There will be a book signing event on April 21st, 5:00pm (ET) at at Northwinds Bookstore. The Bookstore is located in the Finnish American Heritage Center on Quincy Street, Hancock. Both Foerster and Koskenmaki will be at the book signing.
 
In her talk to the students and other audience members, Koskenmaki stated that “When author Vic Foerster first showed Joyce the manuscript for the book she read it straight through and could hardly put it down.  She loved the stories.  Some of them made her cry and even though the illustrations were not something she ordinarily did she decided that she wanted to give it a try.” 

 
The subject matter fit into her kind of imagery: land, sea, animals, and boats.  She told him “I don't do people” and he didn't seem to mind.

The stories are really about the relationship between the people and the environment, so Koskenmaki left out the people, “there would be still sufficient imagery to express the meanings” she stated.
 
Joyce then embarked on a very intense four month-long obsession with drawings. 
 
At first to save time she thought that she could use a wine and wash method for doing her illustrations but, she couldn't get the depth of expression and that she required with anything but inclines.  She worked hard, exclusively on the drawings. Every day, many were discarded and redone.  Many of the drawings took days to complete. 

Joyce went to Isle Royale again, for the fifth time. The area of the island where she had spent many residencies including one on Isle Royale in 1998 was not the one that is covered in the book. 
 
She had to find out what the rest of the island looked like and felt like.  So she took the ferry around the island, seeing the beautiful coves on the way to Windigo, the cliffs along the north side, McCargo Cove, the smaller islands including Dead Horse Rocks, and she saw how the terrain changed from the boat.  Much of Vic's experiences takes place in and around boats. 
 
“The image of an empty boat is one that that has always haunted me” states Koskenmaki.  So it was the first drawing she did for the chapter in which his mother dies.  The empty boat immediately seems to be an expressive metaphor.  It is still Joyce's favorite drawing of the group. 

 Koskenmaki states that “the experience of four months of intense drawing has had a strong effect on her work. 

“Following her experience drawing the book illustrations, Koskenmaki created a number of paintings inspired by the drawings,” says Reflection Gallery director Amanda Moyer(pictured above). “Those paintings are also part of this exhibition.”

The first painting she did after the drawings was “Boat and Stars”, and the publisher decided to use it for the cover.  
 
The other paintings the Boats, the Northern Lights, the Fish, the Wolf, are inspired by drawings.  In those drawings Joyce thinks that she will probably continue to find inspiration for some time to come.”
 
“The Keweenaw is of course part of the same geological formation as the island only reversed.  So my everyday experience of living on the Keweenaw was simply extended into the ancient wilderness beauty of what was once identical here Joyce goes on to say that she is grateful for the park for reserving what we no longer have.” 
 
Koskenmaki earned a MFA in painting from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and a BA from Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill. Her artwork is exhibited and collected internationally. Koskenmaki has taught around the country, including at Finlandia University.
The Reflection Gallery is located on the second level of Finlandia’s Jutila Center campus, 200 Michigan St., Hancock. For additional information, please contact Yueh-mei Cheng, associate professor of studio arts, at 906-487-7375 or yueh-mei.cheng@finl

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