fall colours
by Marja-Leena
by Marja-Leena exhibition reminder
Blue Print, 2006, woodcut & lithography by Shinsuke Minegishi (Canada)
A reminder about an exhibition I wrote about before:
Re-Identification, the travelling exhibition of prints from Japan, the Netherlands and Vancouver is moving to North Vancouver’s Capilano College Studio Art Gallery on Monday, October 16th until November 4th. The opening reception will be on Thursday Oct.19th, 4:30 to 6:30 pm. A unique selection of prints is exhibited in each of the venues held consecutively in BC, so it’s worth dropping by even if you’ve seen the first two exhibitions in Vancouver. Hope to see you there!
by Marja-Leena note on ‘blocks’
My post on artist’s and writer’s block has had an incredible response with many very thoughtful and interesting comments still coming in. Do read them and feel free to write in if you haven’t already. I’m just reminding readers of this because the entry has gone off the page and into the archives under “being an artist” or here. Thanks again to everyone for their participation in the discussion and for giving me a much-needed jump start.
Yes, I’m happy and thankful to say that my block has passed. I’ve been playing, as many of you suggested. I’ve taken small prints that were cut from proofs of some collagraphs and woodcuts done in the past and layered these with inkjet prints on clear mylar. This layering technique is one I used in the Silent Messengers series and some of the later Nexus pieces whicht regular readers may be familiar with. They have turned out very interesting and are giving me some hints of possibilities for the larger pieces to come. I wish I’d taken my camera to the studio to take some shots to show you. I plan to sandwich some of the pieces in clear plexiglass, so it will be exciting to see how these will look.
by Marja-Leena Shanghai in films
From CBC TV: Some 20,000 white Russians fleeing the Soviet revolution flooded into Shanghai. Many [of the women] ended up in the entertainment industry and replaced the American prostitutes.
Last night, husband and I sat down to watch a movie on DVD that had come recommended and lent to us by our son-in-law. His good friend in the UK has a blind partner who had the interesting job of tutoring the lead actor of this film on how to behave as a blind person.
Another reason the movie interested us was that the story takes place in Shanghai in 1936 and 1937. In one of our very rare TV-watching evenings a week or two ago, we happened on a fascinating documentary Shanghai, Paradise for Adventurers, one of the CBC’s Legendary Sin Cities series. This is about life in Shanghai in the 20’s and 30’s, the so-called Paris of the East, a sometimes questionable refuge for many Eastern European Jews, Russians and other refugees as well as the numerous rich businessmen, playboys, adventurers and gangsters – before the coming chaos of war. A great historical background for viewing the movie.
The White Countess is a well-done story of a blind ex-diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) and a Russian countess and her family, played by the wonderful Redgrave women, against the turbulent political background of a Shanghai about to be attacked by the Japanese. Dramatic and compelling with lovely filming, as to be expected by the Ivory team, we enjoyed the human face and colour it gave to the history we’d just learned.
This film made me recall one of my favourite ones The Empire of the Sun. This story of a young British boy (played wonderfully by Christian Bale) began in Shanghai with another attack by the Japanese. I’m not fond of war movies, but this was an incredibly moving and memorable film for me. I’ve seen it twice.
Watching these films, it hit home again how much our history education was almost all western and northern, and how little we knew of Asia’s past. Now that China is a growing world power, our eyes look eastward and we want to understand its history, especially of the tumultous later 19th and the 20th century. So many parts of Asia came under the influence of white colonialists and businesses, Shanghai included. Since the CBC program, husband has been reading up on China, sharing interesting bits out loud with me, feeling the history that is now even more alive.
by Marja-Leena Toxic-Free Artists
I recently started subscribing to Toxic Nation E-News from Environmental Defence (in Canada). It’s also available online. This item in the October issue caught my eye and I thought I’d share it, in case any artists in Ontario may be reading this. I think many artists are now aware of some of the hazards of our occupation, but I believe we can always learn more on the subject. We really need these workshops across Canada!
