by Marja-Leena

Fred Brown’s woodcuts

FredBrownShelter.jpg

Fred Brown: Share the Shelter
Woodcut 36″ x 72″

I had heard that printmaker Fred Brown was going to be having an exhibition this month in Vancouver. Imagine my surprise when I read Art Daily’s posting “Power Tools, Plywood, and the Artist take Vancouver” and that artist turns out to be Fred!

“The Devon Gallery is proud to host Vancouver’s first major showing of the nationally renowned woodblock print artist, Fred Brown the Artist, and challenge the perception that fine art and the creation of fine art are generally considered the stuff of high society. This perception is challenged when an artist gets supplies from the local hardware store. Using plywood instead of canvas and power tools instead of a brush or pencil, Fred Brown the Artist creates fine art in the form of woodblock prints.”

Fred is showing his woodcuts at the Devon Gallery, 688 Denman Street, Vancouver, BC, to October 11, 2005.

His work can also be viewed at his website FredBrowntheArtist.

I’ve seen Fred working on his amazing huge woodcuts in the Art Institute studio where he’s been printing from time to time over the past several years. I’m sorry I missed the opening on Friday and will go and see the exhibition soon.

September 19, 2005 in Art Exhibitions, Art Institute (Printmaking), Other artists 1 Comment »

by Marja-Leena

Rock art in Northern Australia

ubirr3.jpg
Early rock painting at Ubirr, Northern Australia
From MMOA’s Timeline of Art History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Timeline of Art History has a section on the history of art in Australia. Most fascinating for me was reading about the “X-ray” style in Arnhem Land rock art. This style of Australian Aboriginal art is fairly familiar in contemporary work, but I did not know it was called “X-ray” and that it is so ancient, reflecting an unbroken continuity with the ancient X-ray tradition.

The “X-ray” tradition in Aboriginal art is thought to have developed around 2000 B.C. and continues to the present day. As its name implies, the X-ray style depicts animals or human figures in which the internal organs and bone structures are clearly visible. X-ray art includes sacred images of ancestral supernatural beings as well as secular works depicting fish and animals that were important food sources. In many instances, the paintings show fish and game species from the local area. Through the creation of X-ray art, Aboriginal painters express their ongoing relationships with the natural and supernatural worlds… X-ray paintings occur primarily in the shallow caves and rock shelters in the western part of Arnhem Land in northern Australia.

Have a look at the great images.

One of the best known galleries of X-ray painting is at Ubirr, some of which may be from as far back as 40,000 B.C.! More beautiful images here.

(via bellebyrd )
An earlier post about Australian Rock Art.

September 18, 2005 in Rock Art & Archaeology 8 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Dan Steeves

DanSteeves.jpg

Dan Steeves is presenting a series of printworks ‘The House as Fortress, the dichotomy of symbolic structure’ at The Lookout Gallery, Regent College, at UBC, Vancouver until October 14th.

Yesterday we were pleased to have artist Dan Steeves visit as guest speaker in the Printmaking department of Studio Arts, Capilano University**. He teaches printmaking at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, his home province.

Dan Steeves showed his recent works that are in the exhibition as well as numerous older works. A warm and gifted speaker, he described his techniques in his chosen medium of etching always in black and white. His method is slow and painstaking as he works from black to white. Frequently reusing old plates sometimes allows him to incorporate old textures and “ghosts” to great effect.

Informed by his Atlantic Canada roots, Dan Steeves often uses images of local old houses and public buildings as a metaphor for sanctuary, security, safety, OR as fortress in the negative sense. His stories behind each work were fascinating, personal and sometimes heart wrenching. Someone in the audience said, “I almost want to cry”, to some empathetic laughter from the rest of us. His prints really are very evocative and beautiful both technically and spiritually.

Dan Steeves finished by saying to the students that no matter what medium or style you choose to work in as an artist, it must come from the heart and not be just the fashion of the day. (Or something like that, I didn’t get a chance to write it down.)

Do enjoy a look at Dan Steeves’ work at his website.

**Since writing this, the College has since been designated a University so name and link have been updated.

September 16, 2005 in Art Exhibitions, Art Institute (Printmaking), Other artists, Printmaking 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

in the printshop

detailSilMessHoodII.jpg
Detail from Silent Messengers: Hoodoos II

For the past week I’ve been happily back at the printmaking studio, my home away from home sometimes it seems. A new season always means new people and a new energy that I enjoy. We’re all pleased to have Michiko Suzuki back as artist-in-residence, continuing the collaboration with Wayne Eastcott. Wayne and Michiko had a very successful exhibition in June in Tokyo that I look forward to writing about in some detail soon.

After a summer hiatus it always seems to take a little time for most of us to get a momentum going on our projects, particularly the new people as they familiarize themselves with the shop and learn some printmaking techniques if they are new to the medium. I get into a creative mental space by looking over my sketchbook, notes, photos as well some of my last work as I plan new prints for my ongoing Silent Messengers series. An exciting incentive for me right now is a solo exhibition in November to prepare for, and I will be writing about that as well this fall.

