Although she was well known in her native Finland, she is almost unknown in other parts of the world. The images in this post are from the exhibition of her work that took place at Helsinki's Design Museum of Finland in 2016-2017 that was simply entitled Kirsti Rantanen.
Thursday, June 16, 2022
Kirsti Rantanen
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Penny Berens In The Middle Of The World
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Whispering Cairns plant dyes on silk, wool, cotton, linen hand stitched 35 x 49 inches 2019 |
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Chasing the Moon plant dyes on damask, silk, cotton hand stitched 40 x 50 inches 2020 |
Penny's artist statement for this new body of work begins with these words: "For many years now I have taken to heart the words of Peter London in his book ‘Drawing Closer to Nature"
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Resting Between Tides plant dyes and discharge on silk, wool, cotton, linen hand stitched 43 x 42.5 inches 2019 |
“Find a portion of the world that is close at hand and adopt it. Become acquainted with it. Draw closer to it by staying with it over a long course of time. In all seasons, all times of the day, all weathers, all circumstances of your own life. The more often you return to this chosen portion of Nature, the more finely you will be able to perceive its more delicate features, as well the slow-to-emerge pattern and rhythms.” Peter London
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Resting Between Night and Day plant dyes and discharge on silk, cotton, linen, wool, hand stitched 2019 43 x 49 inches |
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Holding Deep Memory hand stitch and shibori on reclaimed denim dress and old table linen 44.5 x 39.5 inches 2021 |
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Woodland Berries plant dyes on silk, wool, cotton hand stitched 43 x 42 inches 2019 |
My process starts with daily wanderings in the wooded coastal landscape of Nova Scotia, slowly becoming more and more familiar with those seasonal rhythms and changing patterns. Penny Berens
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from left to right A Stream Runs Through It, The Edge of the Woods, Woodpeckers Live Here Plant dyes on cotton, silk, wool, hand stitched. various sizes, approximately 21 x 15 or 20 inches 2015 |
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When Autumn Leaves Fall plant dyes on silk, linen, cotton hand stitched, 30 x 24 inches 2017 |
During the warmer months these walks become foraging expeditions for dye stuff with which to colour the fabrics I use. This plant dyed cloth is then hand stitched and embroidered in response to these walks.
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Walking on Stoney Ground plant dye and rust on linen, cotton, silk, wool hand stitched 29.9 x 24 inches 2019 |
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Stoney Island Memories plant dye on linen, cotton, silk, wool hand stitched 42.9 x 31.5 inches 2019 |
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Beaver Moon Dreaming plant dye and discharge on cotton and linen hand stitched 43.3 x 43.3 inches 2020 |
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Chasing The Moon hand stitch on silk, cotton, damask 40 x 50 inches 2020 |
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Dancing In The Wind plant dyes on linen, silk velvet, cotton, wool hand stitched 41.5 x 31 inches 2020 |
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Walking With Dogs plant dyes on silk, cotton, wool hand stitched 53 x 12 inches x 2 panels, 2021 |
Monday, March 1, 2021
Lawrence Carroll
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Tom 1985-86 oil, canvas, wood, wax, staples 13" x 10.5" x 6" |
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Untitled 1985 oil,, wax, canvas on wood 18" x 10" |
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Penance 1987-88 oil, wax, canvas, staples on wood 9" x 9" x 7.6" |
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Breathing In 1988 89 oil, wax and paper collage on canvas on wood 12" x 11" x 10" |
I was looking at Donald Judd. I was interested in the way that his wall and floor sculptures would come out of the wall and into the space.
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Dependence 1990 oil wax, staples, canvas, wood 33" x 15" x 10" |
It slowed down the viewer.
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Heaven Picasso 1994-95 oil wax house paint newspaper, canvas on wood 55" x 42" x 3" |
You could not grasp it.
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Untitled 2017 oil, wax, staples, canvas on wood 19" x 1/2" x 11" |
I looked at Carl Andre too - How and where to place the painting and how the placement changes the psychology of an entire room.
I felt I had everything.
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installation at museo vincenzo vela in 2017 |
and that there was a body of memory under the skin where things were buried for years and then for some reason they reappeared.
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Lawrence Carroll I Have Longed to Move Away works 1985-2017 edited by Gianna A. Mina |
And then about the futility of trying to put something that was once whole back together again, exposing all its imperfections.
There was the revelation. Painting does not have to be perfect
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untitled 2017 house paint and wax on canvas 19" x 19" 16" |
Maybe my paintings are about my broken life.
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untitled 2016 - 17 stain, house paint, wood pieces, canvas on wood 67.7" x 108" x 1.5" |
At certain times in your life, things appear. Things come.
You look back on your life and examine it.
Last night I thought of different possibilities of what some of my paintings could be about and it shook me.
