housefly
about to sweep the floor
saw the dead dark fly
what would a scan show?
iridescent colours, dust and fibres
invisible to the naked eye
You are browsing the Blog for Being an Artist Archives - Page 4 of 47 - Marja-Leena Rathje.
by Marja-Leena by Marja-Leena basket twine
found in studio ‘junk’
wound up and tied
remembering a frayed basket edge
unwound and free
captured and filed
for future use
then a revisit of jute, more jute and twine(d)
Added 19th March:
My dear friend Susan, in the comments below, has challenged me to do a re-scan with my hand holding the twine. Behold:
by Marja-Leena more Robert Young
Over five years ago I wrote about BC artist Robert Young and his visit to the printmaking studio at Capilano University. Please read that article then come back here.
Last week by an odd chance, Robert and I had a lovely email conversation. He had not seen that early post I wrote about him and had some nice things to say including this:
You may be interested to know that the print reproduced in your article contains a black and white landscape image which I made at art school in England and which is partly derived/inspired by Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
This certainly surprised and delighted me as I had researched and written a major portion of my written thesis for my BFA Honours on this famous Finnish artist.
I’ve seen and admired Robert Young’s work here and there over the years and most recently in 2009 at the Burnaby Art Gallery. In researching for this post, I came across an excellent and insightful review by Robin Laurence of that BAG exhibition.
So I was sad to learn from him that I had missed his major retrospective in 2011. He has kindly given me permission to use his images and exhibition information to update us on some of his recent work.
This is from the Evergreen Cultural Centre’s website:
Mystique Povera, 2008-09, egg tempera, acrylic and oil on linen. 48 x 59 inches. Collection of the Artist
Robert Young: Lacunarian Picturing
June 18 – September 3, 2011
The Art Gallery at Evergreen, in partnership with the Simon Fraser University Gallery, is pleased to present Lacunarian Picturing, a Robert Young retrospective exhibition. The Vancouver artist, born in 1938, has produced art for most of his adult life and continues to work from his home studio.
The Art Gallery at Evergreen will focus on a chronological exploration of Young’s paintings while the SFU Gallery will focus on Young’s depictions of architecture and interior spaces. On display will be works ranging from the 1970’s, to his much-debated Tart, 1993 from the Vancouver Art Gallery Permanent Collection, to his most recent painting from this year titled, Lacunarian Picture, 2011. (more…)
Then a year later came his Unveiling of Axis Mundi:
LEFT: Lacunarian Picture, 2011. RIGHT: Axis Mundi, 2012, acrylic, egg tempera and oil on linen, 152.4 x 121.9 cm. Collection of the Artist
[At last year’s exhibition] the signature work showcased at the Art Gallery at Evergreen was Lacunarian Picture, a work in progress that Young began specifically for the exhibition in Coquitlam. Now, over one year later, the work is completed and it gives us great pleasure to unveil it here at Evergreen Cultural Centre.
I understand the title changed from Lacunarian Picture to Axis Mundi and you can see both versions above. I wish we could view the work larger in order to see all the details full of stories, so typical of his work. Also, do read Robert Young’s statement (pdf) found on that page. I think it gives fascinating insight into his artistic and thematic process. It is something I can identify with in some of my work where I do not always know what it will be about until it is done. I’m sure some other artists experience that too.
Last but not least, when I asked if he was still painting, he wrote: Oh yes, still painting and doing my best work…. He still follows his own path, true to himself, and is an inspiration for all artists, especially for those of us ‘getting on in years’.
Added MARCH 4th morning: Robert Young has just told me that his work can be seen at the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art Database. His page is here. Excellent, I had forgotten about this site! (But why did a general internet search of the artist’s name not come up with this site?)
More later in the day: I have just spent an hour browsing through Robert’s work on this site – wow! The images can all be viewed larger. Do especially have another look at Axis Mundi, the very last one! I also love his famous Tart. Enjoy!
by Marja-Leena hand studies (3)
As I mentioned in hand studies (2), I’m playing with the idea of a series of hands other than my own. Our twelve year old granddaughter was an eager and willing model at the scanner. We did a number of them of which these two are some of the favourites.
by Marja-Leena nine
Here she is ‘dressed to the nines‘ for her ninth blog anniversary today, with a wish to extend warmest thank yous to all readers for your visits, comments, conversations and friendship over these years. Though I post less frequently I am still rather fond of this strange online combination of artist’s diary, sketchbook, photo album, scrapbook and catch-all of impressions and inspirations found on the net. Most of all I value the human connections this medium has opened up, for it would not be as much fun to write to the void, would it? I sometimes wonder how long this blog and blogs in general will continue with technology changing so fast.
