Other artists Archives - Page 17 of 30

by Marja-Leena

Arno Rafael Minkkinen

Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Self-portrait, Dead Horse Point, Utah, 1997, 20″ x 24″

I first became acquainted with Arno Rafael Minkkinen, an internationally known Finnish-American photographer through Art Daily some months ago. His works affected me deeply, and I bookmarked it for a future blog post. Now, many months later, I happened on it again, so now it’s time to share my admiration for his work.

Minkkinen was born in Finland, moved to the US as a child and now lives in Massachusetts. Since 1988, he has been a Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He has had numerous exhibitions around the world. Recently he was the subject of a mid-career retrospective at DeCordova Museum.

Saga: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Photographs 1970-2005 is a 120-print traveling exhibition accompanied by a new large publication.

Since the early 1970s, Minkkinen has been photographing his unclothed body in a wide variety of landscape and interior settings, from Finland to New England, from the American West to sites in Italy and France. These unmanipulated surreal and timeless black and white photographs are astonishing in the way Minkkinen maneuvers his body so that it echoes or seems to become part of the land formation. As A.D. Coleman, one of the curators of the exhibition writes, Minkkinen’s “…images comprise an account of an epic journey–both a physical adventure in the natural and urban world and a psychological voyage of the lone human spirit.”

I hope you enjoy browsing through Arno Rafael Minkkinen’s site as much as I do!

March 31, 2006 in Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Other artists, Photography by Marja-Leena 10 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

openings tonight

I’m getting ready to go to a couple of art openings this evening:

1. RETURN, prints by Hannamari Jalovaara and Taiga Chiba at Malaspina Printmakers Gallery, opening 7 – 9 pm.

2. IN CONTRAST – ceramic sculpture by Mary Kim and paintings by Yang Hong at Capilano College Art Gallery in North Vancouver, opening 6 -8 pm. I only learned about this one yesterday – it’s on March 20 – 31st. I knew Yang as a young man in the same high school my daughters attended but haven’t seen him since he graduated from Emily Carr Institute, Vancouver’s art school. He’s done very well – check his website! I look forward to seeing him again.
I will report back on these later!

LATER:
RETURN is an excellent print show, and its amazing how well the two artists works showed well together thematically. I had fun chatting in Finnish with Hannamari, whom I’ve met a couple of times before several years ago. Her work includes some text in English, Finnish and Latin. I had a chuckle with her that we are the only ones in the room who could read Finnish! Sorry I forgot to take photos in the rush but do visit the links in my earlier announcement of RETURN.
******************

IN CONTRAST features Yang Hong’s very large predominantly black paintings, the Rivet Series, and 24 very small panels called Absence (photo above with Yang) in predominately white, all done in polyurethane and oil. (I was in error thinking the small paintings were Mary Kim’s when I saw the show yesterday – so corrected the earlier statement above.)

Mary’s works are the installation of ceramic rats “Plead” (photo below). Both Mary and Yang are recent MFA grads of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was wonderful to see Yang again and to meet Mary and congratulate both on their achievements and their thoughtful and well done art work.

March 23, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists by Marja-Leena 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

RETURN

(left) Hannamari Jalovaara: Identical Witness intaglio 30 x 60 cm.
(right) Taiga Chiba: My Return to the Cambrian Sea-16 monotype 52 x 77cm.

RETURN is an exhibition of etchings and monotypes by Hannamari Jalovaara and Taiga Chiba at Malaspina Printmakers Gallery on Granville Island, Vancouver from March 21st to April 16th. Everyone is welcome to attend the Opening Reception on Thursday, March 23, 7 to 9pm.

Here’s the exhibition statement: Visual metaphors of hidden worlds is the common theme for both artists here as they recall places they have resided in physically and how these different worlds still reside within them mentally. The results are rich colourful layers, playful and delicate compositions, all seeming to tell a story. Each image deriving from deep within these two artists’ senses, perhaps even allowing them to ‘…return whilst being away.’

Japanese-Canadian Vancouver-based artist Taiga has been mentioned here many times, most recently regarding his other exhibition presently on at Dundarave Printmakers.

Hannamari Jalovaara was born in Finland, and spent her formative years in France, Ireland, Singapore and Thailand. She currently resides in Vancouver and works at Malaspina’s print workshop and continues to exhibit in Finland and internationally. Learn more about Hannamari at moon gecko.

UPDATE March 22nd:
Taiga is also having a slide presentation at Malaspina. He will show some slides from Bhopal, where he did an artist residency last fall.
Slide presentation by Taiga Chiba
The Bharat Bhavan Artist in Residency in Bhopal, India
Malaspina Printmakers Gallery, Granville Island
March 30th, 6 PM.