Later today we have a visiting printmaker from New Brunswick coming in to talk about his work while he’s in town for his exhibition – watch for my next post on that.

September 15, 2005 in Art Institute (Printmaking), Being an Artist 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Matisse in Louisiana

Matisse.jpg
Henri Matisse: Thème E, variation 8, 1941
Album “Thèmes et variations”
© Succession H. Matisse / CopyDan, 2005.

You sure know Henri Matisse.
And you sure know Louisiana.
But it is not that Louisiana I think of.
In Denmark there is an art museum called Louisiana.
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Thus begins Asbjorn Lonvig’s “Matisse and Louisiana…”, a long and interesting article in absolutearts.com, about this gorgeous Danish museum and the Matisse exhibition being presented there right now… do read it and also enjoy his photos.

I really enjoyed this for it also brought back memories of our visit there some years ago, as I wrote a year ago.

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art website has an interesting page about the exhibition Matisse: A Second Life. (The link for this doesn’t seem to work, so you will have to find that page). Also have a look at Art Daily’s Photogallery of Matisse’s work at Louisiana. I sure hope I can be as creative in my old age.

Thanks to bellebyrd for the link to the article.

September 14, 2005 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists Comments Off on Matisse in Louisiana

by Marja-Leena

Rock Art of SW Texas

PecosArt.jpg
Photos: Jim Zintgraff

This is an exciting find: The Rock Art Foundation has a very impressive website to promote the conservation and study of the Native American Rock Art in the Lower Pecos region of Southwest Texas. I did not know that Texas has one of the largest and most diverse bodies of rock art in the New World.

The Foundation offers guided tours to provide both an aesthetic and educational opportunity to the public. For us armchair travellers, the website “gallery” is a very good virtual tour with its numerous beautiful photos of the many pictographs and a few petroglyphs along with detailed descriptions of their possible meanings. The brilliant colours make me suspect that the photos have been enhanced, as we all know that pictographs fade and petroglyphs weather and thus become hard to see. Still I think these are marvellous, and an appetizer for the very tempting CD-Rom of over 250 images that I just might order for myself.

I am once again indebted to reader Bill Knight for his generosity in sharing the wonderful links he manages to unearth. (I think Bill should start a blog, don’t you?) And yes, Bill, I think they may be very useful in my own imagemaking.

September 13, 2005 in Rock Art & Archaeology 1 Comment »

by Marja-Leena

Sunday in Vancouver

DeepCove.jpg

A gorgeous sunny warm day yesterday tempted us outside to explore. We headed to Deep Cove with walking shoes, a backpack with water, a snack of nuts and the camera. The “Cove” was pleasantly crowded with people enjoying the boating (sail, motor, kayak and canoe), the waterfront parks, the village with its little shops and cafes.

We poked around and then went into the Seymour Art Gallery to see the current exhibition “Lelam” (Coast Salish for “friend”) of First Nations work. We liked most the various objects made of leather, and the furniture made of wood and steel incorporating native designs. We were quite fascinated by the photos of the method of preparing the cedar bark for weaving their fine traditional cedar bark hats.

This reminded us of how similarly the Finns prepared birch bark for their traditional weaving into baskets, shoes, belts, even hats. There was an extensive display of birch bark works and photos of the technique in the excellent Craft Museum of Finland that we visited a few years ago – I wish it was on their website. We also met the retired husband of one of my cousins who made the most marvellous hats of many styles, but would not sell them, for he used them as examples for his demonstrations in his teaching of the craft. Long ago. a maternal great-uncle made a beautiful basket and pair of shoes (usable but kept for decoration only) for my mother, who later gave them to me because I loved them so much, and I still treasure them and display them proudly.

Oh, I’ve wandered off the subject of our day! Some time after we got home from our outing, we smelled acrid wood smoke and noticed the air was very hazy all around. Where’s the fire? We turned on the TV for the early evening news, to learn about a large fire in Burns Bog, south of Vancouver. The winds were spreading the smoke all over the Lower Mainland. This could last a long time as the peat burns deep. I happened to come across Boris Mann’s post and photo of ithe fire at Urban Vancouver, which I’ve captured below. Our pleasant day of fresh air, exercise, sightseeing and art ended with no fresh air and a stuffy closed house to sleep in.

burnsbog.jpgnews report on the Burns Bog fire

September 12, 2005 in Art Exhibitions, Being an Artist, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Artscape Nordland

MarttiAiha.jpg
Seven Magical Points – Martti Aiha, Finland

Reader and commenter extraordinaire Bill really livened up the virtual conversation at my post about a book on Quadra petroglyphs, Spirit in the Stone. If readers missed it, do go read the comments there.

First Bill identified me as a lithophile in response to Anna’s question about what to call me over my love for rock art! Bill is a keen lithophile himself and remarked on some echoes in some of my prints to work of some stone carvers. I responded: … it’s interesting the similarities that you note. I think my work seems sculptural because I frequently deep etch my copperplates to the point that there are fragmented edges and holes… The plates themselves are beautiful, like relief sculpture.

