Tessa Androutsopoulos 2011
The work I have produced during my residency at Saksala ArtRadius contrasts the isolation I have felt during my stay in Haukivuori and the
creativity and energy I feel when I am in a bigger city, close to friends I haven’t made yet, young and beautiful people with
whom to talk about art, collaborations that could take place. Some of the pieces in the
exhibition, like Covet the nest, for example, are directly about how weak and isolated I have felt during
these past months, while others (Some people I met in P.E.C. and the Juha-series) are a result of
me pining for all the good, creative times I have had in the past with people I have met during my
travels. After the first initial shock caused by this voluntary isolation, I started thinking about how
to use rural language to describe urban subject matter. The result, I love you more than
squirrels love nuts, uses the visual language of Saksala to talk about the energy and excitement of big
cities. However, even though I have been missing my life in the city (any city, not Helsinki, Glasgow,
Athens, Toronto or any other specific one, even though those cities do form a reference point, of
course) being in Saksala has taught me a valuable lesson; it has shown me who I am and what I need in
order to mould my ideas into finished pieces, which is other creative people to bounce
ideas off of, metros to leave my zines in, parks to have ex tempore parties in with people I have
never met. Sometimes, to get a better view of what you need, it is necessary to step away from it and
look at it from a distance.
The hot air balloons are a metaphor for this idea, getting a better view
of my life and the nature of my creativity while looking at it from far away. Also, the choice of
mediums used, crochet and felting (in addition to my usual printmaking), describes my stay in
Haukivuori perfectly, as I had, local techniques
describing a more urban, but at the same time also more personal subject matter.
I have always been interested in sequences, which is why the majority of
the work I have produced during my stay at Saksala ArtRadius has taken the forms of zines, which
I intend to leave lying around in public places once back in Helsinki. The idea that one image
is not a complete work of art until it is seen in context, has always been a prevalent one in my
creative practice. This time, the zines themselves form parts of a whole. The progress of my adjusting to
this isolation can be seen from one zine to the next (and within each zine as well, of course,
especially Week 10, which is, essentially, a diary).
|
Melanie Fitzmaurice, 2011
Upon arriving in Finland I was intrigued to discover the
contrast between Haukivuori’s intimate, intense and entirely white
landscape, compared to the distant horizon of the dry and familiar
surroundings of my home in rural Victoria, Australia.
Having rarely seen snow settle on the ground in Australia, let alone
accumulate, I was overwhelmed by the density of the white-coated
surfaces. I am captivated by the way snow creates a ‘visual padding’
for the landscape, disguising forms and reflecting light, often
creating a brilliant glare that can distort the way that the
immediate environment is perceived.
During my time at SAKSALA ArtRadius I have investigated new felting
processes and produced crocheted, machine-felted sculptures. I am
fascinated by the potential of this process when applied to these
more complex, three-dimensional forms.
Headspace/Snowspace comprises three new sculptures that are unified
by a predominantly white surface, mimicking the snow-covered
environment. My conceptual focus for this residency has been
History/Geography/Psychology, where each of the artworks exhibited
reflects on one of these words. These sculptures draw on influences
taken from my life in Australia, including personal memories and
family photographs, combined with influences gained in Finland such
as newly discovered felting processes and the physical nature of
snow.
Melanie Fitzmaurice
To contact Melanie or to see more of her sculptures please visit
www.melaniefitzmaurice.com |