March 21, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists, Printmaking by Marja-Leena Comments Off on RETURN

by Marja-Leena

Made In India

Another exhibition by the very busy printmakers Tomoyo Ihaya and Taiga Chiba is opening this week at Dundarave Print Work Shop Gallery,1640 Johnston Street, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC. The exhibition is on from March 17 to April 9, 2006, with the opening on March 18th 5-7pm. The gallery is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday or by appointment at 604-689-1650.

Tomoyo and Taiga were in India this past winter, attending artist’s residencies and workshops, making prints and travelling. They are now back in Vancouver making more prints and teaching at Dundarave Print Workshop. This is their exhibition of works inpired by India.

Tomoyo says she will be donating her sales to Ladakh Childrens Home Society, to help the children with free education in the remote area of Ladakh, India. She would like to do that since all images are connected with her experience in Ladakh in 2006.

These prolific artists have graced these pages many times. New readers may be interested in earlier posts about Tomoyo Ihaya’s other shows: Fountain, Searching for Agua and Recent Works.

And Taiga Chiba’s ‘Tis the Season and Duet.

March 14, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists, Printmaking by Marja-Leena Comments Off on Made In India

by Marja-Leena

Steven Dixon: Spare

Steven Dixon: Desert Structure No. 1, 2006
Digital print on Japanese paper mounted on panel

The Art Gallery of Alberta, formerly the Edmonton Art Gallery, is featuring an exhibition of prints by Steven Dixon called Spare:

Steven Dixon’s large-scale works record the consequences of human activity, documenting the shift from a natural resource based economy to one focused largely on information and technology. This change has left in its wake a legacy of disused industrial structures: abandoned mines, mills and factories and related town-sites. Dixon has been exploring these ruins with a camera, photographing the traces of activity left behind by those employed in these industries, and tracing the detritus of past activity. This exhibition, Spare, features three new works, comprised of digital photographs printed on Japanese paper and mounted on panels.

Steven has worked in moderate sized photogravures for many years, so I was curious about his large scale digital work. In emails, I asked Steven about his new direction. He’s allowed me to quote his responses here.

I have gone digital with the latest work because of the scale. The largest piece in the show is 240 x 300 cm and I am making the files by scanning internegs in order to get the files large enough to work with. With the limitations of my scanner I needed to take that extra step. The file for that image was about 1.2 gigabytes. The smaller images are scanned directly from 4×5 negs.

At this point in time I don’t know anybody who is straight digital…..I just went to a lecture by Ed Burtynski and he has tested it but gone back to film because it is easier to deal with in the field. He said it is much easier and quicker to use a Polaroid back to check results than to lug around a laptop along with all the other equipment. The lens quality of digital cameras may never approach the quality of conventional lenses (at any reasonable price anyway).

What is an interneg?, I asked.

The interneg is just an enlargement on film from the original negative. In my case I guess it really isn’t an interneg because it is positive. What I did was make an enlarged positive transparency so I could scan it. I went from a 4×5 negative to an 8×10 positive, then cut that into 4 – 4x5s and scanned them individually and rebuilt the image in photoshop. That way I could get a larger file than just going from the 4×5.

Thanks for this information, Steven, and congratulations on your show, I wish I could be there!

Readers, if you are in Edmonton, do see Steven’s excellent work. The opening reception is on Friday, March 10th at 7 pm and the exhibition continues until June 10th, 2006.

Long-time readers might recall my friend Steven’s name – he is one of the artists in the Traces exhibition that Steven, Bonnie Jordan and I presented in Pohjanmaan Museum in Vaasa, Finland in 2002. We even travelled together to Finland and Estonia. I’ve also mentioned his show at the Lando Gallery, where you can see some of his earlier photogravure work.

March 8, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Digital printmaking, Other artists, Photography by Marja-Leena 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

update on batik show

batik by Annabel Carey, photo by Valeri

Following up on a suggestion in the comments to my post about a batik exhibition in Cornwall, UK, I emailed Valeri of dyeing 2 sew, because she lives in Cornwall. I told her about this show and expressed a hope that she might visit it and perhaps post some pictures on her blog.

Valeri kindly did go see it, even took photos and blogged about her impressions along with several photos here plus more here.

Go have a look! Valeri even sent me the above photo of Carey’s batik. A big thank you, Valeri!!

