Inspirations: Kaija Rantakari

Sorry for the delay in posting the Inspirations feature for this month....we had a communication snafu and the interview was lost in the ether for a bit! I'm so pleased to bring you the work of Kaija Rantakari, an artist in Finland whose work I've dearly loved for a very long time. She makes beautiful books and intimate, poignant works with matchboxes in an open-ended series called Letters to You. You'll get to know her through her work and words which follow!

Can you talk a little about your background....how did you come to be making the works that you make?

I come from a long family line of crafty people and I’ve always been encouraged to make things by hand. After a childhood of making stuff at home, I ended up studying writing and bookbinding. I wanted to put my talent to use and make something that could encourage others to feed their creativity, so I’ve mainly focused on making blank notebooks in the hopes that other people would write their hearts out. Lately I’ve created more and more things that are entirely useless pieces of art, small sketches of my emotions and aesthetics.

I'm especially drawn to the intimacy and poignancy of the matchbox pieces....the Letters to You series....can you talk about them....how they started and how they've evolved?

At first I made little matchboxes to keep my creative juices flowing when I started at a new job and found it difficult to find time for bookbinding. Later I realized how well it suited me to make tiny things loaded with meaning and beauty, and I started to take my matchboxes more seriously. I made matchboxes with tiny poetic letters in Finnish and sent them to my foreign friends. I’m terribly good at keeping my own secrets but it felt good sharing them, so as the matchbox project expanded, I began to sell the finished pieces on Etsy and share my stories with strangers. Nowadays hardly any of the pieces include actual letters with writing on them but I still feel I’m conveying a message; these are still my letters to you, to anyone out there, intimate and thoughtful.

My original idea was to make art out of materials I already have and focus more on the act of intuitive creating than on having a plan, and luckily I’ve been able to be faithful to my intuition in the creation of every single piece. Of course some matchboxes are dearer to me than others and I never know beforehand how each one is going to turn out. Still I make a huge mess in the living room and try to make a miracle out of it every time I begin a new matchbox letter.

Is there a typical day....if so, how does it unfold? How do you engage with the work in the studio?

I’ve been fighting depression for years now and it has made it very difficult to maintain a creative routine.  I’m sure the melancholy that comes with depression has made its mark on my work – I’m actually happy about being able to show the fragility and sensitivity to minor details through my work.

Nowadays I tend to work in bouts whenever I have a good feeling about the days to come. I’m a very messy person when I create (actually, always), so I usually begin my work by spreading the possible materials on the living room floor and find just the right combination of textures and colours for whatever I’m making.  I do have a desk that’s dedicated to bookbinding and art but I seem to think better on the floor. (I’m very grateful to have a fiancé who is not only the bee’s knees but extremely patient with my messes too.) Books I make in small batches even though the vast majority of my books are one of a kinds; it really helps me concentrate when I can go into the glue-state-of-mind and spend a couple of hours just stippling glue to various book covers and forget what comes next. One step at a time, one day at a time.

Any books, films that have special meaning for you....do they influence your work?

I’m terrible at remembering names and I even forget the plot the moment a book or a film ends. I only remember the general atmosphere and whether or not I liked it. I’m certain that the art I see/hear/read influences me and my work more than I can ever know. I’m over sensitive, how could it not, but I find it really hard to point out where exactly can you see my adoration of e.e. cummings or David Mitchell. Films I can remember liking more than usual: Blade Runner, Never Let Me Go and Drive. The new Wuthering Heights was visually gorgeous, too, though it did leave me a bit cold as a whole.

Where do you find inspiration?

Colours are my number one on the inspiration list. They never fail me. Fashion, which is pretty directly linked with colours. Materials, naturally. I watch more films than I ever thought I would, I browse through all sorts of vintage things online and I go treasure hunting for vintage materials. London is my favourite place in the world (British people have realized someone wants to pay for their old trash and turn it into art – I never find any cool materials here in Finland) and going there is like taking a vacation from me.

If you could have a small gathering for lively and interesting conversation around the dinner table...and you could invite anyone from history....who might be on your guest list?

Saima – my great grandaunt that I’ve never met but dreamt of many times

Albert H. Munsell – the father of Munsell colour system and therefore must know a lot about colours

Joseph Beuys – a German artist that my mother could have met when she was young but probably didn’t

Alberto Giacometti – a sculptor that made things I want to touch to see if they’re really melting

Find these delightful matchbox works, handmade books, delicate pins and more at Kaija's etsy shop

Paperiaarre. She also has a wonderful blog which you will enjoy! Thank you to Kaija for her generosity in answering these questions and in sharing her beautiful work and process with the world!

The Abandon of Play

A Happy Valentine's Day to all of you gentle readers...warm wishes and hearty thanks for your love and support!  I'm here with another surprise from my past....and this one brought me to a standstill, so to speak.

