by Marja-Leena

blogs and shows

1. Thanks to blog friend Anna of Self-Winding for pointing out that The Padacia has posted a couple of my Nexus prints. Thanks also to this mystery blogger from Oslo – it’s nice to find another beautiful blog. Curiosity sent me to the first entry of October 27th, 2002 which explains the meanings of Padacia, and a browse through some of the older entries (some lovely writing) suggests a feminine voice of someone originally from Singapore.

2. Carolyn Zick, a Seattle artist-blogger Dangerous Chunky** writes about a visit to the Nordic Heritage Museum near Seattle to see Garth Amundsens’s work and to admire the Scandinavian exhibits, including Finland’s famed Marimekko. This brought to mind Robert Kaiser’s post about Marimekko, and Lucian Perkins great photos, in Finland Diary earlier this year.

By the way, and I’m late mentioning this, Carolyn has an exhibition** on this month at the Shift Gallery in Seattle, and she has a great website for it: Distill Bill**. Bre Pettis has posted a photo of Carolyn** in front of her work. Congratulations on some really great looking work and the show, Carolyn!

That’s two reasons I should be going to Seattle.

3. Oh, that reminds me, there’s another interesting exhibition coming up in the Seattle area: The Sami Exhibit, The Reindeer People of Alaska is a travelling exhibit to honor the Sami herders who came from Norway in 1894 and 1898 to teach reindeer herding skills to the Yup’ik and Inupiaq Peoples of Alaska. It’s at the Nordic Heritage Museum from October 7th to November 13th. Read all about it at Baiki, the International Sami Journal (and which I wrote about last December).

4. Finally, go see Anna L. Conti’s post Life echos Art. Wish I’d posted that!

UPDATED March 21st, 2013: **links have expired and have been removed.

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

by Marja-Leena

Labour Day

pots.jpg

Today I was scrubbing out dirt and those squatters of damp and dark quarters – slugs, snails, sowbugs, spiders and worms. No, not an art project, rather a gardener’s chore. I finally tackled the huge annual task of washing all the plant pots which have been hidden under a tree by the compost, a job I always put off until I’m desperate for clean pots for repotting. For some time now I’d been saying to myself that I must repot some of my plants that have been summering outdoors, to ready them for re-entry indoors in a few weeks’ time, as well as start taking cuttings of geraniums and such. It was laborious but satisfying in the end. Tomorrow I hope to do some of the repotting.

It’s the end of the Labour Day long weekend here, with a lovely sunny day too. The damper cooler nights and long shadows signal the coming of fall. It’s the last weekend of summer in a way, as most schools in Canada begin tomorrow. But our weekend wasn’t all labouring or puttering around home. The highlight was a wonderful evening last night over dinner in a local little restaurant with dear friends who came back to their old neighbourhood for a few hours to see us (they retired to Victoria a couple of months ago).

On this day, I also looked up the history of Labour Day and was surprised to read about the Canadian roots of Labour Day. You might like to also check out about Labour Day in different countries at Wikipedia.

September 5, 2005 in Canada and BC, Current Events Comments Off on Labour Day

by Marja-Leena

New Orleans

Like everyone, I’ve been following the terrible tragedy of New Orleans in news and blogs, feeling deeply but not writing much myself. So many of us who have visited New Orleans have been recalling it, thankful for having had that opportunity, and sad at the loss of all that unique beauty and culture, and horrified at the loss of life and the continuing struggles of the homeless. Others have written far better than I could. I’d like to point to two very meaningful ones by an artist and a writer who both speak of the great culture of that city, that is deeply based on its people.

Artist James W. Bailey blogs about art at Black Cat Bone and lately of course it’s been all about New Orleans where he lived for 20 years. I was particularly moved by the one about the hoodoo culture in New Orleans. (I thought it originally came from Haiti though.)

Author Anne Rice, who was born in New Orleans and has lived there many years, wrote a wonderful article Do you know what it means to lose New Orleans? (via Conscientious). Rice extols the vibrant black culture, but also the Irish, Italian and German immigrants who came in, who all made New Orleans a special home.