TOXIC-FREE ARTISTS: CARFAC Ontario presents Staying Alive! – A Health & Safety Workshop for Visual and Media Artists
Coming to Ontario cities of Windsor and London on October 14th and 15th, and Timmins on November 25th.
About the Workshop: Artists often repeatedly use harmful chemicals and toxins, and continually place themselves in harm’s way in order to create art and make a living. How often do we consider the consequences of repeated exposure to these potentially harmful chemicals and situations? These issues are addressed by:
• Ted Rickard, MLS, MEd, CRSP, Manager of Health and Safety at the Ontario College of Art and Design; and
• Dr. Jean-Jacques Dugoua (Dr. J.J.), BSc, ND., naturopathic doctor with the Artist’s Health Centre.
The CARFAC Ontario Staying Alive! workshops are presented in partnership with the Artist’s Health Centre Foundation and Environmental Defence. For more information and to register please visit the CARFAC Ontario website.
by Marja-Leena 
by Marja-Leena wombat’s world
A rock painting at Astuvansalmi, Finland. Photo by Kate Laity (enhanced by me to bring out detail)
As you know, I’m intrigued by Finnish connections. A while back, through the wonders of Technorati, I checked out a link back to my blog from a post called Touching Ancient Finland.
The writer was going to Finland to see the Astuvansalmi rock paintings! I learned Wombat’s World is the “blog for medievalist K. A. Laity, author of the novel Pelzmantel: A Medieval Tale, who is “Currently working on Unikirja, a collection of short stories based on the Kalevala, Kanteletar, and other Finnish myths and legends”.
Well, that piqued my attention, so I delved a little deeper and learned that American Kate Laity has Finnish roots. I began to follow her blog for reports on her trip: Terve from Helsinki and Finland recap. Many of the sights she visited were familiar to me, but not the rock paintings in real life, so these excited me the most.
Impatient to see some of her photos, though I knew Kate Laity was busy with a new teaching post this fall, I emailed her to ask if she would be posting any of them. Kate and I have enjoyed some nice “conversations”, both being keen about our Finnish connections. Her photos of the boat trip to see the Asuvansalmi rock paintings are now up and I’ve enjoyed browsing through them several times, reaffirming my desire to make that journey myself! She kindly sent me an essay ‘on traveling in search of ancient Finland’ that is being published in New World Finn. Here are a couple of excerpts:
For the past couple years, I have been at work on a collection of stories influenced by The Kalevala, the ancient mythology of Finland. At the back of my mind, however, was a big worry. How could I write about ancient Finland, when I had never been there? […] How then to get a sense of this lost past? Naturally enough, a visit to modern Finland would be a good place to start. I was fortunate that the generous folks at the Finlandia Foundation found my journey a worthwhile exploration to fund. Their gift allowed me to go in search of the world of Finnish mythology this past August.
While I would very much enjoy my visit to the National Museum’s exhibit on ancient life in Finland, and I was thrilled to find Kivikäs’ book at the Academic Bookstore in Helsinki, the memory of the visit to the rock paintings has stayed vividly in my mind. It has sent me back to my stories with a new zeal for authenticity, and it has helped me to reshape some of the narratives to better reflect that glimpse of the ancient past. It may be a world lost to us now, but I hope my stories–buoyed by my taste of ancient Finland–can give readers a window on that distant time.
I’m so happy to have met Kate and I’m looking forward to the completion and publication of her Unikirja (a Finnish word meaning dreambook) and must find her novel Pelzmantel: A Medieval Tale.
By the way, Kate refers to Kivikäs’ book, which I also own and wrote about a while ago.
P.S. Off the subject a bit, something else I learned at Wombat’s World is about a Finnish/Chinese movie Jade Warrior. According to the gorgeous website, Jade Warrior combines kung fu with the Kalevala, ancient China and modern Finland. It was shown at the recent Toronto Film Festival (it did not get a good review) but does not appear to be at the currently running Vancouver International Film Festival, so the chance that I would ever get to see it seems small.
by Marja-Leena Burtynsky in Vancouver
Image on invitation: Edward Burtyntsky: Recycling No.20. Cankun Aluminum. Xaimen City, Fujian Province, China 2005. Chromagenic print, 58″ x 68″. Courtesy of Charles Cowles Gallery, NY.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the photographic works of acclaimed Canadian photographer Edward Burtyntsky right here in the Vancouver area. His exhibition ‘The China Series’ has been up for a while and runs until November 5th at Presentation House Gallery in North Vancouver. The artist will be in attendance at the reception Tuesday, October 10, 7 pm at the gallery.
