by Marja-Leena

mentors please

We’ve just spent a pleasant Sunday at the apartment of our daughter, Erika, and her boyfriend. Her father tried to help her with some computer problems, while Erika and I chatted about possible layouts for the artist’s website that she is designing for me. I’ve been eagerly looking forward to this, as I feel that I need a more professional site as a supplement to this blog. I trust Erika’s eye for design and her skill with web design work, the latter of which eludes me.

Then we talked about the grad project she is working on in this, her final semester, of the Communication Design degree program at Emily Carr Institute, here in Vancouver. I’m rather tickled and proud that she has chosen to explore the Finnish half of her ancestry! I’ve passed on to her many books and links to websites and now I’m sharing some information about her project with you, my dear readers, because she is asking for a little help.

Erika is calling her design project Coffee and Pulla, and is asking for mentors (family not allowed):

I’m designing a book about Finland, explored through family stories and comparisons to Canada. As a requirement, I need a mentor. Very little contact is expected by my instructor — 2 or 3 times over the semester, which ends in mid-April — so it may only require an hour or two of your time over the course of a couple months.
I’m looking for any combination of:
a) a Finn who immigrated to Canada (or at least lived here for some length of time) OR
b) a Canadian who immigrated to Finland (or at least lived there for some length of time)
c) a (graphic) designer, particularly if one of the above
d) a writer
e) a photographer

Read more about it on her blog, and if you are interested in helping her out, please contact her directly. Thank you!

February 4, 2007 in Being an Artist, Other artists 9 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

THREE!

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ONE, TWO, now THREE years of blogging!

I’ve surprised myself, when I recall my very tentative beginnings with this “art” project, as I like to think of it.

Thank you all for your inspiration, encouragement and warm friendship.

UPDATE: Oh, a blog birthday gift! A photo of mine has been posted over at qarrtsiluni. Go have a look and check out the other work, too! Comments are welcome and appreciated. Should you be a first time visitor to this online journal of creative writing and visual art, please consider submitting a piece. The current theme (which changes about every two months) is “Come Outside”.

February 1, 2007 in Being an Artist, Blogging 28 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

January/Janus

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Janus – etching, 40 x 37.5 cm.

Good grief, it’s already the end of January! Christmas was only yesterday. I’ve meant to write this all month because my thoughts have been frequently circling around the notion of looking back and looking ahead while standing over a gate like a moment in time. This made me think of Janus and of this etching, one of a small series of prints I made on the Janus theme over two decades ago. (They can be found in the archives under “Older Works”.)

Janus is the Roman god of gates and doors (ianua), beginnings and endings, and hence represented with a double-faced head, each looking in opposite directions. He was worshipped at the beginning of the harvest time, planting, marriage, birth, and other types of beginnings, especially the beginnings of important events in a person’s life. Janus also represents the transition between primitive life and civilization, between the countryside and the city, peace and war, and the growing-up of young people.

Still seems pretty relevant, doesn’t it?
Janus is also the sixth satellite of Saturn. I wonder if that has any astrological or other significance on us earthly subjects?

January 31, 2007 in Being an Artist, Printworks 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

on art theft

The Globe and Mail has a fascinating and informative article on international art crimes that are happening even in Canada, and how one Canadian lawyer is working to educate collectors and police on how to deal with it. Thanks to Arts News Canada.

January 29, 2007 in Care of Art Works Comments Off on on art theft

by Marja-Leena

Ancient British Columbia

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We’ve lived in British Columbia well over three decades and have seen many many areas but still not all of this beautiful province. We’re now inspired anew to go exploring those yet unknown corners with the recent arrival into our hands of a beautiful new book: In Search of Ancient British Columbia, by Barbara Huck, with Philip Torrens and Heidi Henderson.

Here’s the blurb on the back:

Once, parts of British Columbia lay on the far side of the Pacific. Once, its ancient seacoasts were inhabited by creatures on the threshold of evolution. Once it was populated by some of Canada’s first peoples.

Today, B.C. is one of the world’s most geographically varied places. But clues to its ancient past are everywhere, in its mountains and arid valleys, along its lakeshores and seacoasts. For the first time, the geological, paleontological and archaeological wonders of southern B.C. are gathered in one place. With hundreds of color photographs, maps and drawings, In Search of Ancient British Columbia presents an accessible, route-oriented approach for today’s time travellers, creating an indispensable guide to the forces that have shaped the spirit of the land.

Heartland Books is a Winnipeg-based publisher of history, heritage, travel and non-fiction. I look forward to Volume II covering the northern regions.

I’m thrilled and proud to have two of my photographs of Hornby Island petroglyphs, shown above, included in this fascinating and well-designed publication on a subject of great interest to me. We’re going to be doing some wonderful armchair travelling for the next while and start planning a few trips around our own backyard this summer!