"Look at that!" I said out loud to no one in particular in the midst of a most bittersweet moment alone in the studio. A friend from town had come over during the week to look at my work and we had moved all kinds of things around, picking work up, putting it down. She leafed through a little pile of handmade books I had on a shelf, some of which I'd made over the years, others by fellow artists. As I went to straighten things up the other day, I laid my hand on a crazy looking book, each page covered in beeswax...it was wild with abandon, drawing everywhere, patches of color laid down willy-nilly, and with each page translucent, including both folded covers, I could see through the layers to pages underneath.

I fell in love with that crazy little book I made years ago and it felt just like seeing myself in a home movie, playing and cavorting without a care in the world, the silence of the intervening years a witness to the inch by inch closing down of that person who really knew how to play in the studio. I didn't make that book as a child, but I probably made it at least 6 or 8 years ago, around the time of those last pieces I unearthed. What happened....what got lost?

Of course, I knew the answer and here's what's happened. For decades after I finished school, I worked in the library at the art school I had attended...not knowing at the beginning that I would be there for 25 years. I kept thinking it would be until I figured out what else I wanted to do, but I was able to support myself in a job that fed my artistic spirit, surrounded by a community of artists, as I cataloged art books day after day. It was a long time before I realized that the job was allowing me to do something very important with my own work in the studio...play. We go through art school thinking that what we must want to do is make art and have it in galleries where people will buy it...that this is somehow the ultimate goal, knowing that if you are very fortunate, you can make a living off your work. I realized at some point during my tenure at Ringling College of Art and Design, that making a living from your work meant that you were under a certain pressure from the marketplace. I was free from that and although I showed my work in countless juried exhibitions over the years, there was never any pressure to do anything that didn't come naturally to me. Even that, understanding what comes naturally to you, takes a very long time to develop.  

I don't work at that little dream job any longer...I left it when we moved to South Dakota.  I made some trade-offs.  I traded the security of a job that supported me financially and artistically, for all the time in the world to be in the studio....but I am subject now entirely to the marketplace in order to have any kind of income. For many years I said that I would keep making art, whether anyone ever saw it or not...that was kind of a test for me, whether you really had it in you....would you continue to make the work even if you didn't have the accolades, the encouragement and the pats on the back. I know that I will continue to make art, but it's different now...in some ways, my art making experience is much, much richer, because of the online relationships I've developed and that continue to grow.  On the other hand, the lesson I must continue to work on....is letting myself play...because that's the only way I can make the work that is unique to me.  And the next lesson is for me to trust the universe that the work will sell....I am very much involved in the marketplace and my life now is all about that balance.

I love random marks, surprise, layering, surface, chaos and a fair amount of disorder when making the  work...I love it when things are not what they seem, because that's the lesson of life....look closely, there is always more and it's not always what you think.  Cheers!!!  

This little book is called Transluscent Days (named this very day!) and will appear in my shop in the next day or two.

Made By Hand: Fiona Dempster

Peace is every step

(Thich Nhat Hanh)

Ancora Imparo

(Michelangelo)

Two concise and simple statements. Only six words, yet they help chart my path as an artist and as a person. 

I am guided by the approach of Buddhist monk, scholar and poet Thich Nhat Hanh, who lives a philosophy of mindfulness and walking meditation, encouraging us to consider a peaceful way of being in the world with each and every step that we take.

I try to reflect a sense of peace in my work and believe that by reflecting and sharing peace in beautiful ways, we can create calm and peace in our lives.

I am still learning. Attributed to Michelangelo this quote also guides me in my life and in my art as I continue to seek knowledge, to learn new things, to reflect on interactions and to gather new perceptions, and become more self-aware.

I love that life continues to be an adventure in which we are exposed to new thoughts and understandings; fresh approaches are revealed; creative experiences are shared; alternative paths are explored; and that all along the way I am still learning.

Fiona Dempster

www.paperponderings.blogspot.com

www.fionadempster.com

A Walk Through The Universe: The Book of Hours

Welcome to another weekly feature of A Walk Through The Universe.  The topic this week was The Book of Hours, based on a connection from last week's topic of palimpsest.  As many palimpsests were prayer books on ancient vellum that had been scraped and written over, the Book of Hours, a prayer book very prevalent during the middle ages, provided the path for this week's amble.  The trouble is, I kind of got lost in the woods, and couldn't find my compass for much of the week.  I did a good number of searches on Book of Hours and turned up more sites and images than I knew what to do with!  The easiest place to start a quick investigation is with a stop at Wikipedia, which you can get to here. As I began to understand it, these prayers books were quite widely collected in the middle ages by all classes of people. While the beautifully illuminated volumes commissioned by the wealthy have been handed down to us and are more well known, many of the prayer books were quite spare and may have had only decorated capital letters.  Containing a wide variety of texts, including among other things, psalms, prayers, saints days, church teachings and calendar of important days, these books were used throughout the day for meditation and devotion, in order to give the laity a more direct access to God. 


