qarrtsiluni

by Marja-Leena Rathje

Click on image to view a larger version.

archival inkjet and collagraph on paper
76.2 x 50.6 cm. (20″ x 30″)

Ancient writings on stone may be silent but still send powerful messages spanning great passages of time.

To see the rest of the Silent Messengers series, please visit Marja-Leena’s online gallery.

Download the podcast.

Marja-Leena Rathje (blog, gallery) is a Finnish-Canadian artist specializing in printmaking and photography. She is crazy about weathered rocks, prehistoric art and the archaeology of past, present and future. She lives and works near the sea and the mountains of Vancouver and has exhibited widely, both internationally and in her local region.

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by Marja-Leena Rathje

Click on image to view a larger version.

ARKEO #4
archival inkjet and collagraph on paper
81 x 61 cm. (32″ x 24″)

For more information on this print, please see Marja-Leena’s blog post about it, and visit her gallery to see the rest of the series.

Download the podcast.

Marja-Leena Rathje is a Finnish-Canadian artist specializing in printmaking and photography. She is crazy about weathered rocks, prehistoric art and the archaeology of past, present and future. She lives and works near the sea and the mountains of Vancouver and has exhibited widely, both internationally and in her local region.

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(Click on image to view at larger size.)

by Marja-Leena Rathje

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McKenzie Beach, west coast of Vancouver Island
(Click on image to view at larger size.)

by Marja-Leena Rathje

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by Marja-Leena Rathje

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From Marja-Leena Rathje, January 25, 2006

Yesterday I had the urge for some creative play so I gathered several small objects – a piece of ammonite, a dried piece of root or lichen, curled bark, shells, dried flowers, and dried pomegranates. I placed an object on my scanner and covered it with either a black or cream cloth, selected a high resolution and magnification and scanned away. The results were very exciting, with good depth of field and great detail. The ones with dark cloth remind me of old Dutch paintings.

Above is one with a piece of root or lichen, a bit smaller than the palm of my hand, that I’d picked off a beach long ago. Isn’t it amazing? Of course you can’t see it here very well in this low resolution and small size, but when I looked at it full screen size, guess what I discovered there: a tiny dead but fully intact insect with its wings spread out. I’ve cut out that portion and blown it up some more. Can you see it in the image below?

I had fun and felt a surge of creative energy – and even learned some new scanning tricks. Sometime I may post some more of these scans. I may never use these images in my art work, but you never know. The mind processes these experiences and images over a long time and they may appear much later, perhaps incorporated in a new way in new work. What was that saying by Picasso about being open to everything one sees and feels and that may become a painting… or something like that?

by Marja-Leena Rathje

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Silent Messengers: Connecting with D’Amico #2
by Marja-Leena Rathje, printmaker and Karen d’Amico, photographer

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In Its Four Voices – Silent Messengers: Connecting with D’Amico #2

Download poem (MP3, 2.18 MB)

text by Tom Montag, audio editing by Erika Rathje, vocal performance by all four

Read more…

Nexus IX and Nexus X, by Marja-Leena Rathje

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mark

flesh to fossil
what we were
bone to stone
fell away
dark chest open
what remained
fishbone spine
etched on rock
pale rib-basket
our body-print
empty now
last tattoo

our mark

by Tall Girl

by Marja-Leena Rathje

I was majoring in painting at art school. In my last year, I took a printmaking
class, where I discovered – and fell in love with – the technique of drypoints.
Drawing with sharp metal tools onto copper was for me the closest to actually
drawing on paper. I made several drypoint self-portraits like this one that
year. Here my love affair with printmaking was sparked. It was then too late
for me to change my major, yet I decided that one day I would come back to the
medium. Some fifteen years later, I did. And, now, twenty years beyond that, I
still make art using many printmaking techniques. Can an artist fall in love
with technique? The answer is yes, and in this case the affair has lasted
almost as long as I’ve known the man I married, my other first love.

by Marja-Leena Rathje

by Marja-Leena Rathje

Etching and drypoint by Marja-Leena Rathje