Cabinet of Curiousity

PHOTOGRAMS with found objects 91-93

2007-04-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

A photogram is a photographic image made (without a camera) by placing objects directly onto the surface of a photo-sensitive material such as photo paper and then exposing it to light. The result is a silhouetted image varying in darkness depending on the transparency of the found objects,with areas of the paper that have not received any light appearing light and those that are appearing dark, according to the laws governing photosensitivity. The image that is attained is a negative and the resulting image is quit similar to an X-RAY. This method of art image making is attributed to Man Ray and his experiments with "rayographs". Others who have experimented with this technique are Lazlo Moholy-Nagy,Christian Chad,Imogen Cunningham and Mr. Pablo Picasso.
Personally I feel photograms are printmaking with white light. Below are examples of using the tanned fish hides and found objects to create prints with light. Each was hand developed black and white photogram prints on Ilford paper with objects I have collected over the years from my artistic travels. To have a Cabinet of Curiosities within my art studio is truly inspiring.
Below you will find a few examples from an exstensive body of photograms, many were sold to patrons of the arts before they could be documented.

Title: "Underwater Landscape"
Medium: Hand pulled Photogram on Ilford Paper
Size: 8 X 10
Date: 1991

Title: "Fish and Dragonfly Form"
Medium: Hand Pulled Photogram on Ilford Paper
Size:8 X 10
Date: 1991

This is a detail shot from the above photogram.

Title: "Photogram Collage"
Medium: Hand Pulled Photogram on Ilford Paper
Size: 11 X 14
Date: 1992

Title: "Found Object Collage #1"
Medium: Hand Pulled Photogram on Ilford Paper
Size: 11 X 14
Date: 1992

Title: "Found Object Collage #2"
Medium: Hand Pulled Photogram on Ilford Paper
Size: 11 X 14
Date: 1992

Title: "Bat,Church windows and Dragonflies"
Medium: Hand Pulled Photogram on Ilford Paper
Size: 11 X 14
Date: 1992

Title: "Creek Chad"
Medium: Hand Pulled Photogram on Ilford Paper
Size: 11 X 14
Date: 1993

Title: "In the Detroit River"
Medium: Hand Pulled Photogram on Ilford Paper
Size: 11 X 14
Date: 1993

1989 Fluidic Abstraction

2007-04-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Discovering the wonders of fluid and the intuitive interpretations, I left the silk screen inks behind and moved onto India inks.
Below are a few pieces from the experiments with coloured fluid and air and a simple colour theory. Pouring the inks onto the surface of the rag paper and blowing the fluid with a brass blow pipe was the process. The found object was the recorded image left in the ink stains. It was a primitive attempt at capturing marks within the space of the paper and again utilizing intuitive aspects inherent within the visual artist.This was an early attempt at exploring the many doorways of the found object.

Title: "Order and Chaos"
Medium: India Ink on rag paper
Size: 22" X 30"
Date: 1989

Title: "The Wind in the Trees"
Medium: India Ink on rag paper
Size: 22" X 30"
Date: 1989

Title: "Order and Chaos #5"
Medium: India Ink on rag paper
Size: 22" X 30"
Date: 1989

EARLY EXPERIMENTS IN ABSTRACTION

2007-04-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

After the silkscreen experiments, I was more connected with the liquidy screen inks. I discovered they were very fluid.
The following is a few examples of abstract painting. The theory being that I was attracted to the liquidness of the wonderful colours directly from the can. The way the colour dripped off the stick in one continuos stream was visually exciting. I was experimenting at the time with every aspect of the found object. I was painting intuitively in space above the paper and the drips were the recording of my drawings in the space above the paper. Its on the artistic plain as Jackson Pollock, yet here I am drawing a portrait in the air and the paper is recording the image as it falls to earth. The final drip painting in my opinion is the found object. The portrait was discovered in empty space and gravity created what I envisioned.

Title: "Intuitive Portrait with Blue, Yellow, and Red".
Medium: Dripped silk screen ink on Paper.
Size: 16" X 23"
Date: 1988
Note: The signature was signed in space also.

Title: "Intuitive Portrait #2"
Medium: Dripped silk screen ink on paper
Size: 24" X 25"
Date: 1988
Note: The signature was signed in space.

Title: "Intuitive Portrait #7"
Medium: Dripped silk screen ink on paper
size: 23" X 29"
Date: 1988

This is a detail shot of the thinness of the dripped lines from marks created in fluidic empty space.

Title: "Portrait of Sherri"
Medium: Dripped silk screen ink on paper
Size: 24" X 37"
Date: 1988

1988 EARLY SILK SCREEN

2007-04-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

Silk screen printmaking was another form of image creation attempted.
I created a few editions for the mere aspect of trying it.

Title: "Marsh Sillouette"
Medium: Silk Sreen on Paper
Size: 24" X 14"
Date: 1988

EMBOSSING FISH SKINS

2007-04-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

This chapter I will discuss the procedure for preparing fish skins for the embossed print making process. The following descriptions should give a relative idea what is involved with the process of utilizing flora and fauna for nature prints and the spiritual connection as the artist.

Here I have collected some filleted fresh water fish from a local fishing camp. The fish cadavers are soaked in Methyl Hydrate(Engine Alcohol) for about a week to remove the fish grease and to sterilize them.

The desired specimens are skinned with a scalpel from nose to tail. The dorsal fins are also left attached as so to acquire a good image for conservation and documentation.

Once the skinning process is complete, the fish hides are stapled to a tanning board. With powdered borax I massage the borax on the flesh side of the skin. This absorbs left over fish oil and keeps beetles and wasps from eating the skin. Borax also eliminates the odor of dried fish and keeps the smell from attracting raccoons. There is another purpose for using borax, thats so to keep mice from nibbling on the specimans that took hours to prepare. In the early stages of experimenting with tanning the bird or fish skin, I was disappointed with going into the tanning shack in the morning to retrieve the tanning boards, as so to hang out in the sun, and they were chewed to pieces. It was a very important ritual to take care of the biological specimans once they were on the tanning board. Spring and summer was spent collecting the species as well as preparing them, the fall and winter was the time to print them in the studio.

This is a prepared sunfish skeleton. It is ready for printing. This fish has oil based inks rubbed onto its surface and with a Q-tip, the colour has been applied into the crevices and hard to reach places. This stage of the process is an extremely delicate procedure. Time and patience has to be maximized during the applying of colour by hand, for I am after the coloured impression. Sloppy inking = sloppy print image = wasting an expensive piece of archival rag paper. Now that the fish is covered in ink, I use a cloth and wipe off all the ink. In theory the wiping removes surface ink, leaving ink in the surface textures. This is what gives a detailed embossing...the pores within scales, feathers , skin and bone are what hold the ink.
Once the found object from nature is ready, it is laid on the steel printing press bed. The paper which I use is archival rag paper,usually 120pnd ARCHES or SUMMERSET paper from FRANCE, and it is soaked for one hour. When the time limit is up, the paper is removed and hand held to drip dry over the water basin.

Placing the damp rag paper in between 2 towels, hand pressure is applied to the towels to remove anymore surface water on the paper. In theory, the damp rag paper is almost like soft clay, thus allowing the press pressure to compress in and around the flattened three dimensional object. The point being, is to acquire an embossed print without having the sheet of paper with holes and pressure tears.

When the damp paper is ready, it is removed from between the towels and gently placed over the inked objects from nature.
Then three layers of felt blankets are placed over top of the paper. Now I am ready to turn the wheel of the printing press.
As the wheel is turned , the press bed with the object, the paper and the felts are fed between 2 steel rollers, which in turn exerts 2000pnds of pressure per square inch onto the found object. After the press bed has passed under the rollers, the press bed comes out the other side. The felts are lifted and the paper is ever so gently lifted from the surface of press. The object that was pressed, lays on the bed, and I am left with its embossed image in the paper.

Here is the same sunfish skeleton embossed into the paper. The pressure picked up the details and the colour came along with it. Its a fossil in paper. Its textured and wonderfully detailed. As an artist, it did not have to be drawn or sketched. The image is directly created from the source. Its the best way to show love of natural history. Albrecht Durer always stated that if one can grasp it from nature, one truly has it. He was right!!

Here is a view of the press bed with inked objects laid down and ready for printing. There are zinc plates in and amongst found objects from nature. There is 5 etched zinc plates, 4 bird feet, a mouse skin, a blue heron head, 2 fish skins, a small dried tree frog, a fox snake skin, a large bullfrog skin, along with a mallard wing. This is the stage where the damp paper is laid over top.

