Nordman exhibiting work in Michigan

Cape Breton visual artist Onni Nordman is in Hancock, Mich. this week to present his series of artwork, Sauna: Divine Comedy.

The exhibition will be on display at Finlandia University beginning today and continuing until Feb. 17.

Nordman’s Sauna: Divine Comedy is a series of paintings that set Dante’s Commedia, the 14th century Italian narrative poem, in the sauna.

“The Commedia, for all its world-building, is also an interior drama,” said Nordman. “The sauna is a pressurized space coequally infernal, purgatorial, and paradisiacal, built on three levels, housing figures who are naked and vulnerable, as well as serene and exalted. The Sauna: Divine Comedy series has emerged as a continuing response to the possibilities of splicing together fertile ideas.”

Dante’s Divine Comedy describes the poet’s travels through the nine circles of hell, seven terraces of Purgatory and journey to paradise.

Rather than illustrate the Commedia poem, Nordman’s paintings use it as a matrix to tell a story with a cast of figures, all set in the heat of the sauna.

Nordman is the only child of Finnish immigrants Aulis and Toini Nordman. Aulis was born in Nuoramoinen, Sysmä, Toini in Sortavala, Rauta-Lahti. They came to Canada in 1951, were located to Cape Breton, the only Finnish speakers on the island. Onni’s first language was Finnish and he says he and his parents learned English together.

The Nordmans adapted to their new country while maintaining strong ties to family in Finland, proud of their heritage. Nordman’s exhibit at Finlandia is an extension of this pride.

“I am very interested in showing my work at Finlandia University as it represents the heart of Finnish culture in North America,” said Nordman.

Nordman’s partner Paula Muise, of Paula Muise Designs, will also be instructing design classes with marimekko fabric during their time at Finlandia University.