Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal awarded to Canadian Artist Carole Finn

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Marie

We wish to congratulate Carole Finn on the occasion of her receipt of one of the Queen’s Jubilee medals for her efforts in bringing the Haliburton School of the Arts to fruition. The award is certainly deserved and the medal a fitting tribute to a woman who works tirelessly for the arts in the Haliburton Highlands.

As the award was presented at the Haliburton Campus of Fleming College by Fleming College president Tony Tilly he stated:

“It’s quite fitting that the setting for this celebration today has Carole’s work on the walls, but it’s also quite apt to say that Carole’s work also includes the walls, by the creation of this campus”.

The medal presentation coincides with the opening of an exhibition of Finn’s art titled “Natural Beauty”. The exhibition will be in place until March 22nd.

More details about the presentation can be found on the Haliburton County Echo website.

Online Art Gallery, MadeInHaliburton.ca, offers literary arts and has 4 new offerings

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Marie

If you are looking for Christmas gift ideas please consider our literary holdings: The online art gallery, Made In Haliburton,announces the addition of 4 new books to their literary art collection. Owners Don & Marie Gage state, “it is exciting to see the growth of Canadian literature and to be able to provide an outlet for the sale of these wonderful books”. The subject matter of the books is quite varied showing eclectic interests amongst the artists associated with Made In Haliburton.ca.

Tadeo Turtle by Janis Cox Canadian Author

The books are also appropriate for a wide range of ages, with the most recent book, Tadeo Turtle, being an exciting potential Christmas present for a child. Tadeo Turtle is a newly published book by Canadian author Janis Cox. It recounts the story of a turtle who is unhappy with the limits placed on his physical activity by the weight of his shell. As the book progresses Tadeo becomes aware of the wonderful protective powers of the shell and learns to accept himself for who he is. It has a wonderful moral for any child, and even many adults, to learn in a fun and interesting manner. The book is also accompanied by turtle-themed activities and a 24 page curriculum is available from the author. The author is a former teacher and has developed a 24 page curriculum that can be found on her website.

In Praise of Wolves by R. D. Lawrence

The animal lover or nature lover will love the next offering: In Praise of Wolves is a newly reprinted book by Canadian Naturalist R. D. Lawrence and it is complete with an “afterword” written by his wife, Sharon Lawrence. R. D. Lawrence was a skilled and sensitive field naturalist who spent thirty years studying and gaining a unique understanding of wolves. The book is written in an anecdotal and personal manner but, is full of scientifically sound insights about wolves that will often startle the reader. Lawrence suggests that wolves provide a much closer model of human behaviour than primates. This book demolishes old myths about wolves and brings new understanding.

"Walk by Water" by Carole Finn Canadian author

Carole Finn’s new book, Walk by Water, will excite anyone who likes to walk in the woods or white water kayak at a world class kayak facility. Carole Finn is an accomplished artist who has painted a variety of scenes from two very different “trail” systems. Through pictures, paintings, and words the author chronicles the lives of the two men who made the Minden Wild Water Trail and Pacific Rim Trail possible. The reader will understand how their perseverance created two amazing facilities from which mankind can enjoy communing with nature.

Zen and the Art of Multiple Sclerosis by Jeff Pinney

A book that will inspire the reader to persevere against all odds is Jeff Pinney’s autobiographical book, Zen and the Art of Multiple Sclerosis. Don’t be fooled by the title, this is not just a book for people who have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This book contains lessons that will help the reader to sustain the course when the going gets rough. The reader will laugh and cry almost simultaneously but, more than anything will experience the spirit of a man who would just not quit when life dealt him a big blow.
There is something here for everyone. Just look under the title of “Art for the Senses” and select books and cds to take a closer look at any one of these items. Why not also browse the over 400 pieces of Canadian art that are alsoon the website?

New Silkscreen Prints by Carole Finn

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Marie

Fall-Forest by Carole Finn Canadian Artist and Silkscreener

Fall-Forest1 by Carole Finn Canadian Artist and Silkscreener

We are very proud to have a series of 10 Landscape Silk Screen prints by Carole Finn newly added to www.MadeInHaliburton.ca. The silk screening technique used by Carole Finn is intensive and very individualized — she gets only one silk screen print from each process. Thus, each is unique and will never be replicated — a true one-of-a-kind piece of art!

I asked Carole to describe the process for our readers and here is what she wrote:

The silkscreen technique I use, makes images that never can be repeated.. Thus it is called “Mono Screen Printing”. My aim is to produce works that are an expression of my creativity and artistic vision.

The basic process is to paint on a surface of a screen of fine silk. This is done with fabric inks. These are water based dyes. They give a brilliant colour. I use 2 different methods for my landscapes or floral prints.