Here is a detail section shot of the objects from nature on the press bed. The dark plate is a zinc plate with a detailed engraving of a fish skull.

This is the final print with all the previous objects you saw laid out on the press bed.
Title: "Self Portrait at 24"
Medium: Hand pulled Embossed Print
Size: 22" X 29"
Date: 1993

Once and edition of prints are pulled, they are hung on a wire to dry.

As for the spiritual connection with my art making, its a personal choice to send back to mother earth, the tanned skins and animal bones after I no longer need them. I am a artist that is merely suspending the wonders of nature from DECAY. My work is about conservation and to have the ability to suspend beauty from decay is one that requires some type of honor.
Sometimes people will bring me deceased animals they find on their personal journeys to see if I am able to utilize them in my art making practice. This is a document photo of myself returning to the cosmos a Loon that was covered in oil. This majestic bird was slick with oil and I couldn't utilize it, so its body and spirit were sent home, respectfully buried by the creek.

PAPER MAKING

2007-04-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

When I decided to study printmaking, I also discovered the wonders of making my own art paper.
Below are a few examples of pushing the ingredients of paper making to boundaries which again would incorporate the found object. It occurred to me that making ones own paper is a bit like alchemy. I discovered the wild paper making wasps nests from our meadow and the recycling of one months personal garbage, as material for paper making. Grass clippings, marsh plant fibers, seeds and down from the milk weed and even the feathers from our farm animals were made into paper. The found object made its way into the paper pulp bath and as the screen was lifted through the slurry, swayed back and forth, thus locking into the wet fibers of the paper...an object of art.

Title: "COKE CANS"
Medium: Found Objects embedded into Paper
Size: 20.5" x 15"
Date: 1990

Title: "BEER CAN"
Medium: Found Objects embedded into Paper
Size: 20" X 15"
Date: 1990

Title: The Polluted Innosense"
Medium: Embedded Mummified Goldfish into Paper
Size: 14" X 12"
Date: 1990

Title: "Hand Made Paper with Wasps Nests and Dried Dogfish Skin"
Medium: Found Object Embedded into Paper
Size: 22" X 14"
Date: 1990

Title: "6 Geese at the Beach"
Medium: Hand Made Paper with Ground up Garbage and Acrylic Painted Image.
Size: 28" X 21"
Date: 1990

Early Gyotaku Prints 1990

2007-04-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

The First Experiments in Fish Rubbings
Below are some early experiments with rubbing fish skins on paper.

Title: "Silver Bass" (4 of 7)
Medium: Direct fish rubbing on Rice Paper
Size:11.5" x 16"
Date: 1990

Title: "Carp"
Medium: Direct Fish Rubbing on Rag Paper
Size: 14" x 11"
Date: 1990

Title: "Feeding in the Lilies"
Medium: Direct Fish Rubbing and Water-lily Rubbing on watercolour stained rag paper.
Size: 29" X 20"
Date: 1990
Note: This year opened up to the discovery of Japanese Gyotaku prints. My studies were spent at the Library researching
Leonardo Da Vinci codex's for use of found objects in nature and to the discovery at The Museum of Natural History, collections of Gyotaku references. I was inspired by what I discovered.

Early Prints 1987-1990

2007-04-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Examples of Early Prints from the Portfolio of Jon-Erik:

Title: "Self Portrait at 19"
Medium: Wood Block Print on Rice Paper
Size: 16" x 21"
Date: 1987

Title: " Serpent Seven"
Medium: Lino Block Cut
Size: 17.5'' x 11.5''
Date: 1987

Title: "Nude #3" (7 of 7)
Medium: Zinc Plate Etching on Rag Paper
Size: 5" x 8"
Date: 1987

Title: "Figure with Flowers"
Medium: Wood Block Print on Rice Paper Stained with Watercolour
Size: 12'' x 2.5''
Date: 1988

Title: "Fisherman" (3 of 7)
Medium: Zinc Plate Etching on Rag Paper
Size: 4.5'' x 4.5''
Date: 1988

Title: "Movement" (2 of 7)
Medium: Zinc Plate Etching on Rag
Size: 9'' X 3.5"
Date: 1988
The following prints are the very first examples of embossing found objects from nature.
In theory the objects are inked and laid on a printing press bed with damp rag paper laid over top.
A 3 layer sheet of felt is placed on top. The printing wheel is turned and the objects get pressed with about 2000pnd per square inch of pressure. The pressure, prints the objects into the paper leaving a textured imprint.

Title: "Pressed Dragonflys"
Medium: Inked and Embossed Found Objects on Rag Paper
Size: 6.5" x 11"
Date: 1988

Title: "Pressed Coke Can" (3 of 11)
Medium: Embossed Found Object without the use of ink.
Size: 6" x 8"
Date: 1988

Title: "What Do You Think" (1 of 6)
Medium: Hand Pulled Lithography Print
Size: 14" x 18"
Date: 1989

Title: "Take Me Away" (5 of 5)
Medium: Wood Block Print With Water Colour Stained Rag Paper.
Size: 22" X 10"
Date: 1990

Title: "Baby Rabbit"
Medium: Acrylic Painted Rabbit Rubbed onto Rag Paper.
Size: 13" X 15"
Date: 1990

Title: "Sleeping Nude"
Medium: Lino Block on Rice Paper.
Size: 15" X 12"
Date: 1990

Title: "Reclining Nude"
Medium: Lino Block on Rice Paper
Size: 15" X 12"
Date: 1990

FOUND OBJECT STILL LIFE

2007-04-06T08:10:00.001-07:00

Early Water Colour

This is the first major water colour utilizing found objects as subject matter.
These are objects that were in the artist's Cabinet of Curiosity. The painting took 72 hours to complete.
The bottles were from Jon-Erik's collection, and he had found these on various archeological digs with his father.
A corn cob smoking pipe which my father smoked and the wooden decoy I had found in the bottom of the Snye river while snorkeling. The wooden box was recovered in the mud of a local marsh.
Title: "Still Life with Bottles and Old Decoy"
Medium: Watercolour on rag paper.
Date: 1988
Size: 30'' x 22''

DEER RUBBINGS

2007-04-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

THE DIRECT METHOD OF PRINTING A DEER
As mentioned before, when you least suspect something, something appears. On a drive back to Wallaceburg I found a roadkill buck on "THE QUEEN'S 401 HIGHWAY". It was a young buck and in good enough condition to bring back to studio for printing.
This was a perfect specimen to add to my portfolio, for I was in the process of creating an edition of prints with a theme, based on Flora and Fauna from the lower Great Lakes in which I dwell. So I said a thank-you prayer to the spirit of the deer for being upon my path this day. I packed him up in the jeep with some garbage bags and off to the studio we went.

I washed the deer down with a garden hose, bleach and water. One more water washing to make the hide very soaked which allowed the water based inks to soak into his thick fur. Applying water based printers ink with a roller proved to be a very meditative experience. It felt like an ancient ritual, the way old world people prepared the lifeless shell for the journey into the other realms within the mysterious cosmos.

There is story my father told me about how the earliest dwellers within the Great Lakes basin would smear Red Ochre over the entire individual before burial. Along with this ritual, grave goods would be placed in and around the individual that was being sent home to mother earth. I reflected on this aspect and began to truly understand the energies involved. I would do this with the deer, which has allowed me to remember his beauty, through art making.

Once I reached the head area of the deer , I gazed for a long while into his beautiful blueish eyes. The eye lashes had the most gorgeous texture. The teeth had a wonderful white and brown stain and there was still vegetation in his mouth from where he was foraging, before being run over by a vehicle. I contemplated through looking into his eyes, all that he has seen. Wondering if he was able to leave his seed within a female, as so to carry on his DNA before leaving this planet.
I had a great respect for the deer as the colour was smeared and massaged around his face.

Now comes the time to lay the rag paper onto the found object from nature. The paper has soaked in water for about an hour as so to allow the paper to be malleable. I started to think of the great fish prints from japan, where printmakers would take fish rubbings with rice paper, remembering the spirits of the fisherman's catch. Did anyone in japan make rubbings of other animals? In this photo document ,the artist is using a printers rubbing tool. In all, I had to utilize 3 full sheets of rag paper to acquire a good nature print. The print will be a trip-tic.

The finished print created in the woods of a woodland creature. This was an edition of 3 with a few artists proofs of just the deer's head. On a respectful note, I buried the deer by the pond in a grove. In his burial there was corn, apples and carrots placed by his head. I laid fresh cut marsh flowers over his body along with a small bundle of tobacco, sage, and sweet grass.
After his soul was thanked, I sealed him back within the soil of mother earth. A chestnut tree was planted on-top of his resting place. Thank-you deer spirit.

