Latatara, or prattle, is an online platform to house the exchange of visual poetry in the forms of written word, audio clips and video animation (or stills). The exercise of Latatara, breaks down the function of language as a source of information, morphing it into sounds, vibrations and shapes. The project begins with the initial posting, initiated by Estonian artists Jaanika Peerna and Leevi Ernits. Through translation of the initial post, artists are invited to continue the dialogue through submitting their art on the site. Artists can react to the initial post, or to those that have followed, continuing the chain of poetry in the media form of their choice. A selection of works posted on Latatara will be presented in a spring exhibition at the New Yorgi Eesti Maja (New York Estonian House) on the 27th of March 2010. The deadline for submitting work to be included in the exhibition is March 15th.
Latatara is partly supported by Estonian Foundation of Arts and Letters in New York
Bios of the Creators of Latatara:
Jaanika Peerna
Jaanika Peerna is an artist who works at the crossroads of digital and traditional media, often dealing with the themes of water, simplicity and silence. She has an MFA in intermedia design from SUNY New Paltz, and she has worked as a teaching artist at DIA Beacon and the Visual Thinking Strategies project of the Soros Foundation. Peerna has had solo exhibitions in New York and in Tallinn, Estonia, her native country. Her recent exhibitions include a drawing exhibit at the Galerie Lavignes Bastille in Paris and H20: Film on the Water at the Mill, Newport, NH that was curated by Cynthia Reeves of Reeves Gallery in New York City. Her next solo exhibitions will be in June 2010 at ArtDepoo Gallery in Tallinn, Estonia.
For more information and images of her work go to: www.jaanikapeerna.net
Leevi Ernits
A native of Estonia, Leevi Ernits now lives and works in the Mid-Hudson Valley region of New York State where she has established her interior design firm and art studio. Her paintings explore the limits and possibilities of an innovative medium that she has developed while seeking an image making technique that leaves creative options and final outcomes open. Ernits art practice allows the material itself complete the image under the influence of time and environment,
Ernits studied architecture in Estonia and painting, sculpture and interior design in the United States. She has exhibited her paintings and drawings throughout the Hudson Valley most recently, her solo exhibition Off the Picture Plane featured at The Fenimore Gallery at Proctors Theater in Schenectady, New York from December 2009 until January 2010.
Anneliis Beadnell
Born in Ohio, Anneliis Beadnell was shown the Eesti way of life through her grandmother who had been forced from her home in Tallinn, Estonia during the Soviet invasion. Beadnell became fascinated with the storytelling traditions expressed through song when she first traveled to Tallinn with her family for the Laulupidu in 1999. Beadnell moved to New York City in 2008 to complete her MA at Sotheby’s Institute of Art where she wrote her thesis, Troubles and Triumphs of the Estonian Graafika Artist. Since she has worked as the Interim Director for Jack the Pelican Presents Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (July 2008- January 2009) and for iCI (Independent Curators International) as Grants Manager (January 2009-November 2009). Currently, she lives in Brooklyn where she works on curatorial projects, making art and studio critiques.