Blog 14…October
2012
You know how you
never go to see the attractions in your own city until someone visits… well,
this summer I had a houseguest from Bangkok and we explored a couple of Toronto's little
treasures together. First, the Bata Shoe
Museum where we took a look at the
glamorous shoes that Roger Vivier created for Christian Dior. On the floor
below, we saw how the footwear of indigenous people reflected and accommodated
their environment.
After lunch, we
searched out the Textile Museum of Canada (buried on Centre Street near the bus
terminal). There’s always something
fascinating there - war rugs, prayer shawls or a range of costumes. This time it was Dreamland, a look at
our Canadian landscape, with elements of thrift, beauty and utility from Quebec
catalogne to Red River coats to the rugs of the Gagetown hookers. A
particularly moving tableau showed two sisters embracing in the bareness of a
Saskatchewan prairie. Both of these
small places are easily accessible, not expensive and definitely worth a visit,
even without houseguests.
After lunch, we
searched out the Textile Museum of Canada (buried on Centre Street near the bus
terminal). There’s always something
fascinating there - war rugs, prayer shawls or a range of costumes. This time it was Dreamland, a look at
our Canadian landscape, with elements of thrift, beauty and utility from Quebec
catalogne to Red River coats to the rugs of the Gagetown hookers. A
particularly moving tableau showed two sisters embracing in the bareness of a
Saskatchewan prairie. Both of these
small places are easily accessible, not expensive and definitely worth a visit,
even without houseguests.
The tables were turned recently when I was
in Helsinki and discovered a very special show in the City Hall lobby that I introduced to some local friends. It was also fun to talk
to the staff there about our Toronto City Hall designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell.
The show features the work of Helja Liukko Sundstrom and celebrates her fifty years as ceramic artist with Arabia Pottery. As well as designing many of Arabia’s signature pieces, she’s a wonderful story teller who has written and illustrated a dozen children’s books - the stories reflecting the joy and sorrow inherent in our lives as well as the uniqueness of Finland's history, landscape and culture.
In the current show, she’s moved into
adult material with a tribute to the role women played on the production line
at Arabia. In one series of ceramic
panels, she’s rendered images of women leaving their children in dark early
hours and arriving at the factory gates to work until the shrill of the 5
o’clock whistle when they head home, again in darkness, to cook dinner and prepare for the next
day.
A second series of 20 panels - each one
about a foot square - is a gesture of love and appreciation of her grandmother’s life, from birth, through
schooldays, marriage, childbirth - setting out charming domestic scenes throughout her life to the completion of the cycle with her aging and death, There is a particularly touching panel showing how a few
Finnish soldiers disguised in white tablecloths and bedsheets halted the invasion of
the huge and powerful Soviet Red army during the Winter War.
I enjoyed the show for the third time
with my friend Jussi who enriched it even more for me by pointing out cultural
references that had gone over my head.
This blog is being written with with beautiful Muskoka colours outside
the window and is dedicated to him.
