by Marja-Leena

A.R. Menne’s art

VVOI at New Art introduces new-to-me artist A.R. Menne**. I was immediately struck by the compelling images that are beautifully drawn, sometimes etched, sometimes with watercolour and the compelling writing, with some excellent quotes by others.

Menne_z_print2.jpg

From entry 03-27**: (From journals:) Last night was my first of a series of etching classes, and at one point, while she, slender as bones from a lifetime of filing and polishing and rubbing and blotting and pulling, demonstrated the proper way to scrape the edge of a copper plate (at 45 degree angles) with a metal file, she admonished us against turning our heads and averting our eyes from the burring copper: and she unveiled for us three aquamarine green dents in the square knuckle of her thumb, three marks side by side, copper filaments embedded in the flesh and oxidized the color of cheese mold, like a faded tattoo….

And you must read Entry 04-03**, about extracts from the 1999 diary of Czech film-maker Jan Svankmajer. I love the quote selected here.

But who is this artist – the site has no personal information? Googling revealed this item in April/May 2004 issue of Plum Ruby Review:

Menne is a 24 year-old artist living in Seattle “with a wee circus of rodents and a musician.” Her graphite drawings seem to echo this description; they are whimsical, disturbing and yet they have a sweet lyrical quality to them. Each drawing seems to manifest a bit of that same, nearly disturbing, fantastical quality–H.R. Giger meets Cirque du Soleil. Her characters are beautiful, even when terrible, even when empty-eyed, missing-limbed or creature-entwined.”

** links removed as they have been taken over by a commercial site.

July 17, 2005 in Other artists 7 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

good links

Here’s a small collections of links I’ve been saving to share for your reading pleasure:

1. More about Smithson at Print Australia and Modern Art Notes

2. As a lover of rock art and earth art, I was excited to learn about geoglyphs via that inimitable source of treasures wood s lot (July 9th post).

3. Fab artist blogger Anna L. Conti’s art-bloggers poster must have been a lot of work! Many have already linked to it, but if you missed it, go check it out!

4. And for the Friday night treat, here’s a quiz! The result surprised me but that’s rather close to Finnish, eh? Try it out. Via blogisisko (blogsister, in Finnish).

Who’s Your Inner European?

My result? Your Inner European is Swedish! Relaxed and peaceful. You like to kick back and enjoy life.

July 15, 2005 in Blogging, Neat stuff, Other artists, Rock Art & Archaeology 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Duckomenta

You must have a look at Die Duckomenta, an exhibition of works based on famous art works through the centuries, but with some very humorous adaptations! Perhaps you’ve already seen it, I’ve just rediscovered it in my bookmarks and felt like sharing the laughs! Just click on each “raum” (room) to see the works.

I had someone roughly translate the German for some information about the creators. They are a group of five artists who formed InterDuck in 1982, and share interests, in addition to their regular artistic pursuits, in ancient culture and in humour. InterDuck asks the question, which works the most important artists of the past have left for us, would they also have known and loved the comic characters. The art and the cultural history should probably be rewritten. We take our models seriously, we try to immerse ourselves in their work and thought process.  In our work, we not only approach close to the exterior facade, but also the soul and aura of these models. Since 1984 InterDuck has exhibited its continually growing collection of artworks in art associations and museums both at home and outside the country.  To date, over one million visitors have seen it. It is on exhibit presently at Museum Schloss Hohentübingen, Tubingen, Germany.

July 14, 2005 in Art Exhibitions 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

The Box is a Frame

BoxIsAFrame.jpg

The Box is a Frame
etching & drypoint
76 x 56 cm.

July 13, 2005 in Older Works, Printworks Comments Off on The Box is a Frame

by Marja-Leena

Graphica Creativa

Graphica Creativa is the second oldest international printmaking exhibition in the Nordic countries. It is arranged in Jyväskylä, Finland every third year. Thanks to Graphica Creativa, Jyväskylä has become a centre of printmaking. A few days ago its 30 Years Anniversary Exhibition opened and will continue ’til October 2nd. It consists of four different shows in four locations in Jyväskylä:

1. Finnish Open: an open print competition for Finnish printmakers in which 39 artists were selected from 192 entries, with three prizewinners, view their works. I notice that Vappu Johansson was on the jury – we met several years ago in Vancouver, then Helsinki.

