spiny fruit
This photo has become one of my favourites and is now my new desktop image. I wish you could see it much larger.
by Marja-Leena
by Marja-Leena RETURNS
September’s calendar is filling up with interesting events. I’ve just booked seats to see a Finnish-themed music theatre work by an MFA grad with a Finnish name. As immigrants ourselves, my husband and I were quite intrigued by this program description:
RETURNS is a music theatre work. It is Pessi Parviainen’s MFA Graduating Project in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University.
Part concert, part theatre, the piece visits four generations of Finnish immigration with original music, storytelling, and video segments. ‘Returns’ navigates the gaps between Finland and Canada, past and present, fact and fiction.
As source material, Parviainen uses his family’s immigration stories and 8mm home movies from the 1950s and 1980s. The music Parviainen has composed draws from Finnish folk music, tango, contemporary classical music and free improvisation.
Studio II Theatre
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby Mountain Campus
Burnaby, BC
September 13, 14, 15, all shows at 8 pm
Free admission
Seating limited. Call SFU Theatre Box Office to reserve seats: 778-782-3514
The website for the show has a nice snippet of music that sounds like a mix of kantele and guitar that you may enjoy. And new-to-me is the sponsor, The Finnish Institute of Suomi, which I’m going to keep an eye on.
UPDATE: The performance was great! The old videos, the snippets of familiar folk music blended into new music, the stories of immigrant life all had an evocative feeling for us. Even Pessi Parvianen’s very Finnish looks made me think of my father and another old friend, except that he’s VERY tall (which is beside the point). An enjoyable evening of unique music and images.
by Marja-Leena Making an Impression
“Inertia” by Marie Price
I’m very pleased to announce that I’m participating in an invitational printmaking exhibition:
Making an Impression: Invitational Printmaking Exhibition
with Heather Aston, Marie Price, Rina Pita, William Steinberg, Ingunn Kemble, Marja-Leena Rathje, Patricia Baldwin, Valerie Metz, Susan Campbell, Arnold Shives, Jane Adams, Peter Kiss, Tania Gleave, Gillian Armitage, Michiko Suzuki, Wayne Eastcott, Ross Penhall, and Gordon Smith
Opening Reception: Tuesday, September 11, 6 – 8 pm
Artists’ Talk: Saturday, September 15, 2 pm
Exhibition runs September 11 – 29, 2007
Gallery Hours 11am – 5pm, Tuesday – Sunday
Ferry Building Gallery
1414 Argyle Avenue, Ambleside Landing, West Vancouver, BC
I am honoured to be showing with this wonderful group of artists – it should be exciting. I’m looking forward to being at the Ferry Building again. It’s a lovely historic old building located on the oceanside next to Ambleside Park and the seawall walk.
If you are in the area, please come by. Hope to see you there!
by Marja-Leena rock-flipping
Today, thinking about finding some rocks to flip for the International Rock-Flipping Day, we thought the beach might offer up some interesting possibilities. So we checked the tide tables – low tide at 4:00 pm. We headed out before that for a walk to Cates Park or Whey-Ah-Whichen and its saltwater beach, sitting on Burrard Inlet. It showered on and off all day, and we got caught in one but our umbrella helped keep the camera dry.
This rock revealed one tiny crab and two long translucent worms, both quickly going into hiding, Can you see the worms?
We startled many tiny crabs under a second rock, but they all moved too fast to catch a good photo, plus I’m not very knowledgeable about the names of the sea life, sorry.
This was our best photo catch, the star of the day, sitting still ON rocks rather than under.
Check out Dave’s photos and links to other participants who had better luck than we did today. Thanks for the fun idea, Dave!
Oh, now there’s even more! Keep checking from time to time as the list keeps growing, and truly international it is. There are more at Flickr as well. I’m enjoying checking out new blogs to add to my already-too-long-list. And I’ve succumbed to the temptation of adding the handsome IRFD button (designed by Jason Robertshaw of cephalopodcast).
by Marja-Leena summer’s end
In these last days of August, I’m feeling lazy and lingering, almost as if I’m holding on to summer a little bit longer. Not so much the heat of summer, for I’m not fond of that, but the light, I think. And the beauty of the garden. I notice how the sun rises later and farther to the south. As it makes its way to the west a bit lower in the sky each day, I notice that it doesn’t shine in through the window next to me here quite as much in the late afternoon, shaded now by the trees. More and more of the garden remains in shade cast by the surrounding tall trees. The mornings are deliciously cool and moist with dew, the afternoons still hot. This summer was not as dry as some years so there aren’t too many yellow leaves on the ground yet.
Summer isn’t really over yet, but it seems to be a new season after the Labour Day long weekend coming up, with all the children going back to school after that. It’s a time of reflection for me, of remembering childhood years of school, then university, then teaching and finally as a parent sending my children off to new adventures every September. I remember my own anticipation tinged with a little fear on those first days of school, skipping in new shoes through crisp leaves in the gorgeous Indian summer days in Winnipeg, the very best time of the year there, I thought. Ah, nostalgia. I thought that was something older people do more, but even Erika has been nostalgic.
Back to the present, there’s something exciting to look forward to early Saturday morning on the first day of September, If you live along the west coast of North and South America. If you happen to be awake at 4:30 am, or decide to set your alarm, look for the Aurigid meteor shower, one that I’d not heard about before, but learned about from Feathers of Hope. I hope it’s going to be clear!
Another thing I’m looking forward to with September is the return to the printmaking studio and seeing old friends there, and meeting new, and getting back to printing. I’m also participating in a group show coming up soon, but that will be the subject of another post.
Happy (long) weekend, dear readers. Welcome to September.
PS. September 1st:
I almost forgot. Tomorrow is International Rock-Flipping Day! Check it out and do heed the warnings. You all know I’m crazy about rocks, so tomorrow I shall investigate what lives under some of them.
by Marja-Leena moss painting
Ugly or beautiful? Isn’t it odd that it depends on which hat I’m wearing.
Am I judging the state of the property? Or am I in my artist’s state of mind?
by Marja-Leena studio floor
Another one from this photo expedition
by Marja-Leena ancient chewing gum
During this morning’s amble through my blog list, imagine my surprise reading this at Mirabilis:
A 5,000-year-old piece of chewing gum has been discovered by an archaeology student from the University of Derby. Sarah Pickin, 23, found the lump of birch bark tar while on a dig in western FINLAND. (emphasis mine)
The story comes from BBC News, which offered more interesting related links, such as to the University of Derby, UK, home of the dig’s volunteers.
Most intriguing for me was to find and learn about the Kierikki Stone Age Centre, the area of the dig. Located in northwest Finland, just north of the city of Oulu, it is about 200 km. south of the Arctic Circle. This discovery is also posted on the Centre’s website in English, and has some good photos of Sarah Pickin, this piece of “Neolithic chewing gum” (shown above), plus her other finds of a slate arrow and part of an amber ring.
Finland doesn’t often come up in international archaeological news, so this was cool for me. Who would think dirty old gum could be so interesting? Amazing proof that there were humans living so far north 5,000 years ago.
by Marja-Leena reflections in broken glass
Later:
Hey! I just discovered that Reflections in Broken Glass is also the title of a biography of Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and film director Neil Young!