This is the deer rubbing in its complete state with all 3 sheets of rag paper linked together.
This is an edition of only 3.

2 EXAMPLES OF NATURE PRINTING

2007-04-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

THE DIRECT PRINTING METHOD:
My first attempt at creating visual art with directly from nature related subject matter was with a dead cottontail rabbit, a jack rabbit, and a fresh roadkill buck.

I was driving back from college and a rabbit ran out in front of my car and I hit it. I was moved by this situation and pulled over on the dirt road and walked back to the rabbit. Carrying it to the side of the road in a rural area,where no one else was around to cast their gaze my way. My heart went out to this entity as it was breathing rapidly and gasping for air,choosing to stay with it as so to offer some last moment of comfort. Speaking from the heart to this rabbit, I quietly asked for forgiveness and gently caressed its head and looked directly into its eyes. The eyes were a beautiful brown and black and I could see my reflection in its iris. I stayed with this tiny forest animal till its soul slipped into the spirit realm. I silently asked the universe to accept this woodland creature into the great mystery of life. Being touched at this event I carried its limp warm body to the car and went home . On the drive back to the studio I decided to somehow remember this animal by making art about the experience of roadkill.
This was the summer I was experimenting with woodblock printing and embossing pieces of fish skin, so my mindset was in a state of printmaking techniques. At lunch in the cafeteria that day, I had just got done reading about Albrecht Durer and seeing his famous art piece, a rendering of "The Hare".
In the studio, I sketched the rabbit and studied the wonderful colour combinations of its hide. It was decided that I would cover the rabbit with paint and make direct prints from it...to see what visually happens. This was a pivotal moment in my early years of print making, for the visual artist had made a spiritual connection to nature through art. I had to now validate my image and be responsible for the message conveyed. I reflected at the catch 22 of this artistic situation. Ironically I was driving a lime green VW Diesel Rabbit that took the live of this tiny woodland rabbit, who was on its own journey.
Man,Technology and Nature through the medium of print making.
After a few artists proofs of the printed rabbit , I chose to create a small edition of prints titled.."ROADKILL ON THE QUEEN'S HIGHWAY".
Below are documented photographs of the process. On a respectful note the rabbit was buried back by the creek that runs through our ecosystem.

The object from nature is painted with india ink.

The ink is painted against the grain of the fur so the found object becomes a well lubricated stamp.

The found object is gently pressed onto the rag paper, then special attention is given to pressing the ears and feet as so to achieve a good detailed print of the fauna specimen.

My spare VW Rabbit car tire is painted with ink.

Then it is rolled over the printed image of the rabbit. Its print on print.

Two different print images combined together reflecting MAN and NATURE, again meeting.The fact that the tire treads have a pattern almost mimicking a heart beat rhythm.

The story of the rabbit and the man, is now a visual language portrayed through printmaking. My art is a homage to this experience.

THE MYSTERIOUS JACK RABBIT:

To get a glimpse of a jack rabbit running across an open field is truly a sight to see. They are the fastest of the rabbit species and the largest. I have witnessed them stand on their hind legs and actually box each other. They almost resemble a cheetah in full gallop...and are extremely fast. They are almost extinct in the Chatham-Kent area, so it took about 4 years of looking out for one on the back roads of farm country. Then on a day you least expect something, it appears.

This is a document photo of printing a jack rabbit with paint onto a stretched canvas.

This is finished piece

Title: ''Honoring the Jack Rabbit Roadkill"
Medium: Blue and Yellow ochre acrylic with red clay mixed with matt medium on canvas.
Size: 58cm X 71cm

ANTIQUE PHOTO

This is a photo from the turn of the century. I am fascinated with this image for the mere reason it portrays the beginning of consumerism and a global mindset of disconnecting with the land. In this trophy photo the are 723 Rabbits(Cottontails and Jack rabbit) along with 2 possum and 1 wolf. I hope they all cleaned their plates after each meal. Did anyone say thank-you to these animal spirits. On the back of the photo it was inscribed that this was one day of rodent clearing. Now look at us with global warming and extinction level override.

A CHILD OF NATURE SCHOOL

2007-04-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Since as far back as I can remember my mother and father would let me run around naked on the rural acreage with dragon flys and monarchs. I would play and fish with my little brother Carsten till we heard mom call for dinner. So off to the dinner table we would go, ready to tell of our adventures. My father who taught at the University of Windsor(Sociology/Anthropology and Museum Methods) would be home with really neat stuff from the Anthropology Lab. After dinner we heard the historical stories and got to hold something from history's long past. Sometimes my dad would come home with animal skulls he had used in lectures or someone brought in a historical artifact they had found in the field, either way all this interesting stuff made a pit-stop into the Kroon household. So Carsten and myself had exposure to the greatest library of all...Our parents and their profession.

Actually growing up in a remote rural setting with plants and animals as friends was the greatest of teachers. Our household was always filled with academic guests, biologists, scientists, poets, artists, musicians, other archeologists and not to mention a few people who had contact with aliens and U.F.O's. All sorts of personalities had seeked out my father for questions, answers and inspiration...and my little mind was absorbing...I almost felt like a child sitting with Socrates and his circle of peers.

Our property was along the Snye River and there was an Island on the other-side which is called Walpole Island first Nation(Unceeded Territory). I have spent so much of my youth exploring the shores and when I was old enough to be on my own at the river, thats when I got a scuba mask and explored the life of beauty that was underneath her aqua blue ripples.
I would watch the First Nations families across from our dock come home from muskrat hunting trips and during the fall migration I would see them drive their outboard motor boat past our dock and hold a wonderful stringer of mallards and geese.

In return I put down my fishing pole and pulled from the icy blue Snye river, my catch of yellow bellied perch and gold and white pickerel. Oh how I loved living my days along the Snye River as a child of nature.

Below is a visual synopsis of life as a child of nature.

Playing outside with a horse skull.

A day outside with my dads archeological pith helmut and plastic fishing pole....Ahhh no concept of school!

I can remember this day, it was the first time I caught a fish on my own.
I got a shoe lace and a bobby pin and tied it to a willow branch.
When I placed the worm on the bobby pin I quietly dropped it under the dock and watched a large mouth bass come creeping along out of the shadows. With one gulp he inhaled my homemade contraption. I was yelling at mom and dad that I had a big one....but they didn't believe me..until the water was splashing under the dock. I impressed my folks that day with a shoe lace fishing outfit.

I am so so proud I was brought up in a backwoods bohemian family lifestyle.

This is my first leopard frog that I caught on my own. I brought it home as a present for my father.

AHHHHH....being naked outside with the plants and animals on a hot July day...god did I love chasing dragonflies with my butterfly net in the nude.

This is a Mastodon molar, a tooth from a prehistoric elephant from the ice age. A farmer called my dad out to his farm in Dresden Ontario to show us a pile of bones his plow had unearthed. We found part of its massive skull and a few leg bones along with some very large teeth. The farmer told us he probably threw the tusks into the nearby creek the previous year after my dad told him what it was buried in his corn field.

This is Professor Edward Leonard Kroon and we are going on a Archeological expedition.

On this expedition a bundle burial was discovered. Here is a First nations individual who was buried with all hunting utensils. Arrow heads of bone were discovered which would later be identified as the bones from the tail of a very large Sturgeon.
There was also glass beads with the interred suggesting contact with european trade goods. I remember my father was a very thoughtful scientist and had the bundle burial reburied with offerings of tobacco,corn,beans and squash. Also he placed a bronze plaque with the University of Windsor's crest on it...inscribed it read..."Thankyou for your contribution to knowledge''.

The summer of that expedition, the team recovered one of the largest First Nations pottery vessels ever recovered in the great lakes basin. Its approx. height was 3.5' high and it merely collapsed in situ.The vessel had burnt bird bone for tempering and
magnetite for grog. Of important note was the fact it had beautiful carrying handles. I remember helping my father piece together this magnificent piece of pottery. As to its where about, the last I heard my father mention of it was after a Government agency raided his laboratory and confiscated it...maybe its in the Royal Ontario Museum?...it was his wish that it be turned over to Walpole Island Heritage Center to show the young people of the wondrous craftsmanship their elders had in their every day life. The vessel was assumed to be a winter storage vessel for seeds and its purpose was to be filled with agriculture seeds and buried underground for the following season when the hunter gather group returned to this site. No one returned and the vessel lay hidden like a time capsule.

