Raina Eleanora Stebelsky

My eyes close. A distant memory. I have laid my head down. Down to my shoulder. The the night closes in. Over the island. And the sea roars. The roar of Nirvana. 

Obituary

LRaina was born in 1954 in Vancouver on the first day of spring. She grew up in Toronto, on Evelyn Avenue, in the high park area, going to Annette Public School, and later Humberside Collegiate. She was the loving and adoring mother of two children, James and Larissa, that she had with her now deceased ex-husband Jim Calder, a Warrant Officer. She had four grandchildren, Meghan, Liam, Bree and Tyler. She was the third of four children of Ariadna (art teacher and sculptor) and Bohdan (art critic and artist). Her sister was Maria, and her brothers Oleh and Ihor. Raina obtained a degree in 1975 from the University of Toronto where she studied Fine Art and majored in Anthropology.  She did a printmaking class in 1998 at he Massachusetts College of Art and lithography in 2000 at the the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico. She also went to the Ontario College of Art and got an Associate degree in Fine Art in 2002. She spoke not only English but French, Russian, Ukrainian and Norwegian. She worked at Environment Canada from 1988 to 1998 as assistant to the Chief of Strategic planning in Human Resources. Her first art debut took place when she worked there, at an exhibit that commemorated their 25th anniversary. She worked as an archeologist for the Ontario Archeological Society, excavating and illustrating artefacts in 2001. She was an artefact illustrator for the excavation at Holar, Iceland in 2002, and for the University of Toronto, from 2003 onwards. In August of 2013 she married her great love Vidar Jenssen, and lived happily in Norway until her death. She had a fondness for not only art but history (Canadian, Norwegian and Ukrainian) and music, playing the piano and violin. She loved the outdoors, hiking, canoeing, camping, cross country skiing and swimming.

Her understanding of the history of mankind and of human psychology has rendered a very interesting creative process, which can be observed in her work. Her archeological work had inspired her to study and incorporate the motifs used in ancient rock drawings that have been found in Norway and Sweden. In her paintings and prints, she instinctively sought the primordial, the deepest part of our being, which is found in all mankind. She did this by exploring and laying to scrutiny, her own soul. Her work was largely biographical, drawing upon her personal experiences. For her, art was a vehicle for healing wounds and rediscovering feelings. It allowed her to communicate with others who had lived similar experiences, but without the opportunity to tell their stories. It was also a vehicle for depicting beauty, which she saw in the darkest crevices. Her subject matter was the raw elements of nature, the human form, and ancient man-made forms, and led her on a path of self discovery. She found that the use of pure colour, simple forms, and subtle symbolism allowed her to best express her inner self. There was a rhythm to her brushstrokes, pencil marks, or wood incisions, which she found soothing, but also conveyed her inner turmoil and the suffering that she saw in the world around her.

She always dreamed of living and painting in the Norwegian artic, which inspired her with its vivid colours, strength and spiritual beauty. She was able to achieve that dream when she married her Norwegian husband Vidar, and settled with him in Trondheim. 

Raina began to feel the need to express herself through art at an early age and was especially fascinated in the way colours could be used to express feelings and impressions. She saw, in the brightly coloured icons and tapestries of her Ukrainian heritage, a means of expression that had a big impact on her art. Her work was further influenced by her Ukrainian background with its matriarchal roots and the resulting emergence of the Madonna figure as a predominant symbol in Ukrainian religious life. 

 Along the way she won art awards, including the Open Studio Prize from OCAD for proficiency in Printmaking in June 2002, and a stay at an art residence in Iceland during the summer of 2002. Unfortunately it was during that stay that her mother suddenly passed away. However, she continued to be an influence in Raina's life with the example that she led in her perseverance in life and never giving up on her dreams. She had the Autumn Exhibition at the Scandinavian-Canadian Club in September 1996.

In October 1996 she had a joint art exhibit Family Trees with her mother which also showcased paintings by her late father, who had passed away two years earlier. Her works in this exhibit used vibrant, nonliteral colouration that is symbolic of emotion and rarely connected to reality. She applied a warped use of primary colour onto semi-traditional landscapes and nude figures. She believed we were all connected by our spirituality and survival instinct. Her work paralleled the vibrant hues of stained glass windows and her deliberate contour lines were thick and bold, often in black.

In November 1996 she had her work displayed at Freedom in Detroit. She next had work shown at the Arlington Art Festival in 1999. She had art showcased at Gallery 39 in Belleville in March of 2001. In September of the same year she had her work shown at the Junction Festival of the Arts. In March of 2002 she had work displayed in The Art of the Figure, and An Evening of Art and Music at Knox Presbyterian Church. In April of the same year she had work displayed at the Steam Whistle, and had her art at the Thorrablot auction at the Icelandic Canadian Club. In May of that year she had her work displayed at OCAD 87th Annual Exhibition. In June of that year she had a solo exhibition in Skriduklaustur, Iceland. In October of that year she had her art displayed at the International Women's Art Exhibition at the Ukrainian Canadian Art Exhibition. She had the Solskinn exhibition in June of 2003 at the Scandanavian Canadian Club, and had Escape in March of 2003 at the KUMF gallery in Toronto.
She had reviews in Now Magazine Oct 24, 1996, "Family Tree's Branches out to Extreme's"; in Zdorov Magazine, Summer 1997 "Raina, Courage to Dream"; and The Villager, March 24, 2003 and May 23, 2003. 

Raina was the most considerate, thoughtful, and kind person. Everybody loved her. She was so fun, made everyone laugh, she lit up the room, and was the life of the party. She was a rock for whoever needed her and and an ear to listen to your problems, and a shoulder to cry on. She was loved by all that knew her. She was so creative and had such original , meaningful artwork. The art world and the world in general are darker now, without her shining light. But the heavens are brighter now with her beautiful soul shining for all to see. 

Funeral at Korsnes Church, Hamaroy in Summer of 2027.

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Raina Stebelsky

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