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November 1997 Fálkinn, the ICCT NewsletterCHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS:
Help your children/grandchildren discover their heritage! Pick up items at the Christmas party, or contact: Holly (905) 648-5263 e-mail ab994@freenet.hamilton.on.ca or Gail (416) 762-8627 e-mail 76161.422@compuserve.com ÞORRABLÓT IS COMING…Saturday, March 7, 1998 JÓLATRÉ SKEMMTUN (FOURTH ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY)3:00 p.m. Sunday, November 30 Unitarian Hall, 175 St. Clair Ave. West We will be singing carols around the Christmas tree - in both English and Icelandic, with lessons in the hand gestures which go with the Icelandic songs Our Youth Co-ordinator, Leah Salt, with help from Katrin Jónsdóttir and Peter Fox has lined up a whole bunch of craft activities for all ages, including Icelandic crafts. A storyteller will be reading the Jolisveiner stories (these are the mischievous elves who visit for thirteen nights at Christmas) Also on the menu are lots of games for kids of all ages. Adults can do some of their Christmas shopping, with an assortment of crafts, Icelandic and Icelandic-Canadian books, Iceland video, T-shirts, sweatshirts, Canada-Iceland pins, etc. A baked goods table will be set up so you can take away some goodies to friends and family. The Icelandic film “Children of Nature” will be shown in a separate room, starting at 3:30 p.m. If you have some Christmas crafts for sale, please bring them - just let us know in advance so we can make room for you. EACH FAMILY SHOULD BRING A PLATE OF GOODIES
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:Gail Einarson-McCleery
Last month, I announced my intention to resign from the position of Newsletter Editor of the ICCT, in order to concentrate on my Presidential duties. Unfortunately, no-one has come forward to take charge of the Newsletter. Our Youth Co-ordinator Leah Salt, and her sister Tara Salt, have graciously volunteered to put this Christmas issue together. However, it hardly seems fair to continue to ask Leah to do double duty, so I am asking once again if there isn’t someone who would enjoy the challenge of being at the helm of our publication. Perhaps the job could be split into two - one person who would be responsible for content, and the other would do the layout and desktop publishing side of it. This is a great opportunity, so don’t be shy - I’m sure you would find it very rewarding, as I have for the last three years! Call me (416)762-8627 or send an e-mail - 76161.422@compuserve.com. On another topic, we have had many discussions on our financial state. For the first time, we have prepared a budget so that we can look ahead realistically to see where we are going. We have not increased dues for around ten years (no-one can remember for how long!); we have chosen instead to find other sources of additional funding as our costs have risen. There are so many things we would like to do to enhance the understanding of club members of our heritage, but most of them take money. Our budget showed us, for example, that we could not afford to send a child to Icelandic Heritage Camp in Gimli this year unless we increased our fees. So, we have reluctantly had to take that step. If any of you feel able to add a donation to that (still small) fee, we would be delighted! If there is something in particular you would like to sponsor, please let us know. Examples could include:
By working together, we can keep our heritage alive! Intensive Summer Course in ReykjavíkBy Christopher Morden
This summer I made my third visit to Iceland, with the focus of taking a four-week language course at the University of Iceland. The course cost $420 U.S., and I spent another $300 Cdn. On course materials, a pronunciation tape, and dictionaries. I paid $350 Cdn. to share an apartment with three other students. The course is taught in three components: grammar, conversation and written
materials. Classes were four hours a day, and I found it necessary
to do between four and six hours of homework per day. My fellow students
came from Japan, Mexico, the United States, and various European countries.
The course provided a good introduction to Icelandic, but many of the students
were frustrated by the large amount of material presented. The teachers
seemed intent on sticking to their curriculum when it was obvious that
people were falling behind, not doing homework, and dropping out.
For more information about “Intensive Course A”, write to: Office of International Education For more information, please contact Chris Morden at (416) 690-4501 COMING EVENTS:Sunday, November 30 - Jólatré Skemmtun (Xmas Party) Friday, January 23 - Youth Movie Night
Tuesday, February 10 - University of Guelph Student Exchange Program/Visit to Iceland - details to come THANKS TO:Leslie Cochrane and the Oakville Art Society for hosting a successful event featuring Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson and Icelandic art, and to Oakville members Pat Odegard, Joan Albert and Lorelie Mitchell Lorelie Mitchell for organizing, baking, billeting, etc. Special thanks to Larry Sigmundson who came up with the answer to our dilemma of having the wrong size of carousel for our presentation - his quick thinking saved the evening! And in Toronto, thanks to the Art Gallery of Ontario and all the Executive members of ICCT who put together another great show to complement Aðalsteinn’s delightful presentation and to Guðrun Girgis and Erla Macaulay who appeared in costume to help direct our guests. A special thanks to Douglas Laxdal of the GAS Company, who designed and produced our poster, and to Joseph E. Martin, who sponsored the costs for the poster. Thanks also to our anonymous donor who paid for the laser pointer which the club presented to Adalsteinn. Belated thanks are due to Art Zeller, who contributed many back copies of Logberg Heimskringla to our library earlier this year. MILESTONESBIRTHDAYS:A number of our members turned 70 this year - they include Hank Enns of London, Jorgen Poschmann of Oakville, Leslie E. Snelling of Brampton, and Jack Peter Tatton of Mt. Forest. OBITUARYADALHEIDUR MARÍA (EINARSON) BONSER(April 16, 1919 - October 7, 1997) Heiða Bonser passed on peacefully on October 7, 1997 at her home at Lake Forest, near Chicago. Survivors include her husband Sidney, along with her five