Conservatives did not get a majority. The new minority government has a good balance, I think, of different idealogies and will hopefully mean that the best of each will contribute to a better Canada. It will depend on whether the politicians will work hard together and not fall into their usual schoolyard bickering.
Culture is an important issue for me being an artist and maybe because I am a blend of cultures with strong leanings towards Europe. With the NDP’s stronger voice, I’m hopeful that the support for culture will strengthen. I was worried that the Canada Council for the Arts would be cut back further, or even axed under Harper.
In choosing to live in Quebec, you chose the best province in Canada for its support of the arts and culture!! Sometimes in frustration with BC’s right wing – left wing wild swings and uncertainties with the arts, I think I’d like to move to Quebec (or Europe!). Yet, I think artists do struggle everywhere.
I’m sure you know that Canada has a huge number of successful writers. I don’t know too much about their support system but I believe it is good, like the grants from CCA, though I think you may have to be a Canadian resident ( two years??) Canadian publishers however do struggle here, especially with Amazon and Indigo’s cutthroat selling practises and with a smaller population than US.
Is your husband interested in photography as an art practise? Photography is strong in Canada with a lot of galleries devoting space to it. Video installations and digital new media work are the latest thing like elsewhere in the art world.
I continue to read your wonderful blog everyday, following your life in Montreal and back to Vermont! So, you will live in both places part-time? I wish you both well in this new phase in your life!!
Thanks for the appreciative comment on my work! I’ve been uploading my works gradually, starting with most recent and moving backwards, in series, so these latest ones are older works. It is a very major series that I still reference back to in newer works.
Thanks for such a nice and extensive reply! Yes, we plan to be dividing our time between the two places, which should be pretty feasible, since the distance is only a little more than three hours by car. I feel reassured, hearing what you’ve said about the elections, but of course politicians everywhere have their own agendas and nobody supports the arts to the amount we artists think they should! My sense, from the time we’ve spent in Montreal, is that a broader range of the population as well as a greater percentage than here appreciate the arts and see the arts as essential to life. Government subsidies of arts organizations also help to make tickets affordable and museums more acessible. In the U.S., unfortunately, appreciation of the fine arts and classical music tend to be correlated to one’s economic class and educational level, with disastrous results for society as a whole. It’s not true across the board, but that’s the general tone.
Yes, my husband is a fine arts photographer as well as doing professional editorial and commercial work. He works only digitally now, and we have a large printer here. He’s been working on a series of photographs, and I hope they will become an exhibition before long.
We’ll keep you posted on what we find in the galleries in Montreal…
Quebec and the arts are well-known (Toronto is good too) and give you a better picture than the rest of the country. I always wish we could get more of the great art shows in Vancouver that your American museums have frequently!
Interesting what you have said about the arts in the US being for the wealthier! I would agree that to be somewhat true here as well, at least for some of the concerts with the big-name artists and particularly opera productions…probably the case everywhere! However smaller local events can be cheaper, one just has to look.
Does your husband have his work online? I’d love to see it!