by Marja-Leena

anniversary & rocks

Well, today is this blog’s first anniversary and what a wonderful ride it has been. Many thanks to all you faithful readers and commentors and the still growing numbers of visitors who have been and are still making this new adventure such a pleasure for me!

It’s like receiving a birthday present to find an email this morning from artist and keen rock art researcher-explorer Loit Joekalda of Tallinn, Estonia. He writes that Finnish photographer Ismo Luukkonen has updated his web site of rock art photos taken in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Portugal.

Luukkonen2004-B36-12.jpg
Alas stenar, Kaseberga, Skana, Sweden by Ismo Luukkonen

Some of the navigating is a little confusing but this page gives additional direction. New pages include the Traces of the Ancients which “introduces the layered landscape of south-west Finland. In the cultural landscape of the 21st century lie also marks of the prehistoric ages.”

Especially wonderful are the photographs of standing stones in Sweden at Two Tours, one of which I have borrowed above. I’m amazed to learn that there are so many in Sweden. You may also enjoy his other subject matter as well, like the touches series.

Some long-time readers may remember that I wrote about Luukkonen’s site last summer, and about Norway’s petroglyphs with links to some Swedish and Danish ones as well. If you missed them, have a look!

February 1, 2005 in Blogging, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Other artists, Photography, Rock Art & Archaeology 11 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

a Vancouver visitor

Hey, Seattle artist and blogger Carolyn Zick* just visited my neighbourhood, Vancouver, the one in BC, Canada! Read about her too short visit and don’t miss her photos. Thanks for the kind words, Carolyn! Too bad she missed the Massive Change exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery – it was such a major installation that it’s taking some time to take down and put a new show up.

I’m only sorry that Carolyn did not have time for a meetup!

*her blog is gone, sadly

January 31, 2005 in Other artists Comments Off on a Vancouver visitor

by Marja-Leena

Aztec Empire exhibit

Charles Downey has visited The Aztec Empire exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (lucky guy!). I highly recommend you read his excellent review if you are interested in the Aztec culture as I am. As he says “For someone who has not yet visited any of the great Mesoamerican sites…”, I’m pleased to see some of these works online, and I envy New Yorkers and visitors who get to see the real thing!

aztec.jpg
“Catalogue # 17, fragment of an anthropomorphic brazier, Aztec, fired clay and pigment, 18 by 22 by 9 centimeters, circa 1300 A. D., Museo Universitario de Ciencas y Arte, UNAM, Mexico City.”

Note how immense in scale it seems, yet it is actually quite small, less than life size.

Amongst the additional links that Charles Downey always provides is Michele Leight’s essay for The City Review, from which I captured the above image which is my favourite, (like Downey’s’). Here’s an interesting quote to perk your interest:

The show at the Guggenheim is biased towards the most pleasing aspects of Aztec civilization and it is noticeable that there are far fewer sacrificial daggers and references to human sacrifice in the Guggenheim exhibit than there were at Burlington House; gory as it seemed back then in the tender teenage years, the daggers got and maintained my attention for life, so my only criticism of this show would be the down-playing of the ritual violence that was ever-present in the lives of this particular ruling elite.

The young, who are wise and fooled by nothing, are fascinated by the less tolerant human tendencies in any given culture, and it would not have hurt this show to include more of that aspect of the Aztec ruling class.

As the young know from playground politics and the history books they are required to read throughout their schooling, all cultures have a violent artery, or less than perfect underbelly – not the least of which being the British who used hanging, drawing and quartering well into the 18th century to punish wrong doers and to entertain the crowds who flocked to these barbaric rituals as we might now go to the theatre or rock concerts – this was a good three hundred years after the Aztec empire. I studied the Tudors in depth – and therefore mentally endured many beheadings and gruesome executions – so I have no illusions. To my knowledge the Aztecs never beheaded a queen in public.

It was only recently that the electric chair was put aside as being an unnecessarily barbaric means of ending a convict’s life – but art, in the form of Andy Warhol’s lurid silkscreen images, reminded us of the barbarism inherent in our own civilization, as did those gruesome, jade handled daggers at The Museum of Mankind. They instantly connected my childhood sensibilities with the relentless obsession of all civilizations with death, ritual and punishment. So before anyone gets on their high horse about human sacrifice – which the Aztecs practiced to appease the gods, not as a punishment – check the history books.

January 30, 2005 in Art Exhibitions, Rock Art & Archaeology Comments Off on Aztec Empire exhibit

by Marja-Leena

Four Guedras

Four-Guedras.jpg
Veils Suite: Four Guedras
etching 56.5 x 38 cm.

January 28, 2005 in Printworks, Veils Suite Comments Off on Four Guedras

by Marja-Leena

why do we like art?

Recently (Jan.17th) Arts Journal had a post with a question, “We like art, anyone know why? …. why do we care about art? And, given that we obviously do (and that this is worldwide phenomenon that has stretched throughout history), what is it in art that we care about?”

