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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula Updated July 26, 2004 Posted June 17, 2004 Text and photos © 2004 Michele Anderson, except where otherwise indicated. Turquoise Gallery images of art works © 2004 Rebecca Koivu. Reprinted with permission.

Turquoise Gallery exhibits "A Story of Keweenaw," art by Rebecca Koivu

By Michele Anderson

HANCOCK -- Whether it is a beach scene in watercolor pencil or a sculpture made with Lake Superior sand, the work of Calumet artist Rebecca Koivu is representative of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Hancock's Turquoise Gallery is hosting a selection of Koivu's work in the exhibit, "A Story of Keweenaw."

The Gallery has re-opened and is hosting this exhibit until September. Summer hours are from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. The Turquoise Gallery is located in the E. L. Wright Building, just south of Pat's IGA on U.S. 41.

"I can't remember not drawing," Koivu said during the reception for her exhibit on June 11 at the Gallery.

Rebecca Koivu's "Seagull," in watercolor pencil, is one of the works now on exhibit at the Turquoise Gallery in Hancock. It is also featured on the post card for the exhibit. (Image © 2004 Rebecca Koivu and courtesy Turquoise Gallery. Reprinted with permission.)

Her first memory of drawing was that of a horse that was so big she had to stand on a chair to draw its ears.

"It was (drawn) in lipstick on the wall," she explained. "My mother was not happy. I was three or four."

Koivu said her only formal art education has been a few courses at Suomi College (now Finlandia University). This is her first professional exhibit. Artist Sevil Soyer, Turquoise Gallery co-owner (with her sister, Serpil Narmanli), noted her great surprise at discovering this art during a visit to Koivu's home.

During the reception for the exhibit, "A Story of Keweenaw," Sevil Soyer, co-owner of the Turquoise Gallery in Hancock, talks to her children, San (left) and Su Soyer, about the stories behind Rebecca Koivu's art. In the background is Koivu's watercolor pencil painting, "After the Storm," 2003, one of Soyer's favorites.

"She told me, 'I have some paintings to show you,'" Soyer said. "After I went to her house I was really in shock because I saw everything in the correct balance -- light and dark, perspective and color -- really, really correct. I was impressed by the quality of the art."

Another admirer of Koivu's art is her grandson, Jeremy Beaudoin, 11, of Calumet, a student at Calumet Elementary School. Two of Jeremy's paintings, including what Soyer calls "an unbelievable daisy," are also exhibited with his grandmother's work at the Turquoise Gallery.

Rebecca Koivu is proud of her grandson, Jeremy Beaudoin, 11, of Calumet, who has been drawing for a year. Jeremy says his grandmother is the reason for his interest in art. Both are pictured here at the June 11 reception in the Turquoise Gallery in Hancock. Jeremy has two of his own paintings in the exhibit. In the background is Koivu's "Blue Boat," one of her favorites.

Jeremy said he has learned from his grandmother to work with many materials, including birch bark, wood and rocks. He especially likes working with birch bark. Like Koivu, he does drawing, painting and sculpture.

"It looked like fun," Jeremy said, explaining how he became interested in art through his grandmother's example. He is also a student of Debra Mues, art teacher at Calumet Elementary.

Koivu's "Wolf," 2001, is a slate etching on roof tile from the artist's collection. Koivu said she began working with slate when, as a child, she had no paper and found some old pieces of roof slate lying around. "I had to draw," she said. "I had to!"

Rebecca Koivu, now mother of three and grandmother of seven, came to the Copper Country as an infant and was raised in Hancock. Her father's family is of Finnish origin and her mother's both Finnish and Ojibwa. She attended Hancock High School and Suomi College (now Finlandia University). After working as a newspaper reporter in Cheboygan, Mich., in the early 80s, she returned to the Copper Country in 1986. She was pastor of Calumet's Community Church (Presbyterian and United Church of Christ) for seven years.

Koivu is now pastor of the Saving Grace Christian Fellowship, a new group, which meets at 7 p.m. on Sunday evenings at the historic Congregational Church in Lake Linden.

"It's a real ecumenical service, open to everyone," Koivu noted.

Koivu's "Puppies," 2003, is a sculpture of Lake Superior sand and papier mâché.

Koivu is afflicted with Behcet's Disease, but she doesn't let that keep her from her great love of art.

"When I'm in the artwork, I can't feel pain. I can't feel the illness," she said. "There's no cure, and there are no old people with it."

Because of the disease, Koivu has lost about half the vision in her left eye.

"It's infuriating!" she said. "I work fast and furious. There's an urgency to create as much as I can while I can."

Koivu said this pen and ink drawing she did of the Quincy Mine in Hancock is one of her favorites: "You never see pictures of it from that angle," she noted. "I assume that my grandfather saw that angle every day as he went to work."

The disease is now in remission, which rarely happens, Koivu added.

"I'm enjoying it. It's an answer to prayer," she said.

Koivu explained she sometimes creates landscapes on site, or even entirely in her imagination; but she does most of her Keweenaw scenes from photographs.

"I'm allergic to mosquito bites," she noted.

Rebecca Koivu said drew this beach scene, titled "After the Storm," 2003, in watercolor pencil, from a photograph taken at Tamarack Waterworks after a Lake Superior storm. It is also featured on the poster for the Turquoise Gallery exhibit. (Image © 2004 Rebecca Koivu and courtesy Turquoise Gallery. Reprinted with permission.)

Koivu's future daughter-in-law, Jen Gruhzit, of Marquette, who is about to marry the artist's son Carl (Casey) indicated she looked forward to the new relationship with Koivu.

"She's a wonderful friend and a wonderful future mother-in-law," Gruhzit said.