children, Marilyn (John) Fraser, Pamela (Tony) McDermott, Valerie (Jock) Macrae, Reginald (Lorraine) Bonser and Grant (Cathy) Bonser; and three sisters Runa Ingimundson, Olla (Stefan) Stefanson and Sigga Benediktson. She is also survived by her sixteen grandchildren, Justin Fraser, Shannon Karp, Melanie Cloud, Michelle Fraser, Ryan Jamieson and Bryn McDermott, Andrew, Cameron and Vanessa Macrae, Jason and Steven Bonser, Laura, Heida, Sean and Sidney Bonser and her three great-grandchildren, Tyler and Tristan Karp and Ryan Fraser; as well as many nieces and nephews. Heiða’s father Sigurður Einarson came from Iceland with his parents (Einar Einarsson and Guðbjörg Grímsdóttir) in 1879. Her mother, María Jóhannsdóttir, was the daughter of Jóhann Jónnsson and Sigriður Ólafsdóttir, who had arrived in Gimli with the first settlers in 1875, having first settled briefly in Kinmount, Ontario. María’s brother Jón was the first white child born in Gimli. In 1902, they homesteaded on a farm which they named Thórsmörk in the Minerva district, where they lived the rest of their lives. Heiða was the 14th of their 15 children. During the war, she met Sidney Bonser, an RAF officer who was training in Gimli, at a dance at the Gimli Pavilion. They married and lived initially in Winnipeg, where their four older children were born, until moving to Etobicoke, Ontario in 1956, where their youngest child was born. In 1964 they relocated to Oakville, Ontario where they lived until 1972 when Sidney’s work took them to Lake Forest, Illinois. She and her sisters were among the first Icelandic-Canadians to visit Iceland, when they went in the 1960’s. She and her husband also travelled extensively, but above all her home, family and grandchildren were always of paramount importance to her. Our Condolences to Arden Jackson-Snow, her children, and her parents, George and Margrét Jackson, on the sudden passing of her husband Ron Snow, aged 44, on October 11, 1997. Intimate LandscapesBy: Leslie Cochrane
Landscape, in Iceland is something that is difficult, if not impossible to separate from the aesthetic experience. This concept was suggested by Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson, the recent curator of The National Gallery of Iceland, during his cross Canada lecture tour in October. While attending a presentation on contemporary Icelandic art at the Oakville Art Society, my preconceived expectations were soon altered. This was not a lecture on two dimensional landscapes as anticipated, but a presentation and explanation, for the most part, on conceptual art. This is an art form which emphasizes the creative process, rather than product. For this reason, it is usually documented by photography. In brief, the mission statement of the Oakville Art Society is to “…create a Forum where persons interested in art may meet to … enjoy mutual encouragement in … art appreciation.” Ingólfsson’s presentation to a full house while at the Art Society’s Bronte Road location more than fulfilled that pledge. It was entertaining as well as an informative evening. What was displayed was not only an explanation of an art form that can sometimes confound even the most aesthetically enlightened, but an opening of a window of understanding into the unique connection of the Icelandic people with their land. Siggurdur Gudmundsson, an Icelandic artist living in, and supported by the country of Holland, ironically spends his creative energy, as well as his grant money in expressing the alienation he feels while under the patronage of a more urban oriented society. His home sick “angst” is documented through black and while photography and is never more apparent than in a self portrait, where he is strolling along a Dutch street, wearing a beak. Others display their reverence for the environment with a traditional sort of aboriginal respect. After uprighting various flat rocks on a rugged hillside, and photographing a scene in “Touchstones - Shelter from the Storm” (1982), Richard Long, while working in Iceland, then returns them with the same care he took in producing his statement. Páll Gundunnsson, while mimicking an ancient artistic tradition produced pictographs on rocks throughout Húsafeli Valley (1990). The viewer is involved in the natural surroundings as images appear enroute, both above, along rock faces and beneath a stream. With his construction “Mountain” (1980), Sigurdur Gudmunsson places himself on top of a cross section of bricks and stones. He then has books piled over his head, loaves of brad on his stomach and shoes over his feet. In this ultimate symbolic structure, the man becomes the mountain, buried by his earthly needs. Another participatory experience occurs with Steina Vasulka’s “Fire Ruins” (1996), an encompassing circle of fiery volcanic imagery, complete with sound effects. “Rainbow I & II” (1985) by Rúri stimulates the individual’s imagination to complete the rainbow she has created through piling rows of coloured chalk on opposite sides of a park. Jöhann Sypells works with lava rock, an unusual sculptural medium. Magnus Kjayason invites us to take the scenery with us on a mountain of wheels with “Hillock” (1982), and Olafur Larnsson simply leaves his canvas out to be weathered by the elements (Untitled, 1973). This is truly an ultimate expression of landscape-influenced creative minimalism. The population of Iceland is surprisingly small (approximately 270,000), considering the seemingly large number of conceptual artists the country produces. Even the most urban setting of Rekjavík, the average Icelander couldn’t help but be affected by the overwhelming influence of the land. It is both harsh and beautiful, dangerous and intriguing. And it is encompassing. The cracks, fissures and loose volcanic rock present a challenging obstacle course, while demanding a certain amount of respect. In Canada, we have similar artistic roots. The classically pastoral influence of traditional European inspired landscape eventually gave way to more realistically fallible rugged images as illustrated by the Canadian “Group of Seven”. We are moving further from those wild places though, as our accelerating urban development separates us from the true wilderness experience. As an artist, I felt a twinge of envy towards the Icelandic artists’ more accessible connection with untamed nature. |
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