Here we are on another Archeological expedition in Amherstburg, Ontario. My job for the summer was to clear the brush and stake off the area where midden pits were presumed, thats why the trusty sword and buck knife. It was a limestone and log foundation with a stone barn out back. It has been proven that Tecumseh Chief slept in this barn en-route for battle in the war of 1812. This was the homestead of Colonel Mathew Elliot(1739-1814). This site was where the house of Colonel Mathew Elliot was erected in 1784. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the American Colonies in 1761, and during the revolution served with the British forces as a captain in the Indian Department. He was an indian agent for the western tribes 1790-1795 and deputy superintendent of the Indian Department 1795-1798. Elliot represented Essex in the legislative assembly 1801-1812. As Colonel of the 1st Essex Militia he took part in the capture of Detroit, August 16, 1812, and the battles of Fort Meigs, Morraviantown, and Black Rock.

This is my little brother and myself after fishing together on the Snye River.

As I grew more connected to the land,I started to catch grasshoppers,crickets and caterpillars for bait. My fishing and trapping skills began to become a second language, using the resources around me. By this time my father showed me how to skin and render meat for the table. Cooking fresh fish along the Snye River was a common past time for me. I returned the unneeded parts back to the snapping turtles and crayfish.

Here is a fish story I must share. This is a fare sized Northern Pike from the Snye river. I was fishing for perch at the end of the drop off from my canoe. There was a stringer of perch dangling off the back of the boat. I was sketching in my artist pad while waiting for a bite. The day was quiet and calm on the river. Noticing the fish stringer tug a little, I quietly peered over the side. Well low and behold there was this Northern Pike eating my perch off the stringer. My dad had always said that you could rub the belly of a pike when he is gorging himself on a stringer of perch. Balancing quietly, it was time to test his theory. With a little patience I began to slip my hands beneath the surface and reach for my prey. Fingers ever so gently caressing his sides, I began to maneuver underneath him. It was working and I could look into his golden eyeballs and see those beautiful yellow spots and orange tipped fins. Then with the reflex of a hawk I grabbed him under the gills. Wow...the thrill of catching a Northern Pike with your bare hands.

PIKE FAMILY-ESOCIDAE
The pikes belong to the Holarctic zoo-geographical realm: that is, they are circumpolar in their distribution in the fresh-waters of Europe, Asia and North America. Distinctive characteristics of the family are the elongated head and the long depressed jaws which are armed with sharp, strong canine teeth. The jaws are shaped like a duck's bill when viewed from above. All the members of the family are predaceous.
In Europe a single species ESOX LUCIUS occurs, and in Asia two species, E.LUCIUS and E.REICHERTI. In Europe E. LUCIUS is called the pike, and this is the name by which it should be known. In North America at least four species occur,-the pike and maskinonge which reach a large size and two species which do not grow to a length of more than 12-15 inches. These are properly called pickeral, a name which means small pike. The popular name of one of these is grass pickeral. The use of this name for a small northern pike should be avoided,since it leads to confusion of it with the pickeral which never reaches a large size.

My little brother and I would sometimes use fish heads for bait to catch the ever elusive DOGFISH.

A portrait of me the first time I caught a snapping turtle with a fishing pole.
My father once caught a snapper and held it up to show his friends and its ability to have a longer neck than is visible was apparently proven. As he was holding it up it lunged its head sideways and bit my dad on the left chest area between his nipple and armpit. It was a serious bit for they had to drive him to the hospital with a snapping turtle locked onto his tit.
The doctors had to cut the head off the turtle and surgically remove the lower jaw from the snapper. I let this big guy go and was forever impressed with the ancientness of one of the greatest and most silent of marsh hunters. I respect the turtle.

Summers on the Snye River was they best teacher. My brother and I would have our own fishing derbies. Sometimes we would get our scuba masks and swim in the shallows and hunt for large crayfish and at times I would swim up to my little brother and stuff a crayfish into his speedos. At times we would swim out to the weed bed and get large gobbs of seaweed and place it on our heads and smear our face with mudd,then wait under the dock for a boat to be going by. When the moment was right, together we would swim out towards the boat with our mermaid seaweed hair and scare the crap out of the boaters. Then laughing about their expressions we went back to the ritual of fishing and dreaming of what kind of future was in store for our dreams.

This is a fox snake I brought home on my bike. It was laying on the pavement basking in the warmth. I regularly brought snakes home to our 11 acre ecosystem as so they were not run over by cars or large farm machinery. Their colour patterns were of the utmost colour combination, canary yellow to black checkered pattern. The Snakes in the Snye river Delta system are quit large and I have discovered them eating wild duck eggs whole. The fox snake also can mimic a rattle snake by touching the tip of its tail to a dried leaf. It vibrates the very tip up against the leaf providing a very good rattle snake sound.
Thats why so many of these wondrous creatures are killed in vain by an uneducated public. At times I have discovered them up on tree limbs raiding robin's nests. Yes snakes do climb trees.

Here is a hawk I found wounded along the Snye River. There were trespassers that day and I went to ask them to leave and discovered a pellet gun box in the grass that they had tossed away. Once I escorted them to the road I went back and discovered a dead robin on the path and further along the way a shot up bullfrog. I was disgusted with the mentality of these individuals. Buying a gun, throwing the trash around and shooting for target practice anything that was alive. I placed the deceased under a willow tree and said a animal spirit prayer to release their energies. On the hike back home I found a hawk in the dogwood bushes. Throwing my jacket over it and gently getting a hold of its feet and wings, I brought it home to the studio. After a examination, it was discovered to have been shot in the wing and one bone was broken. My dad helped me set the wing and we together build a large makeshift cage with a tree limb. The pellet was removed with tweezers and with peroxide and gauze and a little tape the hawk was set to heal. I learned that the hawk doesn't drink water from a bowl, but one must use a spray bottle and mist their beak area. They let the water droplets drip off the hook on their beak and the mist droplets naturally fall into the opening of the lower jaw, hawks drink from the altitude mist. So for 5 months I caught live mice for the predator. Over time I was the only one which could handle the hawk and feed raw liver and chicken giblets to this magnificent creature. Its eyes were ever so powerful and we both had a mutual understanding...I will help you heal....you eat and drink for me...and I will set you free. Then one day I placed him in a tree by the studio and he stuck around for a week jumping from limb to limb and practicing his wing magic. He flew away and glided so gracefully over our 11 acre forest and actually became part of our ecosystem along the Snye. Its a wonderful feeling to walk along the creek and see my feathered friend above in the trees.

Wow...over the years I have lost count of how many fox snakes I saved from the warm pavement of the highways. If they are on my path of travel I bring them home to "BITTERSWEET HOLLOW"...thats what our 11 acre ecosystem is called.

Any homeless baby animal that crossed our path was taken care of. My art studio was nursery in the spring and first part of summer. It was also great to make art surrounded by mother earths creatures, they offer so much inspiration. I truly understand Albrecht Durer and Leonardo's animal studies.

Here is my first major artists studio under the willows back by running creek. The building once was a horse stable, but it served me very well housing my 18th century printing press and canvases. It soon became the Cabinet of Curiosity with skulls, bones and feathers for material and inspiration. Here I began to explore making plaster moulds of animals I had found dead along the highway. It was in this little outback studio my inspirations soon began to flourish. Surrounded by plants and animals I understood the realm of Albrecht Durer and Leonardo, for these artists were amongst the greatest of teachers....Mother Nature.....and best of all I had a bonfire pit right next to the studio.

There is a place I always visit for raw materials to inspire me to create art. Its an area where people clean up all the dead fish from spring thaw and pile in one place. Here is where I can reflect on nature and explore the use of found objects. The camera has been a major source of documentation and record keeping for times when I need inspiration. This is a great lakes fish called a SHEEP-HEAD.

This is a self portrait with a plaster mould of a roadkill fox-snake. The moulds are used to press clay into or to make paper casts. Making moulds of animals is a wonderful medium. I learned to make moulds of objects from my father who would make moulds of Archeological discoveries. His philosophy was to leave the dig site with moulds and to return the burial goods back into the earth. A practice that did not fit well with Government individuals that my father had to answer to over the years.

Once I have finished making a plaster mould of the animals I will skin and tan them. Once they are tanned they are ready to be inked with oil based inks. My years of experimentation with printing embossed prints of flora and fauna has lead to an amazing discovery. The ability to tan bird hide with feathers still attached. The embossed printing process reveals a unique print on paper which in essence is a fossil on paper. All my embossed prints are based on the aspect of conservation. My art work is a direct use of all 4 elements. EARTH< AIR< FIRE and WATER.