Also, can you believe it is already February? I once wrote:
“February was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification…” and
“In Finnish, the month is called helmikuu, meaning “month of the pearl”; when snow melts on tree branches, it forms droplets, and as these freeze again, they are like pearls of ice.”
There are no pearls of ice here right now but we do have little white buds of snowdrops peeping up above the dark damp soil in the garden. The days are getting longer. Spring cannot be far away. This cycle of the seasons is familiar and natural, a counterpoint to all this communication technology.
Added February 2nd: Speaking of pearls of ice, you must see these gorgeous photos by superb Finnish photographer Iines.
by Marja-Leena hand studies (2)
Granddaughter Niamh’s hands
These are two of the several photos I took the day I had the idea to use an image of both our granddaughters’ hands for our Christmas 2012 card. I might play with these some more for the possible new series of variations on hands, as I wrote before. Hmmm, I may have to find and coax the other granddaughter, daughters, husband, friends to willingly model their hands for me in the pursuit of my art so I don’t have to use my own all the time.
by Marja-Leena nests
Now and then I try to do some housekeeping of my too numerous files on this computer as well as the archives of this blog. In my recent rounds, I came across some more photos of one of the wasp nests as seen in Hand with Wasp Nests, so I have placed them in their new home here.
The lower image reveals the amazing underside with an odd cap on top, presumably the sticky patch that enabled it to be attached to the wood frame of a skylight in our solarium. You may have seen the original photo of its face.
I also came across a post with closeup images of the broken nest which I think are worth a revisit, especially for newer readers. I had used one of them in Hand with Wasp Nests, and the other almost whole one in Hand with Nest. (Confusingly similar titles, I know.)
by Marja-Leena hand studies
While I continue to work on my Hands series, I am also thinking of possibilities to follow, whether they will be variations on the same theme or something else, I don’t know yet. Anyway, I did some playing with hand scans again with an exploration of tones other than the natural. Here they are in my online ‘sketchbook’ as food for thought…
I seem to revisit hands in my work (and in blog posts such as here) many times and of course hands have been a subject for artists since cave art days. One that I recently learned about thanks to a mention by a fellow artist is Gary Schneider and his fascinating photo series called Handbook 2012. Made by hands’ sweat and heat interacting with film emulsion, these [are] unusual portraits of friends and family…(via Aperture). His work is otherworldy, stunning and thought-provoking.
And I love the thought of my hand images being self-portraits!
by Marja-Leena ‘Hands’ on the wall
These are the first six of my ongoing Hands series of prints all together, completed at the end of last year. I’ve already posted these individually, to be found under Hands. While preparing several more to print the next few weeks, I put these up on the wall of the printmaking studio to have a long look and think. This is merely a snapshot, not a good photo, for the lighting was poor and I did not use a tripod. However, it shows for me the series as a work in progress, like this other photo. I like to pause like this, to revisit what I’ve done so far, how they look together, which are the strongest ones, which the weakest. I try to imagine ten or twelve in the series all in a single row, as I’d like them to be were they to be in an exhibition. I also enjoy the feedback from my artist colleagues in the studio, just as I do from you, dear readers.
Now to carry on with some more ‘Hands’ with objects. Hope to print one more tomorrow…
by Marja-Leena underfoot, again
On our New Year’s Eve day walk I took many photos, posting some of trees against water and sky, where I was looking up and out a great deal.
To view the ones above, I’m looking down, something commenters have teased me about a lot in the past. No wonder, for I’ve taken numerous “underfoot” photos. The first may have been ones of the studio floor, then some on roads near home, and many others. Most memorable were the ones taken in London in 2009. A few of the former showed up in my print works, but many of the latter emerged in the London Underfoot series. I wonder what this new year will bring?