This originated at Financial Times (UK) 01/17/05, available by registration only, so I never did learn more. Today I see that Maex art blog found it. So, these questions are posed in a book by Matthew Kieran, Revealing Art. There’s a short blurb available at this Amazon link.

My flu fuddled brain does not want to deal with any heavy thinking right now so I’ll leave my readers to think about this. Have you read the book? Please let me know your thinks…er…thoughts on this subject.

January 27, 2005 in Being an Artist, Books, Concepts Comments Off on why do we like art?

by Marja-Leena

Two Guedras

TwoGuedras.jpg
Veils Suite: Two Guedras
etching 56.5 x 38 cm.

January 26, 2005 in Printworks, Veils Suite Comments Off on Two Guedras

by Marja-Leena

early spring

spring.jpg

Weather is on everyone’s mind these days. Not long ago I wrote about the Westcoast’s unusually long spell of snow and cold, followed by extremely heavy rains that caused flooding and mudslides (including a buried house and loss of a life, sadly). The temperatures have climbed, fooling the gardens into thinking it’s spring.

This afternoon, despite my flu/cold, I was tempted outdoors for a little while by our first sunshine in a while and a temperature of 14C (57F). I poked around the garden, noticing many little signs of life. The snowdrops are always the first to come up even through the snow, but I was amazed to already see a few early crocuses and a hellebore in bloom. The magnolia trees have fat flower buds, spring bulbs are sending up leaves and some of the shrubs have green leaf buds – my mother called these in Finnish hiirenkorvat or mouse ears.

January 25, 2005 in Being an Artist, Photography 4 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

peaceful societies

Last week I made one of my visits to Via Negativa and found a very interesting series of posts that grabbed my own interest in “primitive” cultures. Dave Bonta announces the debut of the Peaceful Societies website

“Today marks the inauguration of a new website on Peaceful Societies: Alternatives to Violence and War. This is truly a ground-breaking site. There is nothing else like it on the web. Granted, I’m a bit biased. The site is largely the work of my father, Bruce D. Bonta, a retired academic librarian and peace scholar whose Peaceful Peoples: An Annotated Bibliography (Scarecrow, 1993) was similarly a pioneering effort.[..] The heart of the website is the Encyclopedia of Peaceful Societies, with twenty-five entries up and more on the way. I want to spend the next three days highlighting brief selections from these entries – things that struck my fancy for one reason or another”.

So he does on Friday and Saturday, concluding in part: “I should perhaps have made it clear from the outset that none of these societies are intended to serve as models for some ideal utopia. Personally, I think there are always trade-offs, and that some qualities we tend to value positively, such as bravery and personal ambition, may not be all that compatible with true social harmony.[…] And on a much larger scale, countries such as Iceland and Finland might now also satisfy the website’s definitions of a peaceful society.”

I’m familiar with some names including Inuit, Amish and Hutterites, but there are some unknown to me among the so-called primitives societies. I hope to see the S&#225mi people included in the list as it develops. One comment about Finland – while it is highly egalitarian and peaceful, it is still not without problems such as domestic violence due to alcohol abuse (that unfortunately common social disease!)

Fascinating, thought-provoking and recommended reading – it will keep me occupied for a while!

January 24, 2005 in Culture, Ethnicity 4 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

does music affect behaviour?

On my daily blogstroll I found this interesting article on today’s Arts Journal. Okay, I admit a little bias here because the mention of Finland particularly caught my eye.

Does Classical Music Cure Petty Crime? Anything Else? (Hint: Think Finland)

So some rail stations in England are playing classical music to scare away hoodlums. Bust[sp] doesn’t music have a more profound effect? Which country achieved the best Year 10 results in science and mathematics last year? Finland is the answer. Yes, Finland, with a population the size of Scotland’s and an impenetrable language. What are the Finns doing right? Every child in Finland is given an instrument to play from the first day at school. They learn to read notes on stave before letters on page. They spend hours at drawing and drama. The result is a society of with few tensions and profound culture. Finnish Radio broadcasts in Latin once a week. Finnish railways do not need to play Sibelius, except for pleasure. (PISA link added by me)

Is this not another example of why arts education is so important to society?

On a personal note, I find stores that play loud rock music with that never-ending pounding beat give me a headache (would it cause me to turn violent?) and I leave quickly, rarely leaving any money behind. Maybe that’s their intent – keep out anyone over 30, hmm?? Granted, Muzak isn’t great either. Tastes in music are wide, so why not just leave it out of the stores, or at least turn the volume down, please. I wonder if anyone else feels this way about music in public places?

January 21, 2005 in Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Music 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Veiled/Unveiled

VeiledUnveiled.jpg
Veils Suite: Veiled/Unveiled
collagraph 112 x 76 cm.

January 20, 2005 in Printworks, Veils Suite Comments Off on Veiled/Unveiled