by Marja-Leena

my ‘gallery’

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Silent Messengers: Writing-on-Stone III
archival inkjet and collagraph
76.2 x 50.6 cm.

I’m excited and happy to announce my slide show gallery** of print works is finally online. I believe it makes viewing my work much easier and more pleasant than clicking on the individual entries in the blog archives. I hope you agree! Long time readers may have already seen most of my work, except for the last five pieces in the Silent Messengers series. Subtitled Writing-on-Stone, they appear in the beginning of the slide show.

I’ll be adding lots more selections from the older series, so please check back again from time to time. The ‘gallery’ link is up on the top left area of this blog.** As for the current print series I’m working on, I’ll announce when I have some of them installed.

Being quite hopeless with web geekery, I’m hugely grateful to my graphic-designer-daughter Erika for researching different options and finding an easy presentation program to incorporate into the blog, then setting this ‘gallery’ up for me so that all I do is upload the images and information to it.

Related: This work was featured in qarrtsiluni.

**Update May 3, 2012: the ‘gallery’ link has been removed. Work is in progress on a new one…
UPDATE AGAIN much later: the link above now goes to the latest brand new gallery, and you can find it also at the top of the left bar on this site – enjoy!

May 14, 2008 in Being an Artist, Silent Messengers 19 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Robert Rauschenberg 1925-2008

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I’ve just learned that one of my favourite contemporary artists has died at 82: Robert Rauschenberg.

The New York Times has a very good obituary on him. In case you cannot get past the registration wall that it may fall behind, I’ve saved it here as a PDF.

I’ve just fetched my copy of the monograph Rauschenberg: Art and Life by Mary Lynn Kotz, (2004. Abrams) (cover image above) and am revisiting my favourite images while pondering on his vast output and influence on so many artists.

May 13, 2008 in Being an Artist, Books, Other artists 4 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

mothers

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Remembering my mother this Mother’s Day and Äitienpäivä, here in Canada and in Finland, US and a few other countries. I still miss her almost every day even after 20 years since her passing.

On this sunny afternoon, I’m eagerly looking forward to a salmon bbq and dessert with our three daughters, two little granddaughters and the men in our family. I am so lucky. We’re also celebrating youngest daughter’s birthday (actually tomorrow), a Mother’s Day baby 23 years ago!

Wishing everyone a happy day, remembering your mother and/or a mother figure dear to you. If you are a mother, enjoy your family today.

Related links:
day before Mother’s Day 2007 in my garden (the lilacs and Mexican orange are late this year!)
Mother’s Day 2006
Mother’s Day 2005

May 11, 2008 in Being an Artist, Culture 12 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

ripples

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May 10, 2008 in Photoworks, Textures 8 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

artsy afternoon

Whenever I have to take the car over town somewhere, I usually try to do several things on that journey, to maximize pleasure over pain, for I dislike driving in Vancouver’s crazy traffic, and then there’s the cost of gas. So it was that I had arranged a date with my husband for yesterday afternoon. After a visit with my wonderful naturopath, I headed over to nearby Granville Island. I wandered for about an hour around some wonderful shops like Maiwa, highly tempted by their lovely artistic clothing and Asian fabric arts. Thinking about sewing, I checked out their craft supply store but did not find what I’d hoped for… maybe next time.

Then my husband arrived, having cycled from work. As always when we meet after work somewhere in town, he finds our van in a designated area, loads the bike inside and changes from cycling gear to regular clothes that he’s left in the car the night before, then comes find me. It’s such a delight to meet like this, makes me feel like twenty-something, almost.

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Together we went into the Circle Craft Gallery to see our Finnish-Canadian friend Kaija Rautianen’s exhibition of Jacquard tapestry weavings, entitled Natural Images: Bear Encounters. Lovely work as always, and a very interesting process. Kaija’s images of bears were taken on a sailing trip up the coast of BC, where the bear is considered sacred by the First Nations. I thought of how the bear was also sacred to some of the ancient people in Finland* as well. Check out this excellent review.

Next stop was Emily Carr University of Art and Design (formerly Institute) to see the Emily Carr Grad Show 2008. Read about it on daughter Erika’s blog. We saw the website she assisted in creating, like she did last year when she was a grad. I didn’t have the energy to go through the entire massive show, but what we did see was impressive.