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untitled stain, house paint, wood pieces, canvas on wood 118" x 75" x 1.5" |
I need time and distance.
The gift that I have been given is to be able to explore these things and to give comfort to myself in knowing that I have a place to express things that some people may bury inside themselves and carry away with them all through their lives.
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untitled oil, wax, house paint ,staples, canvas on wood 114" x 85" x 4" |
We all carry the weight of an imperfect life, some far greater than others.
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Lawrence Carroll I Have Longed To Move Away Installation in Museo Vincenzo Vela, Switzerland |
So what do you expose? You have to risk. You can't hide. Lawrence Carroll 1954 - 2019
All text is from a Lawrence Carroll's interview with Barbara Catoir, entitled "Carry On the Light" .
It is in the catalogue of the exhibition I Have Longed to Move Away which was curated by Roberto Borghi for the Museo Vincenzo Vela in Switzerland during the spring of 2017.
Monday, November 9, 2020
Meryl McMaster
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Harbinger of Sudden Departures 2015 chromogenic print, 24" x 36" by Meryl McMaster |
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Aphoristic Currents 2013 chromagenic print 36 x 50" by Meryl McMaster |
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Murmur I 2013 inkjet print 90 x 60" by Meryl McMaster |
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Avian Wanderer II 2015 Giclee print 20 x 30" by Meryl McMaster |
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Time's Gravity 2015 pigment print on watercolour paper 30 x 45" |
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Phantom Science 2015 ink jet print 18 x 62" |
She gazes away from the camera.
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dream catcher 2015 ink jet print 32 x 66" |
"I use winter a lot. It feels like a magical time. Everything is frozen; it feels like it's being held in that moment. It's like sleeping. There is also the solitude. When I go on winter walks, I feel like I do a lot more reflection than on my summer wlaks. Winter is also a hostile time. It brings an urgency to the images. I push myself. I have been in quite a lot of pain in my fingers, toes, and extremities from being out in the cold too long. But I keep going back to winter. There's something about that time of year."
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under the infinite sky 2015 ink jet print 30 x 45 " |
There are always gaps and biases in our relatioinship to the past, and it was through my art that I could explore and expose them. It was a way of creating a conversation with myself as well as with other people. First of all, it comes from a very personal place. Most of us have a mixed background, so we're all asking similar self-directed questions. I've learned that my two different heritages are not always going to completely align, and in order to move forward I have to celebrate those differences."
"In my teens I was learning about Canada's difficult past, a past that could have involved my own ancestors. So if I wanted to be proud of my mothers' family and connected to my European roots, I realized I might be abandoning my Indigenous side. It was as if I was involved in some kind of betrayal. I struggled with how to acknowledge and be present in both sides of myself."
Sources for these images and text:
Picturing the Red Line, An Interview with Meryl McmMaster by Robert Enright in Border Crossings magazine in 2018 and Confluence, the exhibition catalogue for Meryl McMaster's solo exhibition curated by Heather Anderson in 2016. All italics are quotes by the artist, Meryl McMaster.
Although it is interesting to find out about the artist's personal background, it is possible to respond to her images without knowing the back-story.
As Immense As The Sky is a more recent exhibition, (catalogue available)
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Nancy Paul: Time/Lines
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Summer (Sleeping Medusa) by Nancy Paul, Oil, acrylic, conte, 29 x 43" 1980-2020 |
from climate change to social injustice to pandemic
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Longing by Nancy Paul, acrylic and graphite on paper, mounted onto birch panel, 9 x 12 inches, 2020 |
even as democracy is under threat and truth-telling stifled.
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Setting by Nancy Paul, acrylic and graphic on paper, mounted on birch panel, 14 x18", 2020 |
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The Dreamer by Nancy Paul, acrylic and graphite mounted on birch panel, 2020 |
the naked body is an enduring symbol of human vulnerability and helplessness.
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Sitting Back by Nancy Paul, acrylic and graphite on paper, 12 x 16 inches, 2020 |
an aesthetic of salvation.
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Slowing Down by Nancy Paul, graphic on paper mounted on birch panel, 10 x 12 inches, 2020 |
In my work the female figure is both self and other;
she represents communication and compassion.
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Green World (Arden Spring) by Nancy Paul acrylic, graphic, ink on canvas, 28 x 32" 2019 |
"Time/Lines" is about our search for understanding.
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Nereids Endangered by Nancy Paul, Acrylic, graphite, Japanese Paper on canvas, 16 x 20 inches, 2018 |
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Life Lines/Sky Lines (I, II, III) by Nancy Paul, acrylic and graphic on paper mounted on birch panel, triptych, each part 12 x 16 x 1.5 inches 2020 |
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Fall by Nancy Paul, Oil on Canvas, 1980, 24" x 36" |
from her exhibition at Art Noise Gallery,
Kingston Ontario Canada