Bill pointed out numerous interesting links to explore for which I’m very thankful. One of these is Artscape Nordland in Norway. It’s an amazing international art project with 33 invited participants from 18 countries.

The project originated in a comprehensive debate about the role of art in society. The County of Nordland, with its 240.000 inhabitants, does not have an art museum – and people must travel long distances to study modern art in museums and galleries. The idea of a collection of modern art in Nordland, one sculpture in every municipality and with the landscape as gallery, was first presented in 1988.

The underlying idea of the project is that a work of art creates a place of its own through its very presence in the landscape. The sculpture also visualises its surroundings, thus giving the place a new dimension. The dialogue resulting from the encounter between the sculpture and spectator reveals different ways of understanding and interpreting art.

The project officially started in 1992, and was completed in 1998. Sculptures, located in beautiful, varied and often brutal landscapes on the coast of the Atlantic, will be found in 33 of the 45 municipalities in the county. An art gallery without walls or a ceiling – and covering an area of 40.000 km2.

Some of the artists are well-known, like Anish Kapoor, Per Kirkeby, Antony Gormley, and Dan Graham, and many are young upcoming sculptors. Enjoy a tour of these exciting sculptures in their settings along the Atlantic coast of Norway. Thanks, Bill!

September 11, 2005 in Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Modern Rock Art, Other artists 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Rodin in Vancouver

RodinBalzac.jpg
Auguste Rodin. Monument to Balzac. 1898 (cast 1954). Bronze, 9′ 3″ x 48 1/4″ x 41″ (282 x 122.5 x 104.2 cm). from MOMA.

The sculptor must learn to reproduce the surface, which means all that vibrates on the surface, soul, love, passion, life. – Rodin

Yesterday evening we went to see the exhibition Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the first time that we’ve seen a major collection of his work. I went expecting to be disappointed for some reason, but it turned out to be a very very good show, quite inspiring. There were about 70 works mostly sculptures, a few small and beautiful engravings and some photographs. Lots of interesting information posted about the artist’s life, works, writings, the lost wax process for bronze casting, a law concerning editions of his sculptures (12 only per work), and so on, all made it a great learning experience. Interestingly, Rodin himself did not believe in limited editions, sometimes having hundreds of a popular sculpture such as The Kiss made up in different sizes by his studio and the foundries. (The tacky reproductions in the gift shop don’t count!)

Of course, cameras were not allowed so I found an image online, above, of one of my many favourites – do read the interesting description of the creation of this Balzac commission. There were several examples of the numerous studies Rodin made of Balzac (famous but dead, can you imagine?) before he decided on the above one. My husband chuckled over the one with an erection only partly concealed by the writer’s hand. Rodin wanted to portray Balzac’s famed eroticism as well as his overweight figure which did not go over well, and even the robed figure above was deemed too controversial. Much of Rodin’s work, with its rough textures and expressive movement, was considered somewhat radical for his time.

The Musée Rodin, chosen by the artist himself, has a website with a wealth of information and an excellent online gallery of works in different media. And the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia has Rodin’s Sketchbook online.

If you’re in Vancouver and want to see the exhibition, it is still on until September 22nd. If you want to save money, go on a Thursday evening. This is the first time we went on a Thursday night which is by donation, paying $10 for the two of us, which normally is $30 now. (I had let my membership lapse.) Obviously Rodin is popular for it was very busy, especially with two large groups with guides, rather like an opening night where it was hard to see some work. I do prefer a quieter time to really enjoy the art with a sense of meditation, but it was still worth it.

UPDATE: Sept.11.05 You may like to also read an interesting article on Art Daily about a great sounding exhibition of drawings and sculptures by August Rodin and Joseph Beuys at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt in Germany. If I were in Frankfurt….

September 9, 2005 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Marimekko

karhunkukka_340_small.jpg
Marimekko Pattern: Karhunkukka (1964/2004) (translation: Bearflower)
Designer: Maija Isola and Kristina Isola

Soon after my last post, which mentions Marimekko, I found an article in the Guardian about how Marimekko may have won John F. Kennedy the 1960 presidential election! Jacqueline Kennedy wore these Finnish cotton dresses, and seemingly the voters liked that these were less stuffy than her Parisian wardrobe. Certainly it helped increase the fame of this company. It’s an interesting story of the company and the women in it.

If you’re in Glasgow go see: Marimekko: Fabrics, Fashion and Architecture which runs from September 10 to November 8 at The Lighthouse, Glasgow, Scotland.

And here’s the Marimekko website. I remember long ago I made a couple of garments out of bold and colourful Marimekko fabric for myself and later for my first child. Back in 2002 when visiting Helsinki we noticed two large and elegant Marimekko stores on fashionable and touristy shopping streets.

(Thanks to Pekka Nykänen for the Guardian link!)

September 6, 2005 in Art Exhibitions, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric 2 Comments »