Marja-Leena Rathje

by Marja-Leena

a test piece

Untitled
torn etchings, mylar and cotton string
14.5cm x 24.5 cm. (5.5″ x 10″) plus string

I recently found this in an old sketchbook. It was a little test I once made to experiment with a way of mounting art work on paper. The prints are tucked inside a fold of mylar (plastic) with holes punched all through and held up by string. This made me remember a series of pressed paper pieces that I had made and had mounted in this way. I must look for them and see if I have any slides of them. Another inspiring revisit of past works! I rather like this piece and am toying with the idea of doing this with some new pieces sometime.

Amazing how this connects with my jute and twine, torn drawings and paper tears.

August 26, 2012 in Being an Artist, Older Works, Printmaking 6 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

angel wings

These fallen flowers are from a favourite houseplant of mine called angel wing begonia, named for its distinctive wing shaped leaves. I think these fading petals look like angel wings too.

August 24, 2012 in Nature, Photoworks 14 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

on ruins

Long-time blog friend Lucy of Box Elder writes wonderful posts from her home in Brittany. I love her rambling stories and gorgeous photos of her garden and the world she lives in, of forays to explore many interesting towns and historical sites. They touch something deep in me, a love for the ancient, the traces of the past, the weathering actions of time and nature. Maybe it’s because I live in such a young city and province in the New World. Today Lucy wrote about her visit to Château de la Hunaudaye, a medieval fortress that has been restored.

This inspired me to pull out a photo album from May and June 2002, from a trip to Vaasa, Finland. Two artist friends and I had an exhibition of our prints there, in fact called Traces. We spent several days in Vaasa hanging our exhibition, having a meeting with the press, visiting family, printmakers and exploring the city and surrounds. All culminating in the opening of course.

One interesting place we visited was Old Vaasa, at the site of the original city that had burned down, and its ruins of St. Maria Church. Sadly my photographs are not good – here’s a better photo. Like the Château, these ruins had also been restored in part, minus the roof. Lucy lamented how restorations sometimes destroy the character of the original, something I’d agree with from my comparatively limited exposure. Much as I liked these simple church ruins and commend that it was done, it lacked some of that very old, crumbling, decaying quality. It is a quandary indeed, to restore or not and to do it sensitively, to save our history or not.

August 20, 2012 in History, Rock Art & Archaeology 15 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

enervation

still hot and humid, even last night
wilting, dripping, headachy, cranky

Fading like these flowers (the name** has escaped me – anyone?).

I did manage to register for a space this fall in the printmaking studio, swallowing a huge gulp in the jump in cost. I dearly hope by September the weather moderates so that I can have energy, both mental and physical, to get back into my artmaking. Summertime just kills that for me, every year, it must be my northern blood.

** suddenly remembered it: liatris or gay-feather

August 18, 2012 in Being an Artist, Home 11 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

afternoon shadows

late afternoon shadow play

by plants not hands
behind curtains
still hot, mid to high 20s
blessedly cooler nights
hinting autumn

August 13, 2012 in Home, Nature, Photoworks 12 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

art in the garden

As regular readers know, one of our daughters and her two girls have been back here from England for some time. Their father is now also here for a month. Our eldest daughter has joined us for the weekend, our family is almost all together, just missing her partner. She adores her nieces, reading and playing games with them whenever they are together. Our granddaughters (going on 7 and 12) have always loved drawing, and do a lot of it outdoors during our fine days (as above). This time their auntie is making papier-mache creatures with them! Below is one work in progress with more photos to come, I hope.

August 11, 2012 in Home 9 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

HOT

heat haze at 10:00 am

A heat wave persists with the hottest day yet on Sunday breaking some records here and there, 34C (93F) in our backyard. A brief break yesterday afternoon on a holiday long weekend with cloud and a light shower had me standing at an open door, breathing in the intoxicating scent of rain and cooling air. Long lists of things-to-do are not being done, being undone by heat, turning me into a sleep-deprived grumpy wet sloth. I struggle to keep up with watering the garden, even blogging. We eat salads, cherries, berries, peaches. I read old books of my parents that are going to be passed on in an ongoing clear-out, even a novel in Finnish for the first time in decades, proud of myself for managing it. Much family goings-on continue with the addition of son-in-law who arrived yesterday for a month’s stay. A niece’s wedding is coming up, I must make something to wear.

8:15 pm – as husband and I sat down for supper in the solarium at about 7:30, the clouds which had been gathering in the afternoon suddenly turned ominously dark. We heard thunder in the distance. Suddenly a downpour hit and I rushed to close skylights. Incredible noise of pounding rain on the overhead glass. Thunder and lightning in the distance moved ever closer. Finally a tremendous clap right overhead made us jump. The storm moved on while we continued to watch lightning in the distance. What a dinner show! And the fresh cool breeze is delightful.

still later… it came back – what a light show all evening! good night!

Added the next morning: the news reports the storm was a big one, with power outages for thousands. I feel for those people stranded on Grouse Mountain. We were lucky to enjoy the entertainment without any pain.

August 7, 2012 in Canada and BC, Home 13 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

print show videos

A while ago, I posted about a printmaking exhibition by several friends at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. Michiko Suzuki, one of the artists, has kindly emailed me that she has put up two videos on YouTube. One is of their exhibition opening. The second shows the installation process and one can see more of their amazing work. The gallery space is fantastic. Congratulations to the artists!

Added later: Michiko has also created a video of her exhibition ‘Flicker of Life’, shown in the Penticton Art Gallery in 2009. I wrote about it back then with a link to a slide show she had created. Wonderful work!

August 3, 2012 in Art Exhibitions, Art Institute (Printmaking), Printmaking 12 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

100 yr old printshop

The printmaker in me was fascinated by an article in our paper about Canada’s first Chinese print shop still in operation here in Vancouver after a century, run by the third generation of the Lam family and the matriarch. The amazing printing presses, the antique stamps, the lead type are all rich in history, function and beauty, so do visit the video at the link. This is far different from current printing technology. All this heritage, including the building is fast disappearing as the family is selling off its contents and closing. Sad.

The image of engraving tools, burins, above is not related to the article, but as I did not have any images of those lovely stamps or types to place here, I thought of these. Not normally used in the type printing such as in this shop, they are the tools of an artist creating engravings on metal plates such as copper. I have had these since art school days, which was not quite as long ago as when this print shop opened up.

July 30, 2012 in Canada and BC, History, Printmaking, Tools and technology 9 Comments »

by Marja-Leena