Here I have a early example of a successful embossed print. This is one of the larger prints from my portfolio for I have a large printing press bed. There is a embossed fox snake skin and a embossed wood duck skin, this was the year I perfected skinning the bird specimen from beak to toe nail. Its a successful year, for now I can create embossed prints of bird species in their entirety, instead of just bits and pieces of the animal.Later on in the blog you will see more prints up close.

Over my long career as a visual artist living in the outback of Wallaceburg, I realized that public dumps are a great resource for found objects. My work is based on recycling and conservation, so finding free wood for canvas stretchers and found objects for sculpture began to grow. The output of art started to become volumes. The adventure of exploring is a major component for inspiration. In a way I am a neo hunter and gatherer with a mind set of Albrecht Durer and Leonardo.

This is a self portrait kayaking the Snye River, the Walpole Island bridge is in the back ground. A camera, a Kayak and the river..AHHHH the freedom to be inspired in the wonderful marsh ecosystems is invigorating. A kayak allows me to explore the shallowest of areas hardly seen by other boat travelers. In the marsh with a thermos of coffee and my artist journal is the beginning of hunting for a theme to create. On this particular day I was kayaking amongst the ice flows. During the spring, one can see about 7-8 feet down to the bottom with crystal clear clarity. Sometimes the schools of shiner minnows below my boat are in the hundreds and their silvery schools is so reassuring, that the local game fish will be well fed this season.

This was the summer I dug out my underwater camera and was going to create still life's under water and photograph them.
The Snye River has such a crystal clear blue water, no paint in a tube can match her brilliance on a sunny day. This is a underwater self portrait, free diving with scuba knife. Yes its that clear as so you can open your eyes and see the wondrous seaweed scapes and schools of baby perch and shiner minnows.

There is another river which runs into the Snye River and its the Sydenham River. I love exploring this river system for the terrain and coast line are completely different from the Snye River. This is a photo of myself and a life long family friend William Sauve. William just got done doing his tour of duty in Iraq. This particular day we were exploring the river bottom and found some moose bones, a few arrow heads and a large assortment of fresh water clams. Also of importance we found a early blacksmithed fishing spear. Across to the other side is a otter den. In the front entrance of the otter den we found its clam pile. They are eating local clam species and are the most beautiful swimmers. This particular river is the very river TECUMSEH CHIEF travelled by in canoe. I also fish with a dip net in this river and have caught and studied a clear see through fresh water shrimp.

This is one of my favorite still life pieces for inspiration. Its a moose skull. I was placing it underwater, then with a underwater camera take still life shots with the underwater sunbeams covering its surface. Its an example of exploring subject matter for making art. It was visually interesting to see minnows and gobies exploring the skull as it sat on the sandy bottom. The moose skull was a subject matter with inherent images of woodland, but when it is underwater amongst seaweed it conjures different images.

Swimming in the Snye and studying the animals that dwell in her liquid realm have enabled me to become a naturalist with my art. The animals also have become teachers allowing me to use their images in drawing,painting, and photography. I am also honored to use their skins for printing.

Where ever I travel I seek out found objects for the art making process. While on vacation visiting my parents in Florida, I couldn't help but get some grouper heads for making prints with. Sea fish skin seems to be more textured for the embossed printing process. No pun intended but this is titled "GROUPr PORTRAIT".

There was a large deer cull at one of our provincial parks because the deer were killing the trees. This is a visual example of utilizing the hunters discard to somehow make a artistic or spiritual connection at seeing such a huge amount of deer culled from one area. There was for me a artistic response to somehow utilize every piece of this beautiful intelligent creature as so their spirits were not forgotten.

This is Cairenn and myself in our version of "CANADIAN GOTHIC".We grew our own organic meat for about 9 years.All our animals had 11 acres to roam and a creek and pond to drink from. They ate wild grapes ,insects and organic grain and had the best care in the world. Young Ki (Cairenn's daughter) would take care of the young babies and collect fresh eggs.
At the autumn slaughter each bird was carried to a special tree away from the rest of the heard and we would offer a prayer of thanks to the animal before taking its life as so to feed our family. This tree had a chopping block under it and the tree was called "OUR TREE OF LIFE" and the blood that was spilled there was the life blood and its was carried out with utmost of respect to the animal. The bones and feathers were carefully saved and put away for use in my art making. We did our creative best to utilize all we could from each animal.The animals from our hobby farm were artistic inspiration for Cairenn and myself, we loved to photograph and document our animal friends.

We never sent our animals to the slaughter house. We would sit by a campfire and hand clean each one of them in a traditional manner. Once the bird was gutted and plucked it was held over a fire to singe the down and hair. At the end of the evening the unusable feathers and gut pile would be placed in the center of the fire-pit and a large bonfire would be stoked, silently returning the essence back to the earth.

As with all rural farms there is the almighty predator. Our geese,ducks and chickens had a bumper crop of young healthy chicks.Then one day after work we went to the barn and no animals were around?The doors were all locked and no tears in the fence,so where did our year of meat go?After looking around we saw a duck foot sticking out from under some pallets. Lifting the pallet up there was 42 dead birds all neatly laid together, and a hole in the ground.I had to go get the gun for this was one intelligent predator. Coming back around the side of the duck shed I saw a weasel drinking the blood from the bodies. I fired the rifle and got him, then I saw him again moving in and around the bodies...how could I of missed?. I fired again and he rolled into this hole we had discovered. Well wouldn't ya know it, he was up again pulling at a baby duck. I fired again and this time he went down.Well here is the most interesting part!!! I had shot 4 weasels thinking I had shot at one.
Long story short, 4 weasels killed all the young and it was too late in the season to start again.The lesson with weasels is they usually don't eat what they kill,they kill an animal and drink the blood from the neck area. They are a strange animal that way.Yet I had to do what I had to do. Young Ki was so upset,for she had some of the babies already named.The biggest weasel is missing from the photograph for I skinned it to make a print.These fellows were buried under a tree and I said my animal prayer to them before sending them back to the earth.

As a conservationist I also balanced my responsibility with harvesting wild meat on a few special occasions. When I did go hunting it was a spiritual act from my masculine energies. To partake in the age old inner drive to participate in the HUNT.
To say my prayers before and after a hunt is a code of honour.Its a connection to earth energies and the primal self.

My lessons from nature are brought with me when I teach art or lecture on art.

This is one of the largest embossed prints to date. It is a Quadratic of a printed canada goose skin.Its called "HOMAGE TO THE SPIRIT OF THE CANADA GOOSE"

Here is one of the largest embossed fish prints from my portfolio. This is a mighty old river carp with seagull feathers.

Preparing to tan a section of moose hide as so to experiment with embossed printing.

The animals that inspired me so much soon found their motif as frames to house my prints.

My artist journals that house ideas,poems,articles,sketches and dreams are the nucleus to my inspirations. To date there are 29 books of my personal codex.

During the summer I collect roadkill butterflies and dragonflies for my printing and painting. They are the most beautiful of the found objects.

Some animals I don't use for art making! This red tailed hawk I saw from my car as he landed on a hydro wire. He lost his balance coming in for a landing and his other foot reached towards the other wire and he was electrocuted. My heart went out to this mighty bird, so I drove back and retrieved his body and buried him by our pond. I took this self portrait to create a painting honoring the spirit of the red tail hawk.

Using raw stones in the outdoors as sculpture material has been talking to me.I am greatly influenced by Andy Goldsworthy's works of art.

By far the greatest muse is being near water and woodlands. I consider myself to be a REGIONALIST ARTIST. I exist and dwell within the Great Lakes and my artistic creations are born from my experiences here on earth. My inner drive is to document and preserve through visual art, during the most explosive time in human history. WE AS A HUMAN RACE ARE ON A HUGE CUSP OF CHANGE...........THE SILENCE IS WAITING FOR YOU TO LISTEN.

THANKYOU FOR SUPPORTING THE ARTS!!!!!!!!!!!! JON-ERIK KROON

CHILD AS ARTIST

2007-03-29T17:07:00.001-07:00

ADVENTURE AND CREATIVITY WAS IN THE BLOODLINE

This is a mixed media self portrait,utilizing photos and found objects from childhood.

This is my mother pregnant with me while on a archeological dig on the Wiser Farm along the Snye river in Wallaceburg.
She is excavating the central firepit of a WOLF PHASE First Nations circular house or lodge. One can see the black ring around her in the soil, this is the remains of the wooden post moulds. There was pottery,animal and fish bones and charred corn kernals recovered from the fire pit area. The corn kernals were carbon dated at 1500 years old.

