Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.04.2005, Blaðsíða 10

10 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 22 April 2005
Katrina Anderson is a
young but experienced
multi-talented artist full of
power and energy — kjar-
norkukona, as they say in
lcelandic. About 15 years
ago the pianist co-found-
ed Yellow Dog Music, an
alternative music school
in Toronto. In 2004, she
became sole propri-
etor, then incorporated,
becoming CEO and
director. During the last
few weeks she and her
brother, Winnipeg based
photographer Craig Ko-
shyk, had a joint exhibit,
“Ágætis byrjuri' (a fine
beginning), at the Paul
Thorlakson Gallery at the
University of Manitoba in
Winnipeg. Recently her
book Blessed: Portrait of
Asdis Sigrun Anderson,
was published. Steinþór
Guðbjartsson visited
Katrina in Toronto.
Yellow Dog Music is
Katrina’s bread and
butter. It secures her
income and allows her time
to pursue her interests in other
forms of art. “I don’t have to
rely on my visual art to sur-
vive,” she says. “When we
started the school, we had
five students, but now they are
about 170 and I have ample
time and freedom to focus on
art and writing projects, as
well as on raising my very cre-
ative daughter, Rachael Faith.
The school gives me financial
security, and I don’t have to
put the burden of financial de-
mand on the art.”
The art has kept her busy.
After she graduated in music
from York University, Toronto,
in 1986, she had many group
and- solo exhibitions. Further-
more, she has illustrated book
covers (the Dropped Threads
anthologies); CD covers; and
been curator of art shows.
“Painting and illustrating keeps
me happily busy,” she says,
“and the fun will continue.”
Her first book, Blessed:
Portrait of Asdis Sigrun An-
derson, is a biography of her
grandmother. It has been well
received and already there is
talk about having it translated
into Icelandic. “I love writing,
but before Blessed, I’d only
written poetry and short sto-
ries,” Katrina says. “My amma
wanted her stories to be passed
down to her family in written
form and so I decided to make
her wish come true. I did it for
her and for our whole family. I
had the time but I did not real-
ize that the writing would span
about 10 years.”
The book is still hot on the
shelves and the positive reac-
tion might take Katrina further
with it. “I have received a tre-
mendous Smount of very en-
thusiastic feedback,” she says.
“Even from outside readers,
people who don’t even know
amma or her family. Who
knows what is in store for this
little book? Perhaps something
big.”
Katrina is from Winnipeg.
Her mother is of Icelandic de-
scent and her father’s roots are
Ukrainian. She says that she
loves and admires both back-
grounds, “but somehow my
identity is Icelandic.”
Katrina says that her paint-
ings are infused with aspects
of her Icelandic heritage and
often include the appearance
of her signature “model” — a
floppy, faceless rag doll made
from cotton the colour of stone.
She is well known for her “vín-
arterta ladies” and she uses the
alias Fontana Swing.
“The name came to me
spontaneously and I immedi-
ately felt like it was mine,” she
says, and adds that Fontana
Swing is closer to her than her
own name. “Soon after, I de-
cided to use it as my alias for a
few reasons. The main reason
being because I could. How
many professionals can have
an alias/pen name? It’s fun to
be ‘two people.’ Furthermore,
my art comes from my imagi-
nation and stamping the can-
vases with a real name never
felt right.”
Katrina and her brother
Craig plan to take their exhibit
“Ágœtis byrjurí' to Toronto
and from there to Europe. The
artistic siblings are very much
under Icelandic influence,
which is reflected in the show’s
title, taken from an album by
the Icelandic group Sigur rós.
It also reflects the beginning of
the sibling’s partnership.
“We hope that this show is
just the first of many to come
for us as a duo,” she says. “We
are being encouraged to take
this show to Iceland, and so
will work toward exhibiting an
expanded version at a gallery
in Reykjavík.”
A trip to Iceland is some-
thing Katrina is really look-
ing forward to. “It is not only
about exhibiting our art there,
but also so that we can extend
our trip, paint and shoot photos
and possibly even shoot a short
film about our experience. It
would be incredible to capture
our joumey to Iceland on can-
vas and íilm because nothing
beats the first trip to a foreign
country, not to mention the
country where your roots are.”
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