January 28, 2007 in Being an Artist, Books, Canada and BC, Rock Art & Archaeology 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

five things

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I’ve been tagged for a meme called Five Things You May Not Know About Me, thanks to Jean at This Too.

My, I had to think long and hard on this since I’ve already revealed much about myself on this blog. My life has not been very exotic and I don’t harbour any dreadful secrets, but here’s what I’ve come up with.

1. This is the first time on this blog that I show a photo of myself as a child, at 5 years of age, taken just before we emigrated to Canada.
2. I had my first and only artist’s garret around the age of eight. I spent hours there drawing, writing, reading and day-dreaming.
3. I was good in math in high school with marks in the low 90’s. My math teacher wanted me to pursue it in university. I told her I wasn’t a natural at it, only that she was an excellent teacher. That point was proven in Grade 12 when I almost failed it due to an incompetent teacher. Instead, I wanted to become an architect, interior designer or an artist.
4. I have (or had) more than 50 cousins, having lost count after that.
5. I have an international family with birth or ancestry from Finland mostly, Karelia, Russia, Germany, England, Greece, Ukraine and USA, and probably others that I don’t know about. We all came from Africa, you know.

I’m supposed to tag five others. I invite anyone who’s interested.

January 25, 2007 in Being an Artist, Blogging 21 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

a blog survey

If you are a blogger, you may be interested in filling out this quick survey Why Do You Blog? It took me only a few minutes to do.
Thanks to Cassandra Pages for the pointer.

January 22, 2007 in Blogging Comments Off on a blog survey

by Marja-Leena

January rain

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It’s back to normal January weather in the rainforest zone.
I think about how to capture rain on pixels.
I try it from the indoors looking out through rain spattered windows.
I acknowledge the beauty of this manifestation of nature.
I overcome the downer of greyness and dimness indoors.

rainJan2007.jpg

January 22, 2007 in Being an Artist, Photography 11 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Burtynsky interview

People who are engaged in art are engaged in a process of thinking beyond the present moment, looking both forward and backward, reflecting on how the human story plays itself out. In a way, art is a research and development department. It shows us new places we can go in terms of thought; it makes us reflect upon our actions, our ethics; it questions our definitions of good and evil.

I believe that culture is key to a healthy society. So many people are caught so entirely in the process of working and making a living that society needs somebody to put a mirror up, to open up our consciousness to the things that are out of sight, out of mind.

Read this excellent interview of Edward Burtynsky in Framing Global Capitalism, by Christopher Grabowski for The Tyee. You will enjoy the photo gallery.

Long time readers may recall that I’ve written about this acclaimed Canadian artist and photographer several times, most recently when he had an exhibition in Vancouver.

January 19, 2007 in Other artists, Photography 5 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Art’s Birthday

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Today, a unique birthday is being celebrated around the world: Art’s Birthday. That’s not Art as in someone named Art but as in art, the kind of stuff created by artists. Art is now 1,000,044 years old.

I didn’t know this! My eye was caught by an article in the Vancouver Sun (unfortunately available online by subscription only) titled A big draw: celebrating Art’s Birthday, Canadian artists follow lead of Frenchman Filliou by Kevin Griffin. I’ve quoted some of his words above. Griffin also wrote: In giving art a birthday, Filliou wanted to draw attention to the idea of art as permanent creation and He believed art should be part of daily life.

There’s some interesting history in the article that I wish you could read. So, I learn there’s a website for Art’s Birthday with some history at the ‘chronology’ link. According to this site:

‘Art’s Birthday’ is an annual event first proposed in 1963 by French artist Robert Filliou. He suggested that 1,000,000 years ago, there was no art. But one day, on the 17th of January to be precise, Art was born. According to Filliou, it happened when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. Modest beginnings, but look at us now. Filliou proposed a public holiday to celebrate the presence of art in our lives. In recent years, the idea has been taken up by a loose network of artists and friends around the world. Each year the Eternal Network evolves to include new partners – working with the ideas of exchange and telecommunications-art.

In Vancouver, the Western Front joins in with a Festival from January 14 – 20, 2007 Art’s Birthday 2007: The 100th Anniversary of Radio: network vs propaganda.

PHOTO above: Robert Filliou lighting the cake at Art’s 1,000,010th Birthday Celebration, Aachen 1973. Photo: Neue Galerie, Stadt im alten Kurhaus, Aachen (scanned from – Robert Filliou: From Political to Poetical Economy, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, Vancouver, 1995, ISBN 0-88865-308-5). From Art’s Birthday

January 17, 2007 in Art Exhibitions, Neat stuff 10 Comments »