By this time we were hungry and headed over for an always wonderful meal in a favourite restaurant on this Island, overlooking all the boats in False Creek, with the city’s highrises glowing in the sunshine on the other shore. Nice date, don’t you think? I only wish I’d remembered the camera.

(*expired link has been removed)

May 8, 2008 in Art Exhibitions, Being an Artist, Other artists 7 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

time traveller

MLRfishfossil.jpga couple of my photos of Hornby Island petroglyphs were included in a book called In Search of Ancient British Columbia.

A while back, in one of those wonderful connections that blogging rewards us with, I received an email by one of the authors of that book, Heidi Henderson. We had an interesting conversation and I learned that she lives right here in Vancouver and also has a blog Archea, Musings in Natural History. Over a period of several days, I read through it all, finding it quite fascinating and making me recall a visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta where I was more excited by the beauty of the fossil collection than by the dinosaur specimens. The image above is one of many I took at that museum.

And Heidi herself sounds fascinating, being a passionate time traveller, amateur paleontologist and head of the Vancouver Paleontological Society and The British Columbia Paleontological Alliance. Her articles are well researched with cited sources; the stories about the group’s fossil hunting trips around BC and Washington made for enjoyable reading and almost tempt me to join some of their outings!

I wish we could see more and larger photos of these fabulous finds on the blog. The ever-changing slide shows near the bottom of the main page are an interesting supplement and another journey.

May 6, 2008 in Books, History, Photography, Rock Art & Archaeology 5 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

history

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May 2, 2008 in Photoworks, Textures 7 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

sima for May Day

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The sunshine is so warming today as it streams into the house (oh, but such dirty windows). Fresh green leaves, spring flowers and even dandelions are bursting everywhere in spite of the cool temperatures. The tulips I had picked from our garden are already spread wide open in the warm house. It’s April 30th, I realize, which means it’s Vappu or May Day Eve.

Or it was on the other side of the world in Finland where they have already celebrated with much drinking and partying, especially the students. I should have made some sima and tippaleipää but instead I will just fondly reminisce about those tastes that my mother offered up in my childhood. ( I can’t have sugar or wheat.)

Unlike here in North America, May Day is rich with meanings and celebrations in Europe – Beltane, a celebration of spring, Walpurgis Night, Maypole and other dances and the International Workers’ Day. I wish we had a celebration here in Canada.

Instead I raise my virtual glass of sima and once again heartily wish you all a Happy May Day, Hauskaa Vappua, Happy Walpurgisnacht and Bonne Fête du Muguet!

April 30, 2008 in Culture, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric 8 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

mesh

   
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April 29, 2008 in Found Objects, Photoworks 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

geologic journey

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Spotting a seemingly insignificant looking rock like this one now sends me wondering about its history, its journey through millions of years. Thanks to the powerful series Geologic Journey, my view of our world, especially of Canada and part of North America, has been profoundly enlarged.

Some weeks ago, happening to turn on CBC TV, we caught the last episode The Atlantic Coast, one part of which documents:

The rocks in the glowing cliffs in Nova Scotia once nestled beside Africa, as part of the super-continent Pangea. Millions of years ago, crocodiles and dinosaurs wandered here and today paleontologists come to unearth their remains.

The beaches and cliffs here are an unlikely home to the world’s largest collection of fossils from the Triassic/Jurassic period. They are virtually brimming with dinosaur skulls, teeth and jaws.

We were so amazed and awed by it that we wanted to see the rest of the series so I promptly ordered the DVD set. This five-part documentary series, shot in high-definition, delves into the geological history that has shaped the mythic Canadian landscape, offering a wide and compelling range of scientific, amateur enthusiast and narrative perspectives that enlighten the ways in which our land is shaped. It’s extremely well done, very dramatic with all the powerful visual and scientific techniques available today, not at all boring and dry. The website offers quite a bit of information and preview clips of each episode, so if this subject interests, do have a browse. Highly recommended!

April 28, 2008 in Canada and BC, Films, History 5 Comments »