Estonian Residency news!
For the last two months I've been living in Tartu, Estonia the university city ("city of good thoughts") with my boyfriend Greg as an artist-in-residence. I've been making work in Noor-Eesti Loomekeskus' Estonian Printing Museum (Trükimuuseum) and Paper Museum (Paberimuuseum) and will be presenting some of my work in their new museum location: The Widget Factory/ Aparaaditehas. This is my show:
kodu quilt
June 19th - July 19th, 2014
@ The courtyard of Aparaaditehas/ The Widget Factory (Kastani 42)
“So why are you here?”
“I’ve been invited to do a residency...”
“But why are you here?”
(The beginning of almost every conversation I have with a new acquaintance in Estonia).
When one is not exposed to their first language after several consecutive years, the letters and sounds of words become abstract. Yet, somehow the essence of these words do not fade completely. Is the knowledge of written and spoken language at a high level, a vital factor in belonging to a culture? Through music, art and other forms of intuitive expression, I believe the Estonian-ness is never lost from one’s identity, especially mine.
I am a Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. I have lived most of my life in this multi-cultural place and am inspired by my everyday life there. But something draws me in to the dilemmas of cultural identity, particularly those my fellow first and second-generation Canadians face. Through taking Estonian language lessons and making this collage project here in Tartu’s Eesti Trükimuuseum (Estonian Printing Museum), I ask myself, “When a language is abstracted into a series of visual patterns or arrangements can it still communicate and resonate?”
The Eesti Trükimuuseum has an inspirational collection of metal and wooden type. I have printed with and arranged these letters - each with its own history, felt by countless hands - into textile-inspired designs on papers and ephemera discovered in the museum. The negative space and connections the forms of these letters make creates fascinating layered and graphic possibilities. The composition of this piece investigates the language dilemma and asks how Estonian art and textile history permeate through the hands, voices and minds of generations of Estonians, throughout the world. I believe that through the process of “doing” and reviving the musical notes, knitting patterns and scribbles of our cultural past, we can simultaneously remember our heritage while helping it transform and grow in our contemporary and critical world.
This will and desire to rediscover and revive, which evidently lives in the creative community of Tartu, can be linked to the site of my artwork, and the future site of the museum, Aparaaditehas - an old "widget factory" that has been empty since 1994.
Having the space and resources to experiment with different techniques at this residency has helped me explore reoccurring questions and ideas in my artistic practice, in a new and invigorating way. Many thanks to my friends at the Creative Centre Carnation (Noor-Eesti Loomekeskus). And to my grandparents Hilja and Arved Viirlaid for their bravery and support towards their family and to their country.
kodu quilt
June 19th - July 19th, 2014
@ The courtyard of Aparaaditehas/ The Widget Factory (Kastani 42)
“So why are you here?”
“I’ve been invited to do a residency...”
“But why are you here?”
(The beginning of almost every conversation I have with a new acquaintance in Estonia).
When one is not exposed to their first language after several consecutive years, the letters and sounds of words become abstract. Yet, somehow the essence of these words do not fade completely. Is the knowledge of written and spoken language at a high level, a vital factor in belonging to a culture? Through music, art and other forms of intuitive expression, I believe the Estonian-ness is never lost from one’s identity, especially mine.
I am a Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. I have lived most of my life in this multi-cultural place and am inspired by my everyday life there. But something draws me in to the dilemmas of cultural identity, particularly those my fellow first and second-generation Canadians face. Through taking Estonian language lessons and making this collage project here in Tartu’s Eesti Trükimuuseum (Estonian Printing Museum), I ask myself, “When a language is abstracted into a series of visual patterns or arrangements can it still communicate and resonate?”
The Eesti Trükimuuseum has an inspirational collection of metal and wooden type. I have printed with and arranged these letters - each with its own history, felt by countless hands - into textile-inspired designs on papers and ephemera discovered in the museum. The negative space and connections the forms of these letters make creates fascinating layered and graphic possibilities. The composition of this piece investigates the language dilemma and asks how Estonian art and textile history permeate through the hands, voices and minds of generations of Estonians, throughout the world. I believe that through the process of “doing” and reviving the musical notes, knitting patterns and scribbles of our cultural past, we can simultaneously remember our heritage while helping it transform and grow in our contemporary and critical world.
This will and desire to rediscover and revive, which evidently lives in the creative community of Tartu, can be linked to the site of my artwork, and the future site of the museum, Aparaaditehas - an old "widget factory" that has been empty since 1994.
Having the space and resources to experiment with different techniques at this residency has helped me explore reoccurring questions and ideas in my artistic practice, in a new and invigorating way. Many thanks to my friends at the Creative Centre Carnation (Noor-Eesti Loomekeskus). And to my grandparents Hilja and Arved Viirlaid for their bravery and support towards their family and to their country.
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