by Marja-Leena 
Just a gentle reminder that my exhibition opening is happening tomorrow, Wednesday November 16th starting at 4:30!
In case you missed it, here is all the information. Everyone welcome!
If you can’t make it to the opening but would like to meet me another day, please feel free to email me when you are coming and I’ll be there.
by Marja-Leena 
With my printworks finished and ready to hang on Wednesday morning, I had a day of deserved and much-needed rest yesterday. Today I am sorting through my notes, even my blog posts which are a proving to be a very useful archive, to put together the supplementary information for my exhibition. You can see that I am a list person!
1. The curriculum vitae has been updated and is ready to print. Must update the copy on this blog soon.
2. The all-important Artist’s Statement – I’m re-revising this everytime I look at it! I’m starting with this early statement and adding some words by Kivikäs on the “silent message of man”. Because I’m including the last ten pieces of the Nexus series that preceded the current series, I need to say something about their connection.
3. I’m going to put up the five of Karen D’Amico’s original photos that I have used for the series of prints called Silent Messengers: Connecting with D’Amico along with a note about this collaboration-of-sorts.
4. I’m seriously thinking of displaying my copy of the 2003 Finno-Ugric Calendar with a print-out of the excellent introduction by Väinö Poikalainen along with some comments on the influence of Loit Joekalda on my work.
5. A short note of explanation regarding the strange title is underway for Nexus: Vyg and Willendorf to be put up next to that piece.
6. The colour brochures of my work (pictured above) that were printed to accompany the 2002 exhibition in Finland have been updated with a stick-on label with my new email and weblog addresses. Though the examples of work are older and not in this exhibition, the brochure is still an attractive “take-home” for visitors since I still have a couple of hundred of them as it was cheaper to print in large quantity.
by Marja-Leena 
Rob Newell photo – North Shore Outlook newspaper
Caption reads: Stroking Silence – Marja-Leena Rathje presents “Silent Messengers”, a collection of mixed media prints in the studio gallery at Capilano College…..
by Marja-Leena 
You are invited to come to the opening of my exhibition! I’d love to meet you local bloggers and readers!
Silent Messengers: mixed media prints
Opening: November 16th, 4:30 – 8:00p.m.
Studio Art Gallery, Capilano College**
2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver
The exhibition is on from November 16th to December 7th, 2004.
Gallery hours: 10am – 4pm Monday – Friday
(or by appointment – email me)
Note: If you need directions to the Studio Art Building, please email me and I can send you a PDF map. It’s a 1.5 MB file, too big to upload here, and you probably need a fast connection to receive it. OR if you send me your address, I will mail you the card which has a map on the back.
I’ll keep reposting this so that it stays on the main page.
Addendum: To find your way to the North Vancouver Capilano College** campus, check out Google maps. Thanks for the tip, J!
** now University
by Marja-Leena 
Many printmakers around the world have developed a strong sense of community that is enhanced in part by their participation in some of the many international juried print biennials and triennials.
One of the best and largest is the Krakow Print Triennial held in Poland. They do a tremendous amount of work, from selecting by jury from hundreds of art works submitted by artists from around the world, and organizing the many exhibitions in numerous venues, including travel to other cities and countries. A very good catalogue is published and given to each participating artist.
The photo is showing my two prints Nexus IX and Nexus X as printed in the 2003 Triennial catalogue. Canada did very well with 19 artists taking part and especially with the Grand Prix being awarded to Canadian Davida Kidd.
As I mentioned a year ago, the main triennial show which included my work travelled to Oldenburg, Germany. Recently I learned that this exhibition continued on to Gyor, Hungary for November-December 2004. Now it is in Budapest in several venues. I think my prints have been seeing more of the world than I have!
Unfortunately the Krakow Print Triennial’s website has been undergoing a total reconstruction and most of my previous links in the older posts are now broken, and I will have to go back for some repair work when they have finished. I do hope they will bring back much of the excellent material they had about the past triennials.
by Marja-Leena 
X Faces by Robert Jackson
Another exhibition happening this month, and one in which I am also participating in is:
TOTALLY MANIPULATED: Digital Art Today
at CityScape Community Art Space,
335 Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver, BC.
Opening reception is on Thursday Oct.14, 7-9 pm.
Runs from October 15th to November 6th, 2004.
Gallery hours are 12-5, Wed-Sat., 1-4 Sunday.