STEP 1: PAINTING THE SCREENS

1- Floral Prints:

I am inspired here to use a batik print technique from Indonesia. In place of the gutta I use a wax water resist crayon usually white to entrap the paint in an outlined area. All the image is drawn using a crayon called “Caran D’Ache”. The screen is then painted with the fabric dyes. The size of the image is determined by the size of the Squeegee.

Carole Finn Canadian Artist demonstrating silk screening techniques

Carole Finn Silkscreening

2- Landscape Prints:

The finished print is the result of printing multiple times on one piece of paper. The paint for these screens is applied freehand with no restrictions. Usually I work on one with warm colours and with cool colours for another. The screens are completed and printed one at a time. Each layer has to adapt to the image on the printed paper.

STEP 2: MAKING THE PRINT

1- Flooding the Screen- I push a very fine wall paper paste over the screen. This emulsion force the inks through the fine mesh. A trail of the emulsion is streamed along the lower end of the hinged and clamped raised screen. The squeegee is drawn with a little pressure along the screen to the upper end past the image. The squeegee is then drawn back to the lower end with the same pressure.

2- Now the true printing takes place. The screen is lowered over the paper. With much pressure the squeegee is dragged back and forth over the screen. The inks are now imprinted on the paper.

Sunny Autumn Morning by Carole Finn Canadian Artist

Landscape prints available at “madeinhaliburton” web site.

Floral Silkscreens can be seen at Rhubarb Restaurant, Eagle Lake.

Harnessing energy — Carole Finn the birth mother of the Arts in the Haliburton Highlands

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Marie

by Douglas Pugh
The RightEyedDeer Press

Path to Put In

An almost typical rural road in the Haliburton Highlands, lined with leafy trees and a gravelled driveway, leads you to a superb house where you’re greeted by enthusiastic dogs at the screen door. This is the home of Carole Finn, artist and, to many people, the main driving force behind the establishment of today’s fabulous arts community in the Haliburton Highlands.

“I only came here within days of marrying my husband,” reminisces Finn. “He was just opening up a law practice in Minden and within a day or two of the wedding, we were right up here in the Highlands.”

Starting out in teacher training for her own career, Finn got into the arts by learning the craft of wood in sculpture form as part of an extramural program for talented children under the patronage of highly esteemed Canadian writer, Robertson Davies, at that time editor for the Peterborough Examiner in Ontario.

“My first show was held at the Peterborough Library,” says Finn. “But after that, life started to take over from art for a while.”

After teaching at the high school level for some time, Finn stepped away to raise children, keeping her hand in from time to time with summer schools to learn more nuances of art. During many happy summers she took courses at The Doon School of Fine Arts in Kitchener.

“Then there was a tea party, and once the subject of art in the Highlands came up, and we all started saying what a marvellous place it was for inspiration,” Finn smiles broadly, “and then we made a sort of leap of logic – and the idea for a local arts college, with an emphasis on growing a talented community around it – took root.”

Finn was instrumental in the founding of not only an art college in Haliburton, but also in the creation of a Guild of Fine Arts, all part of the growing abundance of talented artists in the area.

How instrumental was she in the founding? Very hands on, that’s for sure.

“I needed to learn pottery, principally because at that time there were no potters in the area to teach anyone.” Finn smiles ruefully. “But then you have to learn everything so well, because you’re going to teach others, too. The intricacies of glazing pottery, even making Japanese teapots. Then there were other subjects that came along – quilt making, rug hooking, dyeing fabrics and weaving, graphic and website design – I’m not afraid to try and learn anything.”

After the intimidation of throwing salt into a kiln, adding variation to a glaze, and the resultant vortices as the kiln roared away at 2200C, Finn decided that she needed to get back to her principal form of expression, painting.

Her most current project, the production of an art book ‘Walk by Water’, encompasses two places that have totally engaged her artistic senses – The White Water Preserve in Minden, Haliburton Highlands (shortly to become the white water course for the next Pan-Am Games), and The Pacific Rim Trail in Ucluelet, British Columbia.

“I was inspired,” says Finn, “not only by the dedication of two gentlemen that drove these projects through against all odds, but also by the wilderness, the motion, the energy in these places.”

Having had much experience in graphic design in her past, Finn found herself having to update her knowledge of the required software, the complexities of page layout and editing. Not that she was alone. Finn has a wealth of talented friends that helped her out when she hit a few impasses.

“I truly could not have gotten it done without them. I just hope,” Finn blushes, “that they didn’t think I was too much of a nuisance.”

The Pacific Rim Trail is a story in itself, with surging development threatening an old trail as hotels and golf courses boomed.