This is Jon-Erik at age 4 painting at a constant rate. My parents had to get me an easil and large cans of paint to sooth my young creative urges.

This is a portrait created of the family house in Wallaceburg.Jon-Erik(Age 4)
Medium: Pen and pencil on parchment paper
Size:6"x7"

This is a portrait of my teacher with flowers.Jon-erik was age 4 .
Medium: Tempra paint and crayons on China paper.
Size:16"x11"

This is my first major piece of sculpture with found objects.It is constructed of a piece of pine sideing with inlaid glass beads.
Jon-Erik was age 7.
Medium:found objects
Size:12"x2"

Statement as Photo Essay

2007-03-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

CURRICULUM VITAE

2007-03-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

EDUCATION
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*1988-2003 Continuing Education (Ceramic sculpture,Raku)........Lambton College-Sarnia Ontario

*1989-93 Honors Bachelor of Fine Arts (Major; Visual Arts)....University of Windsor

*1987-88 Art Fundamentals Certificate....................................Lambton College-Sarnia Ontario

*1987 Product Design Program...........................................Fanshaw College-London Ontario

WORKSHOPS ATTENDED/STUDIO VISIT
_____________________________________

*2007 ARTISTIC WELDING with FRANK HOLT (Head of Props)....Stratford Festival of Canada

*2005 MAKING STATEMENTS/MAKING MARKS (Agneta Dolman)....Thames Art Gallery-Chatham Ontario

*1992 ARTIST TALK WITH JANE ASH POITRAS "Who discovered the Americas"....Thames Art gallery-Chatham Ontario

PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP WITH JAPANESE PRINTMAKER HANDO*KU*ITOH.....University of Windsor

BFA STUDIO VISIT AND CRITIQUE WITH CONTEMPORARY ARTIST GREG CURNOE....University of Windsor

TEACHING/WORKSHOP/LECTURES CONDUCTED
______________________________________________

*2007 EMBOSSED PRINTMAKING....Gallery 96 (Stratford Ontario)

*2005 WORKSHOP DEMONSTRATING the INSPIRATION OF ART THROUGH MUSIC(young offenders program)Sarnia,Ont

*2004 WORKSHOP DEMONSTRATING the INSPIRATION OF ART THROUGH MUSIC(young offenders program)Sarnia,Ont

*2003 CoORDINATOR/INSTRUCTOR FOR CHILDREN'S ART PROGRAM(Lawrencehouse center for Art) Sarnia, Ont

*2002 WORKSHOP DEMONSTRATING the INSPIRATION OF ART THROUGH MUSIC(young offenders program)Sarnia,Ont

*2001 WORKSHOP DEMONSTRATING the INSPIRATION OF ART THROUGH MUSIC(young offenders program)Sarnia,Ont

*2000 INSTRUCTOR WITH CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR DRAWING LEVEL IV (Lambton College)Sarnia,Ont

*1999 INSTRUCTOR WITH CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR SCULPTURE LEVEL I (Lambton College)Sarnia,Ont

INSTRUCTOR WITH CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR SCULPTURE LEVEL II (Lambton College)Sarnia,Ont

*1998 INSTRUCTOR WITH CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR PAINTING LEVEL II (Lambton College)Sarnia,Ont

*1996 HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Brooke Central School Grade 6)Alviston, Ont

*1994 HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Ecole Les Rapids School Grade 1 thru 6)Sarnia,Ont

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Devine Street Public School:Special Education Class)Sarnia,Ont

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Murry Street School Grade Kindergarten thru 6)Corruna,Ont

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Forest Central Public School)Corruna,Ont

RIVERVIEW CENTRAL SCHOOL MURAL PROJECT(LAMBTON,ONTARIO)

*1993 EXPRESSIONS 93 YOUNG ARTISTS CONFERENCE(Prints with skins,skulls,and scales)Chatham Cultural center

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Lambton Board Of Education Art Camp)Lambton County

ROADKILL AND FOUND OBJECT PRINT EMBOSSING(Exhibit and Lecture for Chatham-Kent Artists Association)

HIGH CLASS ART STUDENT LECTURE(Thames Art Gallery-Chatham Ontario)

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Dawn Township Central School)Dresden,Ontario

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Grand Bend Public School)Grand Bend,Ontario

The Arts In-Service for Art Teachers(Exhibit and Lecture @ Lambton County Board of Education)Sarnia,Ontario

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS and JOURNAL WRITING(St. Clair Secondary School)Sarnia,Ont

*1992 STUDIO ASSISTANT IN PRINTMAKING(University of Windsor Visual Arts Dept)

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Lambton County Board of Education Art Camp Grade 8)

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Adult learning Center Board of Education)Windsor,Ontario

HANDS ON WORKSHOP IN HAND PULLED PRINTS(Lambton County Board of Education Art Camp Grade 8)

ENDOWMENTS/ART GRANTS
____________________________

*2003 ST. CLAIR ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS(Incorporating Company "Throw Away" Materials,St. Clair Technologies)

*1995 EXHIBITION ASSISTANCE GRANT FRON ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL("Between Two Bridges")Toronto Ontario

*1994 ARTIST IN EDUCATION GRANT(Ontario Arts Council)Toronto Ontario

ART ADVISOR/COMMITTEE PARTICIPATION
__________________________________________

*2005 PANEL MEMBER FOR THE GALLERY ACQUISITIONS COMMITTEE(Thames Art Gallery)chatham Ontario

*2004 PANEL MEMBER FOR THE GALLERY ACQUISITIONS COMMITTEE(Thames Art Gallery)chatham Ontario

*2003 PANEL MEMBER FOR "FOCUS GROUP; STRATEGIC PLAN"(GALLERY LAMBTON) Sarnia

PANEL MEMBER FOR "FOCUS GROUP; STRATEGIC PLAN"(THAMES ART GALLERY) Thames Art Gallery

*2002 PANEL MEMBER FOR THE GALLERY ACQUISITIONS COMMITTEE(Thames Art Gallery)chatham Ontario

*2001 MEMBER OF ADVISORY PANEL WITH CAROLINE DICOCCO MPP,CONCERNING THE AWARENESS OF ARTS IN THE

COMMUNITY OF LAMBTON COUNTY(Sarnia Ontario)
*1995 ADVISOR FOR THE ART FUNDAMENTALS PROGRAM ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND ACCESS PROGRAMS(LAMBTON COLLEGE,SARNIA ONTARIO)
"ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL" SELECTED MEMBER OF ADVISORY PANEL FOR APPROVING GRANTS IN THE ARTS

(TORONTO, ONTARIO)
*1994 DELEGATE FOR REPRESENTING VISUAL ARTS ACHIEVEMENT FOR LAMBTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.

(SARNIA, ONTARIO)

JUROR
_______
*2004 SARNIA ARTISTS WORKSHOP ANNUAL "WOLFF AWARDS'' AND HONORARY MEMBER(SARNIA,ONTARIO)

*2003 "LAMBTON COUNTY SECONDARY SCHOOL ART EXHIBITION"(GALLERY LAMBTON,SARNIA ONTAIO)

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS(*SOLO EXHIBITIONS)
__________________________________________

*2006 THE THAMES RIVER PROJECT(Thames Art Gallery,Chatham,Ontario)

*2005 LANDSCAPE FROM THE GROUND UP(Exhibition of Works from the Permanent Collection) Thames Art Gallery

*THE PHOTO AGAIN COLLECTION SOLO EXHIBITION(GALLERY LAMBTON,SARNIA,ONTARIO)

*2004 "A SHIFTING SPACE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH(Exhibition of works from the Permanent Collection)Thames
Art Gallery,Chatham,Ontario

*2003 The WATER PROJECT-ONTARIO SOCIETY OF ARTISTS ART PROJECT(Gallery Lambton,Sarnia, Ontario)

MUDD PAINTINGS-GALLERY LAMBTON(Sarnia,Ontario)

"STUDENT-CURATED EXHIBITION'' WORKS CHOSEN FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION,LEARNING THROUGH

THE ARTS PROGRAM(Gallery Lambton,Sarnia, Ontario)

*2001 "RITUAL" GROUP EXHIBIT(Detroit Artist Market,Detroit,Michigan)

*1998 *THE ORACLE OF SKYMUSIC(Chatham Cultural Center)

*1995 "Between Two Bridges"(Two man Show with Wolf Mendritzki)Gallery Lambton,Sarnia,Ontario

*1993 *ONE MAN SHOW AT THE GINKO CORNER"(Thames Art Gallery)