This exhibition showcases sixteen accomplished and emerging artists pushing the boundaries of what we call art: Pierre Coupey, Wayne Eastcott, Carl Fletcher, Peter Frey, Grace Gordon-Collins, Robert Jackson, Bonnie Jordan, Mohsen Khalili, Maria Lobo, Irwin Oostindie, Sabrina Ovesen, Marja-Leena Rathje, Nicole Rigets, Michiko Suzuki, Joe Tompai and Biliana Velkova.
If you are in the Vancouver area, please come visit! This attractive gallery is run by the North Vancouver Community Arts Council. Also visit the North Vancouver Arts & Culture Commission pages and read ARTS ALIVE (.pdf) magazine.
Interestingly, eleven of the exhibiting artists are, or have been, associated in some way with the Art Institute at Capilano College**. Many thanks to Robert Jackson, a new member, for organizing this exhibition!
** Since this post was written, it has become Capilano University.
by Marja-Leena “Happy new month!” as my youngest child used to say when little. This new month of October is a busy one for me with both family stuff and art happenings.
One event that I’m excited about is participating in Ethno Techno: An Exhibition of Digital Print, to be held October 14 – 28, 2004 in Vancouver, Canada, in collaboration with the New Forms Festival ’04: Technography.
Organized by the Digitalis Digital Art Society, the 12 selected artists include Michael Alstad, Canada; Bill Byrne, USA; Michael Cardinal, USA; Ian M Clothier, New Zealand; Melanie Daniel, Israel; Jaleen Grove, Canada; Maru Ituarte, Mexico; James K-M, Canada; Wynne Palmer, Canada; Marja-Leena Rathje, Canada; Claudio Sotolongo Menandez, Cuba; Alexander Sutulov, Chile.
Our theme Ethno Techno refers to the convergence of ethnology and technology, or the expression of ethnicity or ethnicities in the form of digital print. The artists selected for this exhibition play in their own ethnicity or in the ethnicity of other cultures where subject matter can be related to racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background. The images in the exhibition will have been manipulated in some way by the computer.
Digitalis: Ethno Techno will be shown in the basement gallery of the Electra Building, 970 Burrard Street (at Nelson), and is open daily from 10 AM to 6 PM. The Festival Opening Night Gala will take place October 14, 6 to 8 PM at the Roundhouse Community Arts Centre, corner of Pacific Blvd and Davie Street. You can also view the artworks in this exhibition as well as a First Nations show in the same venue, by clicking on each name.
This is only one of many exhibitions and events centered around the New Forms Festival 2004, an annual festival forum highlighting emerging forms at the junction of art, culture and technology. I posted about this about a month ago, but wanted to bring your attention to it again closer to the date, and because the site has been updated with new links and information about the various events and their locations around the city (as has that older post).
by Marja-Leena 
Here are a few installation views taken of my 1998 solo exhibition of the Meta-morphosis series at the Seymour Art Gallery in North Vancouver, BC.
Installation photos are always a challenge with the various lights, reflections and distractions (like the dark plinths), but they do give some overall view of the exhibition.
This bottom photo shows a display of the deeply-etched copperplate that was used in printing the adjacent Meta-morphosis X prints.
by Marja-Leena “The Art Institute at Capilano College: Celebrating 20 Years of Printmaking”
This exhibition of prints is currently on at the Grand Forks Art Gallery, in the city of Grand Forks, BC.
For the past twenty years The Art Institute (Printmaking) at Capilano College** in North Vancouver, under the guidance of Wayne Eastcott, has been on the forefront of contemporary printmaking; not only in Canada but internationally, as it attracts students from across the globe.
This traveling exhibit was originally organized by the Burnaby Art Gallery as a showcase of some of the important artists who have passed though the Institute.
Read more and have a look at the installation photos on the gallery’s site. If you are planning a trip to the area, do visit the show – it is on until April 24, 2004.
The new Director/Curator of the Grand Forks Art Gallery is the very dedicated Paul F. Crawford, an avid art collector.
**The College has since been designated a University and the link has been updated.
by Marja-Leena I have just received word from Krakow, Poland that some of my prints* will be in an exhibition at the Horst Janssen Museum in Oldenburg, Germany, opening March 14, 2004 until June 13, 2004.
Apart from its main programme, the Cracow 2003 Print Triennial, the organizers arrange plenty of exhibitions in Poland and abroad for the triennial’s participating artists.
Addendum April 5/04: * Some family members went to see this exhibition and were very impressed. My works selected for this show are Nexus IX and Nexus X. More about the exhibition at Oldenburg.