A Anna Arminen was a selected artist in the Lahti Miniprint exhibition 2014

I have had to resort to drastic measures

I came across this today and thought 

YES....I am going to do that to kick start my blog back into life.  I have so many things that I had intended to post on here so this April of 2019 is participating in the A to Z blog challenge.  For the next 26 days I will start my post with the subsequent letter alphabet.  Today is A.

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

A

Here I  am ....finally writing a post about my experiences of making submissions to Lahti Miniprint in Finland.  I was also selected to be in the above mentioned Lahti exhibition.  

The image pictured LEFT is by Anna Arminen  (Finland ) and was selected for exhibition at 2014 miniprint Lahti (technique/media digital Print)

I’ll tell you something perplexing about that, well that is from my perspective.

 A long long time ago......back when the very first Lahti Mini print that was ever held (which took place in 1998 or thereabouts) - AND I was selected to be in it.


As it was among the very first print biennials triennials and so forth,  that I had ever applied for
- I was delighted, I had entered an accordion like print which had three ‘pages’.

I dont know if I have a photo of it.  I do still have it and will photograph it and insert it asap. Anyway I was a lot less experienced at that time and although there was no printed catalogue book I was ever so pleased just to be included in the exhibition.    

And as time went by AND after having my submissions selected for various print biennials etc  and the like -  I decided that I would only enter printmaking ‘events’, IF there was going to be printed catalogue book.

You see because of my disabling pain inducing chronic condition getting together several framed pieces of artwork for a show is utterly exhausting.
It takes me many days to recover.  From the beginning of 2017 in addition to the pain I already had, I developed something horrible called PND (Peripheral Nerve Damage).
This was in the toe area of my right foot mainly.
This is supposed to be my “good” foot. LOL !!!
The nerves in my left leg from the knee downwards are fairly useless since I had a ’stroke’ of sorts in about 2008.
Anyway the main point I am making here is that ‘overdoing’ things where I am concerned with studio activities puts me in danger of triggering that PND.  Have you ever had a nerve type pain in your teeth?……..well imagine several of those twinge/ aches intertwining inside the top area of your right foot.  It is terrifying.
So I am ‘between a rock and a hard place’ as they say.  They have prescribed tablets to keep this PND

pain at bay and I take one every night and it seems to work - I am so grateful that the doctor who

suggested that, was correct.  It’s ironic because when I saw him at the practice - he was a temp-stand-in-doctor and I thought “oh god he is probably going to tell me to listen to a relaxation tape or something equally annoying etc.”.  I am glad I was wrong in my estimation.

In summary getting together a submission of unmounted  prints to post off to China Taiwan Poland Japan etc etc......I can just about manage to do.  Anything more physically demanding is a real trial.   My partner C. takes them to the post office for me or if I am feeling 'up to it' I will get driven there and go in and deal with it in person.
IMAGE ABOVE: "Perduras Dream". copper plate etch on Pigment inkjet on Hahnemuhle

OK getting back to my initial digression regarding Lahti Finland Miniprint.

I submitted the next time and didn’t get selected - in that case, I checked and then realised that I misconstrued the sizes.  I didn’t bother the next time it came around.  The following event I
submitted and yet again was not selected.
During this time I purchased a couple of their catalogues and they were really very very good. In fact one of these catalogues is among my favourites from my collection of art exhibition catalogue books.

Anyway so last time round I decided I would have another go and this time there was a theme of sorts I can't remember what it was although it might have had something to do with infinity or eternity.

So I made 3 mini prints for Lahti or as it was called by then "Finland Miniprint" and hooray I  finally got selected.  The plate size was 17 x 20 cm (7 x 8 inches).  Paper sheet size is 30 x 35 cm (12 x 14 inches) Although its classified as a mini print - its isn't too ridiculously small so I find it to be quite a nice size to work with.

BUT THEN IRONICALLY AND SO SO DISAPPOINTINGLY ……..they informed me that this time they were not in a position to publish  a printed catalogue for the first time.

I was so disappointed.  I seemed to be doomed by Lahti - it was such a shame especially being as it was  something I had so admired.

This was published in August 2015 (I had been in touch with them saying how disappointed I was).  I mean I /we ....do like to see what the other artworks look like in the exhibition.  The catalogue books are a celebration and documentation of the event.
See this at bottom of this post

LEFT: another of the selected Lahti prints
Title: "Ashra's Daughters", collagraph and pigment inkjet (not a great photo but will update with a better one in the near future).

Below are links to the other three exhibitions for which there were printed catalogue books.


a)

2004 catalogue online

b)

2010 catalogue online

c)

2007 catalogue online

Most recent catalogue - the one I finally got selected into!!

https://issuu.com/lahdentaidegraafikot/docs/miniprint-finland-2014-catalog