2. After All These Years – International Invitational Exhibition: “The exhibition brings together nine international artists whose participation in the past triennials were memorable. Thus sentiments of nostalgia and joy of reunion can be expected. Many of the featured artists are today quite elderly, but active in their artistic work.” View these works.

Ikeda Ryoji of Japan is the most famous of these, I think, and I’ve been fortunate to see his very admirable work. Also I’ve seen Jiri Anderle’s fantastic work in a monograph that a friend showed me. I almost bought a copy in Prague a few years ago, but it weighed a ton, was expensive and available only in Czech! A part of me still regrets that decision.

3. “A View from the North consists of the works by seven Nordic female printmakers. Johanna Boga and Valgerdur Hauksdottir from Iceland, Outi Heiskanen and Ulla Virta from Finland, Helmtrud Nyström and Ulla Fries from Sweden and Sonja Krohn from Norway are all internationally well-known and recognized artists”.

I’ve seen Outi Heiskanen’s work in an exhibition in Finland and absolutely love it. I dearly wish she had a web presence for she was awarded the top printmaker in Finland many years ago. (See an image of an older work below). Presently she has a retrospective exhibition (PDF) in Tampere Finland. And Valgerdur Hauksdottir’s work, which I found on the net some years ago has also been an inspiration to me.

4. The Young Ones: “Galleria Harmonia presents the works of Graphica Creativa´s young ones. These Finnish art students come from Imatra, Joensuu, Lahti, Turku and Uusikaarlepyy. During the exhibition the students will also take part in a week-long printmaking course with printmaker Sandra Ramos as their teacher.”

OutiHeiskanen.jpg
Outi Heiskanen, The Hermit of the Monastery, Etching, 1988
from Europe of Tales

Update July 13th: If you can read Finnish, go read about the lively opening party, written by two Finnish artist-bloggers who were there, Kapasia and Carborondum.

July 12, 2005 in Art Exhibitions, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Other artists, Print Triennials, Printmaking Comments Off on Graphica Creativa

by Marja-Leena

a gift

D'AmicoRock.jpg

This morning’s mail brought me an exciting packet from London, England – from artist-blogger pal Karen D’Amico!** I was thrilled to find about a dozen wonderful 18 x 14 cm. black and white photographs of closeups of rocks that Karen had taken herself and offered to me to use in my work if suitable. In addition, she has included a lovely postcard image of one of her works “Burnt Offerings” that I like very much, AND a copy of TANGENT, her newly launched art-zine.

The photos are really beautiful, Karen, thank you so much for your amazing generosity!! I look forward to having them in my image library to use when serendipity strikes as I play around with ideas and materials. Above is my favourite photo that I’ve just scanned in tonight to share with my dear readers.

By the way, Karen and I had an interesting virtual conversation recently that you might like to read, in case you missed it.

** Reedited March 15th, 2013 during a blog tidy-up: Karen has not been at this blog address for some years, so link had been removed. I have now quite accidentally found her new eponymous website: Karen Ay

July 11, 2005 in Being an Artist, Photography 1 Comment »

by Marja-Leena

falling

I’m having a very busy weekend with no time to blog, but in the meantime, my dear readers looking for some Sunday entertainment, go have a look at this site**. (If she gets stuck, you can help her along with your cursor). Warning- this may bring on motion sickness if you are the susceptible type! Disturbing yet fascinating. Thanks to my other half for finding this a while ago at boingboing.
(**link expired and thus removed)

July 10, 2005 in Neat stuff 4 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

writers and hoodoos

DrumhellerHoodoos.jpg
Hoodoos near Drumheller – photo by Marja-Leena

A few days ago I found Anita Konkka’s fascinating writer’s dairy. I quickly became absorbed reading the beautifully written entries, in a Finnish that I was able to understand and enjoy easily. (I’ve sometimes been frustrated not understanding today’s slang used by many Finnish bloggers.)

Anita Konkka is the author of many novels, essays, radio-plays, and a dream-book. Some of her novels address the question of Ingrian identity because of her father’s roots (the Ingrian Finns are from around St. Petersburg). Other novels are richly informed by dream studies and diverse cultural mythologies. An English translation of “In the Fool’s Paradise” is forthcoming (Dalkey Archive Press, 2006) which I will definitely look for in the North American market. I must try to get some of her Finnish books in the meantime! English readers will enjoy Anita’s excerpts of her writings at her literary website.