Edward Burtyntsky will also be at the screening of the documentary ‘Manufactured Landscapes’ at the Vancouver International Film Festival.. Directed by Jennifer Baichwal, it follows the photographer as he travels the globe shooting landscapes transformed through commercial recycling, manufacturing and industry. That’s on Wednesday, October 11, 9:15 pm and on Thursday, October 12, 11:30 am at Empire Granville Theatre Cinemas #3.
Do read the exhibition statement at the Presentation House site and visit Edward Burtyntsky’s very informative website. Of course he’s been written about a great deal in the past few years, including in this blog. CBC recently wrote about the film, and so did Zeke.
P.S. I almost forgot, Gordon Coale wrote a review of the book Burtyntsky-China.
by Marja-Leena visiting Interconnection
We were sad to miss the opening last week of Michiko Suzuki and Wayne Eastcott’s exhibition Interconnection, also the grand opening of the new Bellevue Gallery. By all accounts the opening was very successful, attended by around 200 people spilling out onto the sidewalk.
Yesterday, my husband and I had one of our after-work “gallery and dinner dates” and went to the Bellevue, knowing that Michiko and Wayne would be there. We enjoyed a personal chat about their work, which utilize techniques of etching, inkjet, silk-screen and chine-collé. The work looks stunning in this lovely new space (and these photos do not do it justice). Even though we’ve seen most of the work before other than the latest new prints, it all looked very new and different in this spacious yet warm setting. As I’ve mentioned before this exhibition was first shown last year in Tokyo, then in Vancouver. Congratulations again to both artists for the success of this amazing collaboration!
We also met Lynn Ray, the charming owner of Bellevue Gallery (her partner is her daughter Nicole Ray-Sharma who was not there this time). It was a pleasant surprise because Lynn and I knew each other many years ago and so enjoyed catching up with our lives since then. Lynn has a studio art and art history background as well as many years of business experience, so she has excellent qualifications for running a serious art gallery. An architect had been hired to do the interior of the gallery and this shows in the lovely architectural details, materials and lighting. The Bellevue Gallery is a great cultural addition to the charming Dundarave area of West Vancouver, right by the sea. Our very best wishes to the Rays for the success of this new gallery!
If you are anywhere near Vancouver and haven’t seen this significant exhibition by two very important artists yet, I suggest not to miss it. It is up until October 29th, 2006.
by Marja-Leena artist’s block
From time to time, I hear about writer’s and artist’s blocks. I think I have both right now! I have good ideas and notes for blog posts. I have good ideas, quick sketches and a body of very interesting photographs to develop into pieces for my continuing print series. But what I seem to be lacking in is the energy and motivation to grab the bull by the horns and just do it! I fiddle around with “light” stuff, skirting the real meaty stuff with that guilty glance out of the corner of my eye. Actually it’s not just a lack of energy; energy comes with motivation, doesn’t it? It’s amazing how much energy I have when I’m motivated, then excited by what I’m doing.
I’ve had artist’s block before (as all artists do) and it usually comes when I’ve taken too long a break in my work, particularly when one series has ended and before I’ve been able to get immersed in a new one. Usually I work through it by looking at past work and doing some quick trials. This time, though I have the ideas and materials, I haven’t had the motivation to make myself do any work. I know it’s partly, and only partly, due to many distractions this past month in my personal life – house guests, a friend’s death, ongoing but minor health issues and catch-up work around home and garden. But those kind of “distractions” are all part of life. I certainly don’t believe in giving up my family, friends and home for the sake of my art! Meanwhile, I’m waiting for that bolt from the sky to shake me out of this rut!
So, my dear writers and artists reading this – what do you do to break out of your block?