Setsuko Piroche

Setsuko Piroche is another good friend and printmaking colleague who works in the Art Institute printmaking studio. Before coming to printmaking, Setsuko worked in a wide variety of media – paintings, ceramics, textile art and woven sculptures. She has had numerous solo shows (including at the Vancouver Art Gallery) and group exhibitions around the world, becoming especially well-known for her unique soft sculptures, such as these below.

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Feather(left) and Morning Dew (right) – woven sculptures

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Book cover: The Daughters of the Star from Thirty Indian Legends by Margaret Bemister.
Illustrated and translated into Japanese by Setsuko Piroche Hane

This is one of five childrens’ books she has illustrated; these ones were done first as collagraphs. Of the many printmaking techniques she uses, collagraphs are Setsuko’s favourite. I think that method of working really suits her whimsical portrayal of flora and fauna, circuses and toys.

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Circus Memory – collagraph

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In the Sky; etching

(Images are copyright Setsuko Piroche, used here with her permission.)

In 2000 Setsuko was one of twelve artists chosen to be part of the “Visions of the North Shore” Art and Heritage Millennium Project. Read about her project in the North Shore News.

If you are in the area, do come and see The Diverse Earth, Setsuko Piroche’s and Jean Morrison’s exhibition at the Capilano College (now University) Studio Art Gallery in North Vancouver, ending December 3rd.

Edited January 17th, 2013 to show larger images. Some links are no longer active.

Granville Island

This is neat – Granville Island in Vancouver, BC has been ranked at the top of 20 best neighbourhoods in North America by Project for Public Places. (via Urban Vancouver )
Read my take on the place in this August post: “a wonderful example of how the arts, business and tourism can thrive together.”

Three from the Greek Chorus

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Veils Suite: Three from the Greek Chorus
monotype 29.5 x 56 cm.

Happy American Thanksgiving!

This is an important four-day holiday for the people of the United States. Traditionally it’s a time for family get-togethers for a huge turkey dinner and festivities. Like in Canada (where Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday in October), multicultural families often blend their special dishes with their adopted countries’ traditions. (But some people go hungry.)

Travel around the country and beyond has reached record levels, but it’s also the season for first snowstorms. A holiday tradition in New York City is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; then there’s football to watch and Christmas shopping to do.

To all my family, friends, and readers in the US, however you may celebrate it, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

more about Elvish

Shelley at Burningbird wrote this about a Guide to Elvish**: “If you’re a Tolkien fan, or interested in linguistics, David Salo’s new book on the linguistics of Elvish, Gateway to Sindarin, A Grammar of an Elvish Language from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is out now.”

“From the 1910s to the 1970s, author and linguist J. R. R. Tolkien worked at creating plausibly realistic languages to be used by the creatures and characters in his novels. Like his other languages, Sindarin was a new invention, not based on any existing or artificial language. By the time of his death, he had established fairly complete descriptions of two languages, the “elvish” tongues called Quenya and Sindarin.”

I’m tickled pink about this, having posted some time ago about Elvish study in a UK school, and about the surprising connection to the Finnish language.

In fact, a Finnish IT student (probably graduated by now) Harri Perälä did very extensive research (in English) into Quenya, the other language created by Tolkien that resembles Finnish. Fascinating stuff!

More about Tolkien’s languages.

Addendum March 21.05: Tolkien’s Elvish prayers** – This site reveals some Elvish words and text. Found via mirabilis**

Edited March 12th, 2012: Sadly many links marked ** no longer exist and have been removed. However here is an interesting wikipedia page on author David Salo with information about his research and book. The name “Salo” is a very common Finnish name so I wonder if he has Finnish roots?

Stonehenge book

Here’s an interesting tidbit about Stonehenge found in today’s Arts Journal: Daily Arts News:

Stonehenge Under Attack (For 150 Years) – Debate is roaring over a plan to redo the Stonehenge site to accomodate tourists. But photographs over the past 150 years show that successive generations have meddled with the site trying to make it more “user friendly.

This refers to an article in Guardian: Hundreds of photographs dating back 150 years show how the site has developed in new book: Stonehenge, A History in Photographs by Julian Richards. It is fascinating and appalling how much tourism has impacted on the site even so long ago.

I’d like to see these photos! And the numerous related links in this article will keep me busy. This is timely since a recent mention of Stonehenge in an article about endangered art.

A Greek Chorus

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Veils Suite: A Greek Chorus
Monotype 60 x 90 cm.

Taiga Chiba

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Yesterday we attended another opening, this time “Tis the Season!” at Art Beatus, featuring the works of four artists, including friend and printmaker Taiga Chiba. Taiga’s works are part of a series using the traditional Japanese Sumi-e painting technique (painting with black ink on rice paper). All the works were black and white, including the etchings by Toru Sugita, and photographic-based media by Kumiko Yakusawa, and Qin Feng’s ink paintings and looked very strong against the stunning pink-orange walls.

Taiga is a past member of the Art Institute, Printmaking at Capilano College and is very well-known in Canada and internationally, having won awards in several international print exhibitions and participated in many artists’ residencies in several countries.

Well worth visiting, this exhibition is on until January 8, 2005 at Art Beatus, 108 – 808 Nelson Street, in Vancouver, BC. Hours: Mon – Fri 10 am – 6 pm

archaeology & anthropology books

As my dear readers know, I’m fascinated by archaeology and anthropology. So, this article in the Guardian caught my eye:

Michelle Paver’s favourite books on archaeology and anthropology. All the listed books, some new to me, make me greedy for them. (Did you know I have a weakness for books, with bookshelves in almost every room in the house but no more bookshelf space?) I will look for these in the library and maybe put some on my wish list for Christmas and birthday, with Return to Chauvet Cave at the top (because I love picture books). But, aah, too many books, too little time!

I’m not familiar with Michelle Paver, who is the author of four historical novels. Her latest book, for older children, Wolf Brother, is the first in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, set 6,000 years ago in the world of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.

This sounds remarkably like Jean M. Auel’s The Earth’s Children series. I loved these books. The author has done a tremendous amount of research into Mesolithic and Cro-Magnon civilization in central Europe which, along with her expert knowledge of herbs and plants, made for a fascinating saga of what life may have been like in that period. (Now the secret’s out – I’m also a fan of well-researched historical novels!)

Eastside Cultural Crawl

This weekend, November 19 to 21, is the 8th annual Eastside Cultural Crawl in Vancouver, BC. It is western Canada’s largest open-studio event, encompassing 33 buildings, 250 artists and some 10,000 attendees. Painters, jewellers, sculptors, furniture makers, musicians, weavers, potters, writers, printmakers, photographers, glassblowers… from emerging artists to those of international fame… these are just a sampling of the exciting talents featured during this unique chance to meet local artists in their studios. Great for Christmas shopping and snooping in funky studios and abodes! For info visit their website and also read about it in the Straight.