Attracted by her interest in dreams, myths and culture, including that of Russia, I emailed her and was very pleasantly surprised to receive a nice reply. Anita expressed fascination for the hoodoos in my “Silent Messengers” prints and had several good questions, which I think might interest my regular readers too.

What are hoodoos? These are geological formations of weathered rock in columnar or pillar forms and sometimes with caps. The Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park website has a good explanation as does Wikipedia.

Do the hoodoos have native petroglyphs or pictographs? “For hundred of years, the Blackfoot people visited this valley and believed that this amazing place was sacred and the home of spirits. Although it is rare for rock art to be found on hoodoos, there are both pictographs and petroglyphs upon the sandstone cliffs along the Milk River” in Writing on Stone Provincial Park. This is why I am still planning to visit these sites.

Is “hoodoo” an aboriginal word? This question stumped me as I’d not seen anything about its etymology. Googling found another writer, this time Canadian Bill Casselman, a broadcaster and the author of many books on Canadian words, sayings and names. He wrote an interesting story behind the word “hoodoo” and how it has nothing to do with “voodoo” as others have claimed. Here’s an excerpt:

“American aboriginal peoples of the northwest picked up the word hoodoo from English-speaking fur trappers and, like them, used hoodoo to refer to any malignant creature or evil supernatural force. That’s how it came to be applied to the curious columns of earth or rock. For they were thought to be evil in the mythologies of many first peoples. But, borrowing works in the other direction as well. For example, in Siksika (Blackfoot) mythology, the strange hoodooesque shapes were giants whom the Great Spirit had turned to stone because of their evil deeds. Deep in the night, the petrified giants could awaken and throw boulders down upon any humans passing nearby.”

No wonder hoodoos are such an attraction to artists and writers! Thanks to new virtual friend, Anita, for the great questions!

July 8, 2005 in Being an Artist, Folk Legends & Myths, Photoworks, Rock Art & Archaeology, Rocks Comments Off on writers and hoodoos

by Marja-Leena

Box #1

Box#1.jpg

Box #1
drypoint
57 x 40.5 cm.

July 7, 2005 in Older Works, Printworks Comments Off on Box #1

by Marja-Leena

virtual conversations

It’s almost 1:00 am, and I’m up after two hours of trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep. These bouts of insomnia come and go, so I accept it and indulge in a cup of herbal tea, some reading and making notes. My thoughts return to recent email conversations with virtual friend, fellow artist-blogger Karen D’Amico**. We’ve discussed many things that concern artists – art processes, writing proposals, the challenges of making gallerists and curators understand our visions, being authentic, enjoying the variety of views of artists-bloggers and so on.

Here are some excerpts (hope you don’t mind, Karen!):

Karen: “there is room for all different kinds of art, whether it be painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography or conceptual. To me, it’s about looking at the world and making a response… how that is done should not be limited”

M-L: “It’s funny how sometimes I feel my work is very deep and interesting and even somewhat leading edge in technique amongst printmakers at least, other times it seems so conservative! It depends on who looks at my work, whether that person has some knowledge of printmaking or not. Prints are not as highly regarded in the art world unfortunately, as are installation, video/new media and even painting.”

Karen: “understand what you mean about printmaking. i have done very little of it, due to facilities (lack of) in college and then the work went in other directions. i love the hands-on of it though, and really enjoyed monoprinting, which is about as far as i got. then they even got rid of that press – everything is all digital now, which i think is a great shame. i also love the materiality of work on paper. imprinting, making a mark… one of these days i would like to get more involved with it…”

M-L: “Yes, I love printmaking for the same reasons, plus the textures and wide variety of ways to make prints keep it exciting for me. I used to do a lot of drawing and originally fell in love with printmaking because it’s close to drawing. Monoprints are quick to do and closest to painting, something I get into sometimes when I’m in a hurry to get a lot of images and ideas down. Printmaking is darn slow! Though I’m doing some digital prints these days, I still like to combine them with the traditional print techniques to get that textured hand-made feel. I guess the subject matter (rocks) seems to call for it too.”

“Thanks Karen, for confirming my feeling that we must do what we must do, the only authentic way to work.”
As Karen said: “ain’t bloggin’ grand?”

Okay, now I think I’m ready for sleep!

** Reedited March 15th, 2013: Karen has not been at this blog address for some years, so link had been removed. I have now quite accidentally found her new eponymous website: Karen Ay

July 6, 2005 in Being an Artist, Blogging, Printmaking 4 Comments »