Something else was going on in New Orleans. The living was good there. The clock ticked more slowly; people laughed more easily; people kissed; people loved; there was joy.

Which is why so many New Orleanians, black and white, never went north. They didn’t want to leave a place where they felt at home in neighborhoods that dated back centuries; they didn’t want to leave families whose rounds of weddings, births and funerals had become the fabric of their lives. They didn’t want to leave a city where tolerance had always been able to outweigh prejudice, where patience had always been able to outweigh rage. They didn’t want to leave a place that was theirs.”

Do read both articles!

September 4, 2005 in Culture, Current Events 5 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

World Myths and Legends in Art

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Detail of birds, Malagan Pole
19th century Papua New Guinea

Myths are stories that explain why the world is the way it is. All cultures have them. Throughout history, artists have been inspired by myths and legends and have given them visual form. Sometimes these works of art are the only surviving record of what particular cultures believed and valued. But even where written records or oral traditions exist, art adds to our understanding of myths and legends.

This is from World Myths and Legends in Art from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a fascinating online museum type exhibition with a wealth of information.

In the absence of scientific information of any kind, long ago societies all over the world devised creation myths, resurrection myths, and complex systems of supernatural beings, each with specific powers, and stories about their actions. Since people were often isolated from each other, most myths evolved independently, but the various myths are surprisingly similar, in particular creation myths….

As the richness of the myths represented in this collection conveys, myth and falsehood are not synonymous. What is truth to one is fancy to another; however, it is not up to any of us to decide that one community’s mythology is any more or less valid than another’s. Myth is a positive force that unites many cultures rather than divides them. Throughout the world myths provide people with explanations, histories, role models, entertainment, and many other things that enable them to direct their own actions and understand their own surroundings.

You can view the many examples of art by theme or by culture. For example, the story behind the Malagan Pole is a fascinating one (detail above).

September 3, 2005 in Anthropology, Culture, Folk Legends & Myths 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Study for December Janus

StudyforDec.Janus.jpg

Study for December Janus
graphite, conté, coloured pencil
56.5 x 76 cm.

See the print December Janus

September 2, 2005 in Drawings, Older Works Comments Off on Study for December Janus

by Marja-Leena

September

rudbeckia.jpg
back to school
a new year
new pencils and notebooks
new shoes new sweater
new hopes and fears
for little children kindergarten
elementary school
for teens first high school
then university or tech
mature student
back to university
life long learning
mother teaching child
grandparents teaching grandchildren
child teaching love of learning back
love of life
a wedding new life
a birthday long life
a growing new life
remembering
September 11
katrina
Mississippi
New Orleans
city of music life and death
pray for the homeless
hope

September 1, 2005 in Being an Artist, Current Events 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Spirit in the Stone

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“Salmon Man” on beach at Quadra Island – drawing by Hilary Stewart

I am slowly savoring Spirit in the Stone by Joy Inglis, a book that was recommended to me by reader Irene from Manitoba and which I recently found in our local library. The back cover describes it best:

Mysterious and impressive, the art of the petroglyph has intrigued people around the world. Petroglyphs played an important part in the rituals and ceremonies of Shamanism – the religion of many early cultures. The rock carvings of the west coast of North America are related in style and content to the rock art of the Far East and to the cave paintings of Europe.

Spirit in the Stone offers a worldwide background for rock carvings in art and religion, with a practical focus on the petroglyphs of Quadra Island, British Columbia. The 11 petroglyph sites (more than 100 carved boulders – ed.) on the island are described, with detailed maps and directions for finding them. West-coast rock art was often connected to the life-cycle of the salmon, the basic resource of coastal peoples, and this book discusses the probable meanings and uses of the awe-inspiring petroglyphs.

The wonderfully evocative drawings by Hilary Stewart, and the Foreword by native Elder Ellen White, will help everyone understand these treasures, and to appreciate the silent magic of ancient rock art.