*1992 '''THE STAR FILLED NIGHT LEFT THEM FREE TO THINK"(Two man Show with Rob Harmer)Common Ground
Gallery,Windsor,Ontario

*1988 Group Show(Artcite,windsor,Ontario)

JURIED EXHIBITIONS
___________________
*2007 JOHN B. AIRD GALLERY '' EARTH-AIR-FIRE-WATER '' (Toronto, Ontario)

*2007 GALLERY 96 "CHANGING NATURE MEMBERS EXHIBITION(Stratford, Ontario)

*2006 GALLERY STRATFORD PERTH-HURON JURIED EXHIBITION(Stratford,Ontario)

*2006 THE THAMES RIVER PROJECT(Thames Art Gallery,Chatham,Ontario)

*2005 "LOOK 2005" JURIED EXHIBITION(Gallery Lambton,Sarnia,Ontario)

JURIED EXHIBITION 2005(Thames Art Gallery,Chatham,Ontario)

*2004 "LOOK 2004" JURIED EXHIBITION(Gallery Lambton,Sarnia,Ontario)

"GALLERY IN THE GROVE" INVITATIONAL 2004 JURIED EXHIBITION(Brights Grove,Ontario)

"EYE FOR ART" JURIED GROUP EXHIBITION(Chatham Cultural Center)

*2003 "LOOK 2003" JURIED ART EXHIBITION(Gallery Lambton,Sarnia,Ontario)

*2002 "LOOK 2002" JURIED ART EXHIBITION(Gallery Lambton,Sarnia,Ontario)

*2001 "EYE FOR ART" JURIED EXHIBITION(Chatham Cultural Center)

*2000 " EYE FOR ART" JURIED EXHIBITION(Chatham Cultural Center)

*1999 " EYE FOR ART" JURIED EXHIBITION(Chatham Cultural Center)

*1997 "LOOK 1997" JURIED ART EXHIBITION(Gallery Lambton,Sarnia,Ontario)

*1994 "47th ANNUAL WESTERN ONTARIO EXHIBITION(London regional Art and Historical Museum)London,Ontario

"EYE FOR ART" JURIED EXHIBITION(Chatham Cultural Center) AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

*1993 "EYE FOR ART" JURIED EXHIBITION(Chatham Cultural Center) Honorable mention

*1992 "EYE FOR ART" JURIED EXHIBITION(Chatham Cultural Center) Honorable mention

*1991 "LOOK 1991" JURIED ART EXHIBITION(Lambton Gallery,Sarnia,Ontario)

PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS
___________________

*2005 PRINTER'S EXHIBITION(LAWRENCE HOUSE CENTER FOR THE ARTS(Sarnia,Ontario)

GALA ART AUCTION CMHA EXHIBITION AND SALE(Sarnia,Ontario)

*2004 ART WALK 2ND ANNUAL STREET EXHIBITION(Sarnia,Ontario)

SARNIA-LAMBTON 13TH ANNUAL ARTISTS STUDIO TOUR(Guest Artist@Dave Dunk's pottery studio)

ORIGINAL ECCENTRICS 3RD ANNUAL HOME INVITATION(Wallaceburg,Ontario)

*2003 ART EDUCATORS EXHIBIT(Lawrence House Center for the Arts)Sarnia,Ontario

ART WALK 1ST ANNUAL STREET EXHIBITION(Sarnia,Ontario)

SARNIA LAMBTON 12TH ANNUAL ARTISTS STUDIO TOUR-Guest Artist@Dave Dunk's pottery Studio)

****TORONTO 2003 INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR(Represented by LOVART GALLERY) Forest,Ontario****

CURIOUS ODDITIES 2ND ANNUAL HOME INVITATION(Wallaceburg,Ontario)

*2002 FESTIVAL OF FLIGHT GROUP EXHIBITION HONORING NATURE FROM SOUTH WESTERN ONTARIO(Ridgetown)

GROUP SHOW FOR GRAND OPENING OF THE RENAISSANCE ART GALLERY(Ridgetown,Ontario)

SARNIA LAMBTON 11TH ANNUAL ARTISTS STUDIO TOUR(ARTOPIA GALLERY,Sarnia,Ontario)

MAN"N"NATURE/HUMAN NATURE 1ST ANNUAL HOME INVITATION(Wallaceburg,Ontario)

*2001 SARNIA LAMBTON 10TH ANNUAL ARTISTS STUDIO TOUR(Artopia Gallery,Sarnia,Ontario)

*1996 "96 SPRING ART SHOW GROUP EXHIBIT(Wallaceburg,Ontario)

*1994 HAND AND EYE GROUP SHOW(Wallaceburg,Ontario)

TED NUGENT HUNTERS BASH AND EXHIBITION GROUP SHOW(Jackson Michigan)

*1993 HAND AND EYE GROUP SHOW(Wallaceburg,Ontario)

ANNUAL ART EXHIBIT WITH HAND PULLED PRINTS AT WILLOWSTEAD MANOR(Windsor Ontario)

ART BY THE RIVER EXHIBITION OF HAND PULLED PRINTS(Amherstburg,Ontario)

INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL AT COLASANTI'S GARDENS WITH DAVID SUZUKI(LEAMINGTON,ONTARIO)

ART IN THE ALLEY EXHIBITION OF HAND PULLED PRINTS(Windsor,Ontario)

THE ROADKILL GUY'S ONE MAN SHOW(Art of the City, windsor,Ontario)

310 PC ART AND CULTURE OF GERMANS IN AMERICA(THE GERMAN CONSULATE,WARREN,MICHIGAN)

THE HAND PULLED PRINT EXHIBIT WITH SKINS,SKULLS,AND SCALES(Art in the Park,Chatham,Ontario)

*1992 ANNUAL STUDENT PHOTO EXHIBIT(Lebel Gallery,University of Windsor)

B.F.A GRADUATE EXHIBIT(Lebel Gallery, University of Windsor)

ANNUAL ART EXHIBIT WITH HAND PULLED PRINTS @ WILLOWSTEAD MANOR,Windsor,Ontario)

ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NATIONS ART EXHIBIT WITH HAND PULLED PRINTS@WILLOWSTEAD MANOR,Windsor,Ontario

BINATIONAL PUBLIC ADVISORY COUNCIL AND THE MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT PHOTO-EXHIBITION

ARTS AWARENESS NIGHT WITH MICHELLE LAUZON@Wallaceburg District Council for the Arts

THE SELF SHOW, HONORING PAINTERS AND PRINTERS(UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR)

*1991 ANNUAL STUDENT SHOW(University of Windsor)

PAINTERS SHOW(University of Windsor)

WARNER & LAMBERT COMPANY ART SHOW(Toronto,Ontario)

BEAR CREEK EXHIBIT@BEAR CREEK STUDIOS(Petrolia,Ontario)

HOMECOMING SHOW(University of Windsor)

*1990 PAINTING SHOW(University of Windsor)

*1989 THE GROUP SHOW @ THE WALLACEBURG PUBLIC LIBRARY

*1988 STUDENT ART EXHIBIT@ LAMBTON COLLEGE

LIVE PERFORMANCE AND PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS
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*2005 PAINTING TO FUNKY BEATS, A LIVE PAINTING DEMO TO DJ BNUTZ TURNTABLE MANIPULATIONS@CHEEKY MONKEY

*2004 STONEWORKS, A INDEPENDENT SCULPTURE PROJECT ON THE AVON RIVER(BEACON HEROLD,STRATFORD,ONTARIO)

*2001 THE NUDE DUDE CELEBRATING THE BODY IN ART WITH LIVE BODY PAINTING@ARTOPIA GALLERY,SARNIA,ONTARIO

*2000 CELEBRATING THE BODY IN ART WITH LIVE BODY PAINTING@ARTOPIA GALLERY,SARNIA,ONTARIO

*1997 "FIRST NIGHT" NEW YEARS EVE CELEBRATION WITH ICE SCULPTURES IN THE PARK,CHATHAM,ONTARIO

SPOKEN WORD PRODUCTIONS
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*1999 "ORACLES'' CONCEPT CD
CO-PRODUCED WITH MUSICIAN RICK NEUFELD BASED ON SPOKEN WORD AND VISUAL ART THROUGH MUSIC

