Portfolio

Caroline Kajorinne

I am a multidisciplinary artist who was drawn towards blacksmithing as it is a creative practice that employs all of the elements—water, air, earth and fire. For me, blacksmithing is a way to centre and strengthen relationship — with the natural world, with my body, and the themes that guide my work.

Artist Biography

Minä puhun suomea | I speak Finnish

This project is created for the gallery setting; combining soundscaping and micro-computing with craft pratices of metalwork and embroidery. Through this new body of work I am capturing shifting moments through contemplative arts practices while fostering a deeper connection to and understanding of the Finnish language and our changing “sound scape” in Northwest Ontario.

Made possible with the support of the Ontario Arts Council.

Arts, Language, and Finnishness

I am grateful to have contributed an article, "Minä puhun suomea / I speak Finnish," to an online Finnish publication, Migration-Muuttoliike Vol 49 Nro 1 (2023). Kiitos to the publication team, including Samira Saramo and Marja Tiilikainen for so thoughtfully offering edits and suggestions. Excited to share this with the world! 

Read Article

Anastasia, touch prototype No. 1

In 2024 I participated in an interactive media design mentorship with Orion Atkinson. As a multidisciplinary artist, I wanted to expand my practice so that I could include various sensors, so that the audience becomes an active contributor to my work.

If you visited Defsup's 2024 Member's Show, you likely had a chance to interact with Anastasia, a prototype created for Orion and I to test how touch sensors could integrate into sculpture. For this work, the lights and sound respond to touch.

I'm excited to further explore coding for Raspberry Pi and Arduino!

Made possible thanks to support from the Chalmers Family Fund, administered by the Ontario Arts Council.

Roof of Reprieve

Roof of Reprieve is a site-specific installation built with collaborator ElizaBeth Hill in 2023. Created for Ice Follies tenth biennale celebration, this artwork offered a reprieve from the elements on the shores of Nipissing Lake, North Bay, ON, Canada. The artwork was designed and executed collaboratively, with each of us taking lead on specific aspects. I (Caroline Kajorinne) built the structure, while ElizaBeth Hill directed the interior design (soundscape and photos).

The soundscape features voices of Mindful Makers Collective members, who participated in Breath Body + Voice sessions with ElizaBeth in previous years. (I am the founding creative director of the Collective). The soundscape was composed by ElizaBeth using some sound bytes I harvested over the years, including one of me playing the piano.

Together, we selected the photographs for print, most which were captured by ElizaBeth.

Participating in Ice Follies was made possible due to travel and exhibition support offered by Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Mistä minä tulen? / Where do I come from? Koivuja järven rannalla / Birch trees along the lake shore.

"Koivuja järven rannalla" was conceived during "Hear Me Out," a Mindful Makers workshop facilitated by Binaeshee-Quae Couchie Nabigon June 2023. "Where do you come from?" was the prompt Binaeshee-Quae offered on day two, which sparked the development of this piece. Participating artists contributed to building the soundscape by adding layers while interpreting the theme.

Workshop participants/contributing artists: ElizaBeth Hill, Allison Skirtschak, and Jade Gilbert. On day one of the workshop I also gleaned creative influences from participating artists: Zoe Gordon, Jayal Chung and Shanna Romanson.


www.mindfulmakers.org. | 
www.binaeshee-quae.com/

Sound Link

Tracery Panel

Above the work, you see "Kohtalon solmu / knot of fate." This metal artwork is my first tracery prototype, which began while attending a Gothic Elements workshop with master metalsmith Thomas Latané at Tunnel Mill (2023).

The creation of this work was made possible thanks to funding from the Ontario Arts Council.

Home to the River

Listen to the Soundcape

In 2019, I travelled to Kristinestad | Kristiinankaupunki, Finland with collaborator (and cousin) Tuija Hansen to participate in the White Nights Residency and two exhibitions near the community our grandfathers are from. Together, we wove "Home to the River," an artwork that combines tapestry with Finnish rug weaving techniques - inspired by the reflections along the river Kyrö (Kyrönjoki). To accompany the work, I composed "Water Soundscape," an audio file projecting sounds harvested from the region. During the artist-residency, I also created a small series of works for a site-specific installation in the Old Customs House that explored the sense of “home” we all seem to need for our sense of well being. 

Visit our blog for more images from the journey to Finland: https://pikelakeforge.com/blogs/travel-and-inspiration

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