March 7, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists by Marja-Leena 6 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

WOMAN

(image scanned from invitation – designed by Andrew Cairns)

WOMAN is an art exhibition in celebration of International Women’s Day at the Ferry Building Gallery, 1414 Argyle Ave, in West Vancouver, BC. The opening reception is tonight, Tuesday, March 7th, 6-8 pm. The exhibition continues to March 26th, 2006 – Hours: 10-6pm Tuesday – Sunday

Thirty-three artists’ works are featured, including that of Jean Morrison.

I admit I’m not much of an activist but I like this kind of event to recognize women! International Women’s Day is on March 8th and is celebrated in Canada from March 5th to 11th, 2006.

ADDENDUM: On a related and very interesting note, haihatus, a Finnish artist’s blog, has reminded me that women in Finland have had the right to vote for 100 years as of this year! Finland was not yet an independent country one hundred years ago, but a duchy of Russia. Here’s some of that history.*

(*Link expired and deleted)

March 7, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Culture, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Other artists by Marja-Leena 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

a batik exhibition

This little news item in Stone Pages caught my eye and really piqued my interest:

Exhibition: Spirits of the Stones
“A touring exhibition by Annabel Carey of batiks featuring stone circles in England, Scotland and Wales, which began at the Marischal Museum, Aberdeen in November 2003 reaches the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro (England) for an exhibition running until May 13.

The work shown here is the result of a 20-year project, Spirit of the Stones. This has resulted in more than 50 batiks celebrating prehistoric stone circles and tombs of the British Isles, many of which are here in Cornwall. Annabel said of her work: “I used the medium of batik as it seemed to offer me a wide range of expression to capture the essence of each monument. By exhibiting batiks from all regions together I hope to inspire and encourage other people to visit these monuments, some more than 5000 years old, and reflect on our ancient spiritual heritage.”

In the hopes of finding some images of Carey’s batiks, I did some searching and found the website for Royal Cornwall Museum but I’m disappointed that there’s only one small image shown. A couple of media statements at U of Aberdeen and in This is Cornwall give just a bit more information about the artist. Maybe some of my readers in the UK might have seen or will see this exhibition. If so, let me know what you think of it and if you find some images to share!

Now why did this pique my interest, you ask? Well, because of my interest in prehistoric stone circles, as most regular readers know, but also because I used to make batiks too.

Long ago when I was a high school art teacher and had just moved to a new job in northern British Columbia I learned that batiking was one of the optional art mediums in the program. I was unfamiliar with this but I was very lucky that my new friend and colleague, the textiles-home economics teacher in the classroom next to mine, knew the process and gave me a few lessons. I really enjoyed working together with the students, learning right along with them.

After my teaching years I continued to explore many media, especially batiking, trying to develop this craft into a serious art form. I stopped when I came back to printmaking. I still have some batik supplies stored away; now and then, like when reading about this exhibition, I get a little urge to do some again.

The image below is a detail of a lovely batik that our eldest daughter bought for us during a trip in Indonesia, where the technique originated. For information on batiking, visit Wikipedia for lots of good links to explore.

UPDATE March 7th: Following up on a suggestion in the comments below, I emailed Valeri of dyeing 2 sew, because she lives in Cornwall. I told her about this show and expressed a hope that she might visit it and perhaps post some pictures on her blog. Valeri kindly did go see it, even took photos and blogged about her impressions along with several photos here plus more here. Go have a look! A big thank you, Valeri!!

February 27, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists, Rock Art & Archaeology by Marja-Leena 4 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Olga Campbell’s opening

We made it this evening to Olga Campbell’s opening at Diskin Galleries. Olga presented quite a large number of her digital prints, some based on her travels in Asia and some of her personal family history, and all very emotive and beautiful, full of texture and rich colours. A good crowd and a lovely large gallery and lots of food and drink – a great opening! Congratulations, Olga.

ADDENDUM March 2nd: Olga told me today that the gallery now has some images of her work on their site – so go have a look!

February 24, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Digital printmaking, Other artists by Marja-Leena 1 Comment »

by Marja-Leena

Olga Campbell at Diskin

Art Institute Printmaking member and friend Olga Campbell is having an exhibition of new mixed media works under the theme of “Triumph of the Human Spirit” at Diskin Galleries from February 24th to April 27th, 2006. The opening reception is on Friday, February 24th from 7 to 10 pm. Diskin Galleries in located on the second floor of Tinseltown, 88 West Pender Street, Vancouver, BC. If you are in the area, do drop in!

I look forward to seeing Olga’s beautiful work in this newish gallery that I’ve not yet seen. Olga had a very successful exhibition last year which I visited and wrote about. Have a look at some photos of her work at these links.

Update: 24/02/2006 Please visit my post about the opening

February 23, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists by Marja-Leena 3 Comments »

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update on batik show

WOMAN

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