Joy Inglis, an anthropologist, has worked for 20 years with the Kwagiulth people of Quadra Island, studying the locations and traditional functions of west-coast petroglyphs.

Reading this well-researched and rich little book made me recall a question from Beth in a comment some time ago: “why do you like rock art?” I couldn’t seem to find a satisfactory answer then, though obviously I was attracted to these beautiful, mysterious and very ancient art works with a mysterious feeling of connection between artists over vast periods of time. But I could not quite articulate a deeper reason. Reading this book clarified for me how the Shamanic spirit instilled into the rock art is what makes them even more compelling for me.

Spirit in the Stone, by Joy Inglis, was published by Horsdal and Shubart, in 1998, with 111 pages. ISBN 0920663583. It seems to be out of print now as I’ve only found two used copies on the web, one hugely and perhaps incorrectly overpriced and one Down Under. I’ll keep looking, for I want a copy for myself, as much as I want to go to Quadra Island.

And, here’s a book review.

August 31, 2005 in Books, Canada and BC, Rock Art & Archaeology 23 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Lascaux Caves replica

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The Unicorn in the Great Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux Caves

A few days ago I picked up a gorgeous book from the library – Chauvet Cave: The Art of Earliest Times by Jean Clottes, and Paul G. Bahn (translator). I’ve visited the Chauvet Cave website before, so now I look forward to perusing the book, but haven’t yet had time to more than glance at the stunning pictures.

In a bit of synchronicity, I spotted an article and photo today in our local newspaper about another group of caves in the same region: Modern copy brings ancient art into view, originally from the Daily Telegraph, about the Lascaux Caves project.

A replica of the Lascaux caves, home to prehistoric man but out of bounds to his modern descendants, is to go on a world tour to take the art treasures to a wider public. A small team based near the caves in Motignac, south-west France, is creating the replica for an exhibition expected to visit several international cities, including London. Renaud Sanson, the team’s leader and one of the few people allowed inside the caves, said the use of laser techniques and photographic projection meant that the touring replica would be “better than the real thing”. The 17,000-year-old images are considered among the finest surviving examples of palaeolithic art and have been described as the Sistine Chapel of the prehistoric age.

An earlier post about the Lascaux project is at ionarts, translated from French papers and worth reading.

More interesting related links:
Lascaux II and area
Tour info
Pech Merle

I wonder how far we’d still have to travel to see these modern re-creations?

August 30, 2005 in Books, Rock Art & Archaeology Comments Off on Lascaux Caves replica

by Marja-Leena

December Janus

DecemberJanus.jpg
December Janus
drypoint and linocut embossing
59.5 x 89 cm.

August 27, 2005 in Older Works, Printworks Comments Off on December Janus

by Marja-Leena

Holman’s Graphic Art

Okheena42.jpg
Shaman Dances to Northern Lights 1991
Mary K. Okheena
stencil on paper, PWP 1/3 56.3 x 76.1 cm
Collection of The Winnipeg Art Gallery

I’ve been exploring this site with much pleasure: Holman: Forty Years of Graphic Art. Holman is a community located in Arctic Canada that is well-known for its graphic art. The site is based on an exhibition in 2002 of that name at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Winnipeg, Canada, home to the largest collection of contemporary Inuit art in the Western world. (Back when I was living in Winnipeg in my youth, I saw several Inuit art exhibitions there.)

This excellent site features extensive information about life in Holman. A growing population in Holman and the demise of trapping as a source of income were key factors in the development of the arts and crafts industry. Drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and crafts provide an income for Holman artists. Read about the history of printmaking in Holman and the short biographies of the featured print artists. Note the useful descriptions of printmaking techniques along with the fascinating short videos of some of the artists demonstrating their techniques. Of course, the highlight is the gallery of works. Finally, don’t miss reading the wonderful story of The Blind Boy and the Loon, as an example of their story-telling tradition.

(Thanks to Print Australia, or now called bellebyrd for this great link.)

August 26, 2005 in Culture, Other artists, Printmaking 4 Comments »