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by Marja-Leena

Elisa Rathje

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still image from untitled (left side/right side) © Elisa Rathje

I am proud to introduce my daughter Elisa, a 1998 graduate of the Emily Carr Institute (of Art, Design and Media) who works with computer-generated images and digital video. One of her video works is showing at The Western Front artist-run centre in an exhibition called:

Untitled (Conversation Loops)
Miguel da Conceicao, Jacob Gleeson, Donato Mancini, Elisa Rathje

Excerpts from the exhibition statement:

Untitled (Conversation Loops) features the work of four Vancouver-based artists working with tautologies, multiples and closed loops of language and dialogue in four very different works.

In her 2-channel video work left side/right side, Rathje continues her interest in mirrors, multiples, and the body in relation to the gaze. Using two Point-of-View shots, the video depicts an intimate moment of waking up next to a partner or lover. However, in Rathje’s work, both images are of the artist herself, creating a confusing twinning of the intimate other.

Please read the whole statement about the other artists’ work as well.

That’s at the The Western Front, 303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver until December 18, 2004

Some of Elisa’s past projects include street banners for the cities of Vancouver and North Vancouver

December 7, 2004 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists by Marja-Leena 11 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

William Blake

William Blake (1757-1827) “was an artisan in the truest sense: his craftsmanship played a role in every creative aspect of his poetic and prose works. William Blake thought, wrote, prepared, designed, engraved, and printed all pieces his name would grace.”

An impressive collection of 174 of William Blake’s artwork – drawings, watercolours, tempera, etchings and engravings for his famous bookmaking and illustrations can be viewed on Tate Online. These include interesting biographical, historical or technical notes. I’m particularly interested in his printmaking so I’ve selected a few highlights below. (Navigation is a bit slow to get directly to a particular image.)

Image 21-” He developed a technique for integrating both text and image onto a single etching plate for printing. This reflects the intimate relationship he saw between image and text, each being a comment upon the other.”

Image 22-” Blake’s invention of a method of printing in relief from etched plates, first used in 1788, gave him control over the style, production and publishing of his own books. By 1794 he had begun applying coloured pigments to his printing plates and then, as a further development, printing some of the designs in his books as separate coloured images.”

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Newton – 1795/circa 1805 Colour print finished in ink and watercolour on paper – from Tate Online

Image 27 (above) – “The complexity and quality of the colour-printed areas of the rock, and the high degree of hand-finishing applied to Newton’s flesh and hair, show the great technical proficiency he had acquired through his colour-printing experiments from the mid 1790s.”

Images 74 to 107 – Blake “experiments with a new medium; he had never engraved on wood before. Even at the age of sixty-four he wanted to make further explorations in his art.”

Image 152 – “Blake produced about a hundred drawings and watercolours to illustrate the Divine Comedy, and had intended to make engravings of these designs. However, at the time of his death, in 1827, he had completed only seven engravings. These were published later by John Linnell… This is one of the seven engravings.”

More on Blake’s Life as man, artisan, writer, thinker, and on his method of etching & engraving.

Lots of links on Blake’s writing at Wood s Lot, Nov.28th, 2004 – thanks for the Blake at the Tate link!

December 4, 2004 in Other artists, Printmaking by Marja-Leena 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Taiga Chiba at Baker Lake

Mark your calendars. Master printmaker Taiga Chiba will discuss his experiences teaching printing techniques to Inuit artists in the Canadian North. A slide presentation will be followed by a guided tour of the exhibition Experimental Prints from Baker Lake.

This is at the Marion Scott Gallery, in its new location in Gastown at 308 Water Street, Vancouver, BC on Saturday, December 11th from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. Refreshments will be served.

Do look at the online gallery to see the delightful results of these Inuit artists’ experiments with new techniques. The exhibition is on until January 5, 2005.

December 2, 2004 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists, Printmaking by Marja-Leena 6 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Steven Dixon

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Steven Dixon: Mine Site No. 17
photogravure 58 x 70 cm

Master printer, teacher and friend Steven Dixon just let me know that some of his photogravure prints are on exhibition at Lando Gallery in Edmonton, Alberta until December 11th. If you are in the area, you must see them; if not, the gallery website gives us a good look.

Photogravure is an old technique that has had something of a revival, and Steven has mastered it superbly. If you are interested in learning more about photogravure Steven has two sites to recommend:

Kamakura Print Collection is a bit long but has good reproductions and good information.

Lothar Osterburg’s site is good, not quite as detailed but easy to understand.

You might recall Steven’s name because I’ve posted about some of his exhibitions this year as well as the “Traces” exhibition that Steven, Bonnie Jordan and I presented in Pohjanmaan Museum in Vaasa, Finland in 2002.