*1997 "SKY-MUSIC'' CONCEPT CD
CO-PRODUCED WITH MUSICIAN RICK NEUFELD BASED ON SPOKEN WORD AND VISUAL ART THROUGH MUSIC

POLITICAL PROTEST IN DEFENSE OF ART
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*1998 "BURNING OF THE ARTS''-PROTEST ORGANIZER
CBC RADIO W/BOB STEELE(Windsor,Ontario)
LIVE "BURNING A HOUSE OF ART" WELCOMING ALL ARTISTS PROTESTING UNWELCOME COMMENTS REGARDING
RECOGNITION OF ARTISTS ISSUED BY THE PREMIERE OF ONTARIO; MIKE HARRIS
*PROTEST BURNING TOOK PLACE IN WALLACEBURG,ONTARIO,CANADA*

PERMANENT/PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
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*2005 ST. ANNES HUNT CLUB-PRIVATE COLLECTION-FIRST NATIONS,WALPOLE ISLAND

*2004 THAMES ART GALLERY-PERMANENT COLLECTION,CHATHAM,ONTARIO

*2003 ST. CLAIR TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATE OFFICES-PRIVATE COLLECTION,CANADA,USA,MEXICO

*1995 GALLERY LAMBTON - PERMANENT COLLECTION,SARNIA,ONTARIO

*1994 TED NUGENT- PRIVATE COLLECTION,JACKSON,MICHIGAN

*1993 DAVID SUZUKI-PRIVATE COLLECTION,CANADA

LAMBTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION-PRIVATE COLLECTION,SARNIA,ONTARIO

DONALDSON DONALDSON GREENWAY LAW FIRM-PRIVATE COLLECTION,WINDSOR,ONTARIO

PUBLICATION/PRINT
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*2005 "THE PHOTO AGAIN COLLECTION" ISBN 1-896636-20-9

"LANDSCAPE FROM THE GROUND UP" ISBN1-894651-33-2

*2003 "THE WATER PROJECT"-ONTARIO SOCIETY OF ARTIST PROJECT REFERENCE ONLY-NO ISBN#

*1999 "ORACLES" COPYRIGHT 1999 JON-ERIK KROON/RICK NEUFELD(SOCAN) CATALOGUE#: JEK03RWN11

*1998 "THE ORACLE OF SKY MUSIC ISBN 0-9697332-8-3

*1997 "SKY MUSIC" COPYRIGHT 1997 JON-ERIK KROON/RICK NEUFELD(SOCAN) CATALOGUE#: JEK68RWN58

*1995 "BETWEEN TWO BRIDGES" ISBN 1-896636-00-4

ARTIST STATEMENT

2007-03-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

BEING THE ARTIST BEGINS WITH INSPERATION

In my travels, I collect objects that once lived to tell tales. While their stories remain untold, their essence retells a story. These objects of interest are displayed in my CABINET OF CURIOSITY* where natural and synthetic intrigues hang from ceiling, covering walls, shelves, tables and floor. My studio environment allows me to reach for a subject of insperation to study, ponder, adore, and if I so choose, use its medium to tell a story. A scattering collection of artifacts found through exploration include wood n leaves, coral n shells, stones n bones, feathers n skins, skulls, teeth and natural and unnatural oddities. Shelved bottles preserve the suspended beauty of flora n fauna. Libraries of books, antiquities, sculptures and paintings encourage my research and commitment to create.

My Twenty nine journals,(dateing back to 1987),have documented my visions and discoveries in life. These recordings contribute to illustrations of designs and concepts(speculated through trial and error),reflections of time and discovery, dreams, experience, lessons, philosophies, theories, observations, intentions, anticipations, shared desires, dilemmas, insight, Love, fears, fantasies, composed stories and ramblings, as well as ways of the world. My journal language is collogued in pencil, ink, paint, print, photography, clippings, and found objects. My expressions of creation are nurtured within these pages of these journals.

*CABINET de CURIOSITE; Where the grotesque and the beautiful of nature's objects co-exist for insperation. A status symbol for the gentlemanly scholar, the typical room combined sculpture, antiquities, and paintings(some depicting strange phenomena) with actual objects-often impressively large or unusually small-that ranged from natural specimens to manmade inventions and contraptions. Angus Wilkie;TRENDS, New York

Through video and still imagery, film is used to document the evolution of Nature. Video captures the transformation of life through the seasons. Still photography(both film and digital) preserves a moment in time reflecting Life through artistic language.

Printmaking became a passion after studying the process in the ART FUNDAMENTALS program at Lambton college(Sarnia Ontario). My education in the VISUAL ARTS PROGRAM at the UNIVERSITY of WINDSOR(Windsor Ontario) allowed me to enhance personal values through printing techniques as well open creative doorways through learning the experience and techniques of the Master's. The method of Gyotaku (ghee-yo-tah-koo), meaning fish print japanese (GYO meaning "fish" and Taku meaning "print" or "rubbing" or "impression"), intrigued me creatively due to the use of raw material as a means of documenting Nature. The custom began in the early 19th century when market vendors rubbed a fresh fish with black oil based ink and pressed the image onto rice paper to display the catch of the day. Three years after my first rubbing experiments, I acquired a 18th century hand pulled printing press, allowing me to conduct further exploration in using natural elements as printing plates. My honor of not wasting matter compelled me to experiment with recycling hides and bones for creations of Art. The discovery of fresh roadkill gave me access to skins and rare life forms I do not hunt for survival in the wild. Materials used are that of hunters throwaway, fisherman's discards, roadkill, or carcasses found fresh where no death is explained. Years of trial and error in skillfully skinning and tanning hides to develop usable three-dimensional plates, have formed into unique detailed impressions of mono-embossed printing: a technique I practice and teach with today.

My current work embodies a vast collection of Earth elements as my palette. Skins prepare as printing plates, leaves collogued compose natural hues. Charcoal, wood and bone ash fabricate shade. Feathers, seeds, and flower petals depict detail and tone. Stones perfect texture, wasp nest paper fashion as pattern, using sand and seaweed to mimic landscapes. Found objects create natural occurring serendipity and depth. Artifacts portray the passing of time.

In 2003 while sculpting, I watched clay dust fall from a three dimensional creation I was birthing. This dust interpreted time as it developed from one form into another thereby hatching a new purpose. The quest to compose pigment from the elements of time began, initiating the discovery and use of mud as organic paint mixed with matte medium.
My concept of collogued organic medium suspends textural realism in a true intuitive abstract form exhibiting elements of time. Sculptures evolve from two dimensional sketches into a three dimensional body representing time in stages. Photography captures inspiration in an exact moment of time, creating an image of past to be viewed by future. Embossed prints resemble time fossils in rag paper, offering a detailed glimpse of mystery. Tree sculptures invite participation in time by witnessing growth while taking new shape with embedded found objects. The essence of MUD renders a medium of time collogued with the ingredients of time.
The incorporation of earth's essentials (as medium), merged with my creative influence of Nature, completes a full circle concept involving, EARTH>>>AIR>>>FIRE>>>WATER>>>LIFE>>>DEATH.....the elements.

"Nature...the Greatest Book I ever Read!"

2007-03-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

My signature is JON-ERIK KROON. My inspiration for life comes from all that have taught me along my journey. For 38 years I have explored and discovered the many wonders of Nature's offerings. My journey has allowed me to prospect shorelines, scour river bottoms, hunt marshes, canoe tributaries and swamps and lived amongst the forest animals. These excursions have taught me how to respect both LIFE and Death.

I grew up, and lived, within a marsh delta ecosystem surrounded by eleven acres of forest and shoreline. My artistic mother and my adventurous father (a practicing Archeologist and Anthropology Professor) raised the family in a remote rural setting along the Snye River, southern Ontario. The river is shared with Walpole Island First Nations Reserve. My father has versed me in the traditions of Primitive Life, the practice of museum Quality methods in casting and preservation, competent biological dissection and detailed research. My First Nation neighbors taught me through tradition and philosophy how to hunt, gather, survive, honor and respect Earth, Life and Death. Living down river from industrial chemical companies has shown me that we/society abuse our Natural Resource system causing harsh environmental changes therefor taking Life for granted.

Nature taught me how to participate with Earth by listening, smelling, touching, communicating and observing with 3rd Eye open. Witnessing the actions of Nature has taught me how to honor and respect the simplicities and complexities of living and dying while existing in a loving and cruel world. Nature shares both beauty and ugly with the viewer. From the fascination of Spring's thaw in the meadow; to the sprouting of wild flowers bearing seed to nourish the living; to the birthing of brightly colored eggs in uniquely arranged nests; to the fascination of the mature nourishing the young; to the intense silence of the hawk hunting its prey; to the struggle of survival as victim meets destiny; to the discovery of hawk indisciminantely killed by the hand of man. Nature has taught me that Death has a natural place inside the cycle of life.

MY INSPIRATION to CREATE and RETELL STORIES is BORN from these EXPERIENCES.