Monthly images: Roots & Companionship

SAMK Fine arts students Kati Juurikka’s and Heidi Piippo’s thesis work resulted in public sculptures in the park of Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s childhood home in Sastamala, Finland, in 2015.

Kati Juurikka, Roots, sculpture in concrete, 2015

“I’m a performance artist and a sculptor, actor, experiencer and perceiver. I live in a society where contradictions initiate strong thought processes and streams of experiences. I believe in discussion which results in growth and learning. I do not believe in borders in art or in society, nor between people. Art is a language which you can use for speaking, when words become blurry.

Roots is a piece of work which grows from the fertile breeding ground provided by Akseli Gallen-Kallela for visual expression. It has been a great experience to be part of the festivities of Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s 150 jubilee year.”

Kati Juurikka graduated from Kankaanpää art school in June.
> juurikka.kati(at)gmail.com

 

Heidi Piippo: Companionship (in two parts), stainless steel, 2015

“I’m a sculptor and my work is often originated by the materials. For example, I can find a new material and if I like it, I start to consider its possibilities and limits and gradually an idea becomes a piece of art work. I enjoy challenges and try to solve even the biggest problems to arrive at the desired outcome.

My work includes a lot of narrative elements and hidden but easily detectable messages. The work Companionship was inspired by Gallen-Kallela’s painting The Boy and the Crow.”

Heidi Piippo is a third year student at SAMK.
> www.heidipiippo.blogspot.fi

Monthly Image: Listener

Kaija Leinonen, Listener, bulrush, 2013

“At the moment, sculpturing techniques are the best way to express my inner feelings. In addition to various techniques, there is a wide range of materials, which provide great prospects. It is possible to make a sculpture out of any material. The material usually speaks to me through form or colour. After this first impression I start to collect it, turn it around, twist and feel it to see how it behaves and what it has to say. Sometimes the processes can take a long time. Sometimes I know immediately what I will do with the material. In some cases it can take a whole year before I realise what kind of message the material has for me.

It is challenging to find the right technique, when using materials from nature. They are fascinating, but they also have a strong will to stay as they are. When I was working with the Listener, I made a lot of experiments before I found a well-functioning way to work which also supported the spirit of the material. The environment was involved in the process in several ways: The model is one of my class mates and the content was also formed by the conversations we had during the process.”

> e-mail: kaleinon(a)hotmail.com

 

Monthly image : The Planets

Anni Karvinen: A still image from a video called The Planets, 2014

“I was looking at the sky with my telescope and I saw the striped Jupiter and four of its moons. The fact that the world is full of floating balls is so incredible. It makes me wonder about rituals, sorrows and fears which are typical of humanity.

Painting has been the most important means for my self-expression for a long time. I am interested in two-dimensional and frozen images, which capture the atmosphere of the moment and stay in that moment for ever. During the past year I have also made videos. When I approached moving images I realised that I was as fascinated of the moment there as I had been before. This thought pattern probably dates back to my habits of painting and the learnt way of looking at the world. I have noticed that different techniques affect my way of seeing things. Sculpturing (which I seldom do) makes me look at the scenery in a more three-dimensional way. My videos include movement but no plot. Instead there is a moment which keeps moving. The idea is looking at something from the outside: you know only what you sense, never the whole story.”

>> www.annikarvinen.com, with the video The Planets

MONTHLY IMAGE: In my big brother’s lap

Paula Majuri: In my big brother’s lap, oil painting 45 x 60 cm, 2014.

Paula Majuri was born in Oulunsalo 1985. She lives with her family in an old log house in the countryside in Parkano. She graduated as an artist in spring 2015.

“ At the moment I’m mostly interested in painting. When I applied for the art school in Kankaanpää, I did it because of sculpture, but painting triumphed. Portrait painting is my greatest passion.  My own children and nature close by are good sources of inspiration. My latest paintings  are oil paintings. Oil painting with layer technique is challenging, but the result is very rewarding. Especially in portrait painting the layered approach results in a lively impression.

My dream is to make wall paintings or other big works. When one paints bigger works, one gets the feeling of being part of the work. However, at the moment I have to consider the size of the paintings carefully, because my studio is not very big.  In the future, we will build a studio in the building outside, where I can make bigger paintings and even sculptures.

The work In my big brother’s lap is a picture of my own sons. It depicts the moment, when the big brother holds his two days old little brother in his lap for the first time.”

> paula.majuri@gmail.com

MONTHLY IMAGE: Places we have visited and forgotten

Janelin Kinnunen: High-heels covered with bird feathers. Details from an installation Places we have visited and forgotten, 2014. Image: Janelin Kinnunen.

Janelin Kinnunen (born 1984) has started his third year in Fine Arts studies in Kankaanpää. His works often include mixed techniques: from installations to videos and from miniature work to tape paintings with collage effect. The installation in the picture is called Places we have visited and forgotten. The idea of the image is to show that it is impossible to return to the past moments. This is both extremely sad and beautiful. Even if we have a picture of the moment as a proof, it only provides one way of distorting the past. Our memory is selective by nature and closely connected to our identity. Do we remember only those things we want to remember, when we don’t remember any more, who we actually were in those days? This image also represents the relationship between the environment and the human. To what extent does the environment affect our identity, i.e. who we are and our world-view? The installation consists of a door covered with downs, shoes with feathers and a photograph attached to a window frame.

> Janelin Kinnunen
janelin.kinnunen@gmail.com, janelinkinnunen.com

MONTHLY IMAGE: Aino-Maria Myllykoski’s Truths, part 2

Maire Karuvuori: performace in Kankaanpää in spring 2013, duration five minutes. Images by Amandus Pedaspea.

It is almost impossible and also unnecessary to use performance as a means of thought manipulation and preaching. After all, the audience will detect the essential in the performance. There is no need to emphasize or cover something. Previously, I made great efforts to find an important topic. Now I can appreciate even those things that are part of my everyday life. For example, I can make a performance on a demented female pastor who is afraid of Obama and Osama and who makes calculations about the number of the Beast, because I know something about it. This is how the series “Aino-Maria Myllykoski’s Truths” was created.

I don’t make personal therapy performances but my performances are always about communication. Intuition, trust, courage and love guide me in my work and love is the most important component which gives rise to everything else. I treat people and my topics gently and with love. At the same time I feel that I draw a lot of love back. I’m also gentle to myself. I think that the most wonderful and thereby also the best work I could do would make the audience feel that I’m giving a present to them.

I have had performances which last several hours and where the audience takes a participating role and everything is based on interaction. On the other hand, I have made video performances and stage performances with show elements, where the audience is at the receiving end. However, the audience is always the reason for a performance.

Maire Karuvuori was born in Helsinki in 1984. See her homepage.