December 1, 2004 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists, Printmaking by Marja-Leena Comments Off on Steven Dixon

by Marja-Leena

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.

November 29, 2004 in Art Institute (Printmaking), Other artists by Marja-Leena 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

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

November 20, 2004 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists by Marja-Leena Comments Off on Taiga Chiba

by Marja-Leena

monotypes and monoprints

Some of my work in the Veils Suite, such as Child’s Play II, Child’s Play III & Child’s Play IV are made using a printmaking technique called monotype.

The monotype is a singular and unique print that takes its image by painting, drawing, rolling, brushing, wiping… directly on a flat surface such as a metal plate or Plexiglas. This printing element is used to create a new image each time it is passed through the press.

The monoprint is frequently used as an alternative name for the monotype; both are singular and unique prints. However, the monoprint is a unique inking of a printing element with a fixed matrix, such as an etched plate or woodblock.

As Monoprints.com says, they are “known as the most painterly method among the printmaking techniques”. The looser and quicker way of working can be more fun and expressonistic compared to the more laborious and time-consuming traditional printmaking processes. Visit this site for some interesting information and history if you’d like to learn more.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum also has several pages on monotypes, with a focus on American artists. I recommend looking at the quicktime video presentations of the variety of techniques that can be used to produce monotypes. The videos sometimes skipped and stopped for me but the information is still useful, especially for novices to the process.

Also, you might like to revisit my entry about Mohsen Kahlili and look at some of his monoprints.

November 16, 2004 in Other artists, Printmaking, Veils Suite by Marja-Leena Comments Off on monotypes and monoprints

by Marja-Leena

Jean Morrison & Setsuko Piroche

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Artists Jean Morrison and Setsuko Piroche invite you to their exhibition of print media and objects entitled “the diverse earth”. The opening reception is on Wednesday, November 17th, 2004 from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. The exhibition runs from Nov.15 – Dec.3. Gallery hours: 9 am-4 pm Mon-Fri. At the Studio Art Gallery, Capilano College**, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver, BC

Mark your calendars! If you are in the Vancouver area, do come and see their excellent work. Check back here for updates such as a show description, hopefully.

Read about Jean’s work in this recent post. I hope to do an article on Setsuko’s work very soon. Added later: here it is

(P.S. Isn’t this a gorgeous invitation incorporating images from Jean’s and Setsuko’s work? It was designed by artist Bonnie Jordan, our most super technical assistant at the Art Institute, Printmaking. Bonnie was one of the artists with me in our exhibition in Finland two years ago.)

Update Nov.17.04:
Exhibition Statement:
Our choice of media combines diverse print techniques with the use of natural objects.
Our viewpoint is to celebrate the diversity of life in this world.
Our concern is the world wide human impact keeps lessening the natural diversity on this planet.
What are your thoughts?

**has since become University

November 15, 2004 in Art Exhibitions, Art Institute (Printmaking), Other artists, Printmaking by Marja-Leena 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

quotations on art

“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.” – Pablo Picasso

“Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.” – Paul Klee

“The artist brings something into the world that didn’t exist before, and… he does it without destroying something else.” – George Plimpton

“Art is meant to disturb, science reassures.” – Georges Braque

(from The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 5th Edition, 1999)

November 10, 2004 in Being an Artist, Other artists by Marja-Leena 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Betty Goodwin exhibition

Chris posts a long list of reviews at Zeke’s Gallery, including two in the Globe & Mail about the current exhibition of works by Montreal artist Betty Goodwin at the Sable-Castelli Gallery in Toronto.

Sarah Milroy writes that this “may well be the artist’s last in Toronto. At 81, her health is failing, and her production is finally, after decades of consummate grace, beginning to falter.”

Gary Michael Dault calls it “An unabashedly moving experience”.

Reading these reviews sent me to find my precious copy of the catalogue of Betty Goodwin’s traveling exhibition from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts that came to the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1987. Looking again at the drawings, prints and paintings brought back the powerful feelings her work evoked in me when I first saw them in the VAG. I wish I could go to Toronto to see the current show! I wish there was a website devoted to Goodwin’s huge body of work. Here are a few links where one can see some examples:

– Sable-Castelli Gallery
– Canada Council for the Arts – Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2003 with high resolution images – scroll down to “Betty Goodwin”.
– 3rd Biennale de Montréal 2002
– at Artnet

Thank you, Chris!

November 5, 2004 in Art Exhibitions, Other artists by Marja-Leena Comments Off on Betty Goodwin exhibition

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