“The municipality was not really interested for quite a while,” says Finn. “But then the lumber business in the area started drying up – like many places it was ‘logged out’ – and suddenly tourism is important, and the environmentally aware tourist is a new and growing market.”

Finn was impressed particularly by the efforts of one particular fellow, known more by the soubriquet of ‘Oyster Jim’ than by his real name.

“He’s not even a Yukie,” said Finn, “but he was plain determined that some things need preserving.”

(Yukie being the colloquial label for someone from Ucluelet)

Finn held an exhibition of her many works in Ucluelet, showing the Pacific Rim Trail, all in an effort to raise awareness with not only the local community but the tourists too.

In between her campaigning, teaching and everything else, Finn has been the curator at The Rails’ End Gallery in Haliburton, along with exhibiting in numerous locations and developing her own gallery at home. She is after all an artist first and foremost, though she only went into the profession as a full time artist in 2008.

“My ambitions? Oh, I’d love to get some of my art into a few more galleries. I always think that I need to improve. You never, ever stop learning and developing. I am particularly inspired by artists such as Joyce Wieland and Claude Breeze, but more than anything I love trying to harness energy, the wilderness, the power of nature in storm and water. It’s hard to capture,” says Finn, “but that’s the challenge.”

After joining Chuck O’Neill in exhibiting works in the Haliburton Forest, Finn has a couple of further potential projects – her work on The Pacific Rim Trail has not gone unnoticed and she may be doing something similar for The Cross Canada Trail and perhaps The Grey Bruce Trail – but those are just maybes for now.

“As an artist, I have learned a few things – never expect to make a living out of it, always bring passion, talent and dedication – art is hard work,” says Finn.

We are interrupted … there are dogs to walk, a soup being put together on the counter, some silk screen prints being finished, and then Carole Finn has to get her art put together for the Studio Tour … who better to harness energy than this veritable human dynamo?

You can find Carole Finn’s book of stunning art, ‘Walk by Water’ on the www.MadeinHaliburton.ca site, and Carole has her own website www.Carolefinnartist.com . While on the MadeInHaliburton website, don’t forget to check out all the other works by Carole, alongside her fellow artists.

Walk By Water By Carole Finn — Two Trails, Two Determined Men

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Marie

Carole Finn documents through words, photos and paintings, the journey of two determined men who each had, to quote the back jacket of the book, “great foresight and determination to make these trails happen”. The trails of which she speaks are the Pacific Rim Trail in British Columbia and the Minden Wild Water Preserve in Minden Hills, Ontario.

The book takes you on the journey of these two men and gives you a pictorial representation of their achievements..These trails are certainly Canadian gems that are a must see for the visiting public and local citizen alike. The book can be purchased on MadeInHaliburton.ca or in the MadeInHaliburton.ca summer gallery location at 115 Bobcaygeon Rd., Minden, On.

Carole Finn and the Haliburton School of the Arts

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Marie

Carole Finn moved to the Highlands, somewhat reluctantly, when she married her husband, Don. It wasn’t that she didn’t love the environment of lakes and trees, but she was an artist and at that time the Highlands had nothing much to offer in the arts. Her husband wanted to launch his own practice and the Highlands needed another lawyer. Don had been connected to the Highlands during his youth through the work his father, a builder of schools and churches, did in the area. Don was often in the Highlands working alongside his father in his youth and it was a place to which he had a connectioin.

One evening as she socialized with friends one of them put forward the idea of creating a School of the Arts in the Haliburton Highlands. Jan Augusteijn, Carl Hanke, and Carole continued to explore this notion recruiting Liz Hogden and Danny O’Neil to assist. Carl , Jan and Carole were able to take advantage of the political pressures of an election year and enter into a successful contract with Sir Sandford Fleming College. The agreement stipulated that if they were able to run the school for three years, keeping it out of the red, the college would take it over and assign a director.

From these tenuous roots a well-respected and very active Haliburton School of the Arts has grown. The Haliburton School of the Arts now functions from a full-time Fleming College Campus. It offers programs of various lengths from one day to a full-time art certification programs with courses in a variety of media. The Haliburton School of the Arts calendar of courses is very diversified and draws people from near and far to take advantage of the artistic talent that resides in, or is affiliated with, the Haliburton Highlands.

Carole has developed her skills and continues to paint on a daily basis. She states, “it is important if you are to be an artist that you paint every day”. Forty years after moving here, she recognizes that The Haliburton Highlands has much to offer artists. There is a vibrant artistic community of which she is an active part. She is a member of the Arts Council~Haliburton Highlands. She is part of the well-established, fall Haliburton County Studio Tour and the newer Tour de Forest that occurs on the August long weekend each year. In addition to shows within the Highlands Carole’s work is recognized in galleries and shows throughout Ontario and British Columbia.