As I contemplated how I might handle the post for this week, I began looking for contemporary versions of the Book of Hours and found quite a few, not only in the form of handmade books and visual art, but in music and literature as well.  I didn't quite think that any of these pointed me in quite the right direction, and while I tried to find a link to the world view of an "everyman" of the time period, I couldn't make a real connection that made sense to me. The same questions kept arising...what was it like to live in the Middle Ages with the Church such a dominant force in daily life and what were the joys and fears of people five hundred years ago as they lived from day to day?  While no doubt beautiful and intimate as a book, just how was daily life structured by a Book of Hours? Life was vastly different then, to be sure, but at our core, are we so very different as human beings now? I am aware that a few hundred years from now, people may look back at the early 21st century and wonder how we could not have known all the things that they will have taken for granted. I am careful then, to remember these were people living in a particular time and place, just as we are. Five hundred years, in the scheme of things, is really no time at all and I think human beings are still human beings...and as such, are we not all searching for meaning, for answers and for a connection to a larger context so that we can find our place in the universe?  Are we not looking for a peaceful way, for solace and safe passage? Do we not, in various ways, try to make sense of the vastness, the mystery, and the wonder of existence?  Do we not feel the need to leave behind even the faintest trace of our journey, no matter what our religious views? 


Trusting my instinct that I would find my own truly connecting thread to this week's topic, I contacted Fiona Dempster, a calligraphic and book artist whose work I had recently discovered through her wonderful blog, Paper Ponderings.  I knew right away I had found the path through Fiona -- we have had a wonderful correspondence over the last several days.  Spare, elegant and meditative, her work is a beautiful tribute to her ongoing investigations into all these ideas of connection, place, the journey.


With Fiona's permission, I quote a bit of her end of the conversation:

"...My love of books and text is what drives my art.  I love the intimate nature of artists books - the ability for you to have a one on one experience with somebody's creativity. To hold books and feel them; move them and go back and forth to rediscover messages and beauty.  I think its the personal and intimate nature of artists books that appeal so much.  

My work is also quiet. It doesn't shout or grab attention; I think it invites people to quietly spend time with it, reflect and ponder.  I hope that people get a sense of stillness and peacefulness when they engage with my work..."


"Finding My Place" is a lovely dos-a-dos book that reflects the journey and finding a sense of place. She describes it beautifully in her own writing on a recent blog post found here.

Another book, "In the Silence", seen below, is described by Fiona: 

"...also a meditative book - each page has a letter of the alphabet 'pulled' out of copper leaf; leaving the coloured pastel underneath the copper leaf revealed.  Each letter suggest a word for reflection - perhaps for just opening up and seeing what you may be encouraged to focus on for that day.  I felt it was precious enough to make a box for it - interestingly with an "x" within a circle, within a square. All symbols I have been re-using in my journey and home works. I like the notion of having a daily focus - in amongst our busy lives, pausing to find a word that encourages us to reflect, ponder, think, or focus on that element and how it plays in our lives. Even if only for a brief moment before the chaos returns."

And so, I've found another kindred spirit whose work touches a deep chord.  More than once in our conversation we had "aha" moments where we encountered our very own sentiments expressed almost verbatim by the other...about the content of our artistic investigations and about books, hand held and allowing for an intimate one-on-one experience with the work.  I still have a lot of reading to do at Fiona's blog and if you're not familiar with Paper Ponderings, I encourage you to visit her blog here.

That brings me to the subject of the coming week's meandering walk and I think the topic is "place"...guess it'll be another busy week!

Thanks for stopping by MissouriBendStudio.  I'd love to hear from you with comments, ideas and even corrections, if they are in order!

Have a great week...see you soon with mid-week posts!

Black and White and Red All Over

This is a view of a recent handmade blank book I now have available at MissouriBendStudio...another little homage to collage!  I love the way that different bits of text look when they bump up against each other...different paper, type sizes and styles...so fun!  And sewing on handmade paper dipped in beeswax...nothing better!

Handmade Blank Book With Collage Cover

I've started making a few simple, pamphlet-stitch blank books with the handmade paper my husband Johntimothy made.  This is the paper I use for almost everything...it's just so wonderful to work with.  The paper ends up painted in most of the work that I do, but here it is shown dipped in beeswax.  The paper starts out pretty white with light flecks in it, but the beeswax turns it much darker and greenish...still beautiful!  I'm making little collages for the covers and I must say, they are ever so much fun!  Listed this piece on Etsy this afternoon, along with another one, and had a sale almost right away.  More books to come!