End of September
September is ending. I hardly
recall its beginning, so quickly…
I am distracted by the Monarch
that sips from the verbena, dips
into the marigolds for a moment,
then flies to the coleus blossoms…
the time since Labor Day has flown.
I wonder…I am no butterfly,
but I behave like one.
Perhaps I too am preparing for
a long journey to my winter home.
Lingonberries
In Helsinki, Finland, I visited the Ateneum Art Museum where there was a special exhibit celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Helen Schjerfbeck, an important Nordic artist. The museum’s website http://www.ateneum.fi/en has excellent information about the exhibit and the artist, but seeing the original works in the country of her birth was amazing.
Scandinavian women artists were very active in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Americans mostly think of Mary Cassatt as one of the only female artists working at the time, but women like Schjerfbeck and the Danish artist Anna Archer, traveled in Scandinavia and Europe and lived and studied in Paris as well. They produced bodies of work that uniquely drew upon their experiences as Nordic women.
On Viewing the Art of Helene Schjerfbeck in Helsinki
Finland: cold dark forests and reindeer.
Abstract music ascends from sea foam.
Dream works of glass and stone designed by
ripples of North wind that inspire,
absent sentiment. Colors washed by
sun’s edges: cool grey and sea-glass green.
Portraits : the artist’s mother – focused
silent pose. Without models to draw,
self-portraits record development,
influence of the region. Her hand
draws the trees and their shadows at dusk.
Sunny and warm. At another Texas cafe drinking $ 9.00 beer and wine. Oh well. The wifi is free. Amazingly difficult to be productive on this trip.
The sea so calm, blue.
Sun intense and very hot.
Slow before sailing.
Hey hey from Riga, Latvia. Internet expensive on our Baltic cruise plus did I mention EXPENSIVE! At an Internet care with free wifi and great old time country music. I am keeping a journal and will blog about each stop later.
Stadshuset – the City Hall – site of the
Nobel (pronounced noble) banquet.
Then Sodermalm’s Millennium series.
Lisbeth my heroine : feisty and
strong like all Scandinavian women.Tantolund gardens: tiny garden plots
of Roses – Dahlias and Goldenrod.
A few raised beds for the rabbits –
and maybe a few fairies –
Central Stockholm: too busy for that.
Today a tour of a canal on a boat
followed by the history war in Sweden;
considerable considering the size
of the cannons relative to the size
of the underfed men.Then some art: slow art that takes
time to make; so much time that
time is part of the art and the artist
uses time to rest and create and
the art is about time and not art.
A brass band on horseback….magical. Last night was Friday and noisy:
A woman sang an aria.
Some girls walked arm in arm
and a young man shouted a name;
some church bells rang the hour.At dawn a truck door rattled.
Heels clicked on the sidewalk
and a mother spoke to a child;
some church bells rang the hour.
At Vasa we learned that 17th c. Swedes sought ties to ancient Rome and included carvings of Roman rulers on their doomed warship…but the Roman figures were all blue eyed blonds!
Another downpour at 3:30 p.m. Is this going to be a regular thing?
Stockholm
Before we even left for Stockholm there was a glitch. Except it was a pfishing email stating our flight was delayed by 16 hours and wouldn’t we like to change our flight and by the way give them a credit card number. Fortunately the message was so incoherent I called and was reassured our flights were on time.
Now sitting in Stockholm hotel room. No actual glitches at all getting here but it did teem only after we finished our bus-train-metro ride from the airport and stepped out to start our 7 minute walk to the hotel. Stopped at an outdoor cafe and huddled under umbrellas and blankets to wait for bits of sun.
Looking forward to a good night’s sleep in a bed!
poeticpossibilities 