Moomin museum and other recent exploits

I've just come home from spending a few days visiting my boyfriend in Tampere. I had a nice time, but the greatest thing about my trip was that he took me to the Moomin Museum! He has just qualified as the world's best boyfriend.
We were very lucky - we turned up about 20 minutes before it was due to close, so the lady working there said we could go in without paying! We still managed to see most of the exhibits. It was lovely; I got to see some of Tove Jansson's original drawings. That was very interesting for me, not only due to the art side, but because I was raised on the Japanese Moomins cartoon on tv, and the style of that is very different to the original books. The originals are sometimes much darker and moodier. There were other items too, such as Moomins books in various languages and set-up scenes with the characters. I would really recommend the museum, especially to tourists, and I think it appeals to both adults and children.
We also went to some small, commercial art galleries, and saw some interesting pieces. Not all of the work was Finnish, but it was good to see. Aside from that we visited some parks and the Pyynikki area, where there's a beautiful forest and beach. Tampere seems to have a lot of lovely, natural areas, more than in the centre of Turku, even though there are plenty of parks here too.
Someone mentioned that Turku has a different atmosphere to many other places in this country, and having spent more time away from Turku I'm inclined to agree. At least during the summer it seems to be extremely lively - I've noticed so many street performers and music. I appreciate that, having a creative mindset, but I also really like Tampere. It seems a bit calmer than Turku. Maybe I'll even end up living there one day, but I'll see what happens. I find Finland as a whole appealing, and I'd still like to see more of it.
Aside from that, my suitcase has now been collected by the courier and will be off to England soon. It was very sad to start packing my life up and taking everything away, but it had to happen.
I'd also like to say now how grateful I am for all the lovely messages I've received recently wishing me luck for my return to England and complimenting me on my writing. I'm very appreciative, and don't worry, I'm still here for two weeks. After that we'll just have to wait and see...

Vesi exhibition

Today is an insanely hot day here, which I think set me up well psychologically for seeing an exhibition about water. I enjoyed the show, but I think I preferred the last exhibition I saw at Wäinö Aaltosen.
The picture is of my favourite piece from the show, "Sink First" by Tina Eskilsson. The medium is pencil, and it looked very impressive. The placement of the figure, with a gap at the top, made the idea of sinking very convincing.
I also really liked two films, by Hannu Karjalainen and Renja Leino respectively. Both of them used sound and image in such a way that made the water seem to really be there, like I could touch it. Karjalainen's film "Surfer", was particularly good, showing waves crashing against rocks. It reminded me very much of my home, it was very emotive and captivating.
Again, the layout of the exhibition was great, and successfully showed the many functions of water - as a cleanser, as part of recreation and sport, as a dangerous force etc. In the first room there seemed to be some emphasis on visual distortion caused by being underwater, which was interesting to look at.
My only complaint would be that this show was really focussed on photography, and I would have liked to see some more paintings and drawings. There were a few included, but they seemed like an afterthought. The previous exhibition I saw at this gallery covered a wide spectrum of media, which kept things fresh, but that was not the case today. I have nothing against photography, but it's not my primary interest, and the exhibition seemed a bit unbalanced to me.
However, the subject matter is interesting, and there were plenty of really great images and compelling works, so I'm pleased that I went. This show runs until August, and I'm looking forward to seeing what's next at Wäinö Aaltosen.

Food and Art

I just ate some lovely falafel from Hesburger. I haven't been there for a while, so it was a nice treat. Actually, I mainly bought it because I ended up having a spontaneous night out last night, and on the way home around 5am I went to Hesburger, and as soon as I got to the front of the line the woman announced that they were shutting and wouldn't cook anything else. Evil people. I really like Hesburger, I think I'll miss it when I'm back in London. Perhaps I should open my own franchise. It's a lot better than Burger King or McDonalds - their vegetarian food is actually edible for a start.
I don't really get cravings for English food anymore. When I first came here it was really annoying. On a couple of occasions when I've been hungover a fried breakfast from a greasy cafe would have been ideal, but unfortunately there's no way to get that kind of thing here. Finnish people really don't understand fried breakfasts either - when I've tried explaining it they can't accept that it's breakfast, and tell me they might eat it for dinner but it's not breakfast food. I think if a hungover Finnish person ate at a greasy cafe they'd change their minds - it's hangover heaven, and every English person knows it, especially the students.
The other day I did have some bad cravings for food from Wasabi London. Their tofu yakisoba is amazing, and they have lots of really tasty vegetarian sushi too. I recommend the seaweed, soya bean, and red pepper gunkan. It's bliss. In London I regularly went to Picadilly, one of my favourite areas, to visit the commercial art galleries, and always bought food from there on the way home.
On the subject of art galleries, tomorrow I'm planning to visit Wäinö Aaltosen again. I would have done that today but I'm feeling sluggish. The new exhibition there is by Finnish, Swedish, and Estonian artists, and is themed on water, which will be of great interest to me. I grew up by the sea, and absolutely loved it, and always felt connected with water. Wherever I settle myself will need to be on the coast, or have a large body of water nearby. I love the river in Turku, which luckily is just down the street from where I live.
I really liked the last exhibition I saw at Wäinö Aaltosen; I liked the way pieces had been grouped together, and the general layout was really good, so I think this new show will be very enjoyable.

Logomo

Today I went to Logomo for the Tom of Finland retrospective, and it was a really good day. Some of the images were quite explicit, and certainly not appropriate for children, but some of the work was more romantic. The technical drawing skill was stunning, and I came away from the exhibition with a lot of respect for Tom. Currently, most people don't find homosexuality shocking, and most people don't consider it to be wrong, or an illness, but he was making work about being gay at a time when it was illegal and very much frowned upon. I think he was very brave to put something like that out there and to be honest about who he was and what he was into at a time when the reaction would be very extreme. Work like this probably wouldn't be quite so controversial if it was done today, but in his time it was a risky thing to produce. I hope that the subject matter doesn't scare people away, because the drawings are very skillful and really do show talent. The exhibition is on all year as part of the capital of culture programme, and it's worth seeing.
The other exhibitions were also good. One of them was photography based and concentrated on models. There were a huge range of artists included, and this lead to a wide variety of models being shown. It was quite diverse, and as I normally work in portraiture it was of particular interest to me. I particularly liked a room full of pictures taken to resemble early photography, and they were quite convincing. In some cases it was almost impossible to tell that they were contemporary.
As a gallery space I thought Logomo was brilliant. It's an old industrial building, and paraphenalia such as fuse boxes have been kept in place, which provides an exciting contrast with the artwork. The setting isn't overly refined, which was appealing. It also has huge windows, giving a lot of natural light, and on a day like today - bright, sunny, and clear - it was really beneficial.
It's behind the train station, so a bit out of the way, but definitely worth a visit. It's more expensive than other galleries I've been to here, but I think you get a bit more for your money, and it has a much more contemporary feel. I definitely preferred it to the Taidemuseo, for example, which seems a bit old and dull in comparison. I hope the secondary exhibition changes at some point, because I'd really like to revisit Logomo.
When it comes to jobs I've had a few more ideas and suggestions. I've applied to some more things, and am developing a plan to sort something out. Hopefully it works, because I really don't want to leave Turku. This week I'm going to be concentrating on sorting these things out. I'm very determined to find something so I can carry on with things here, where I am happy. This is hanging over my head and ruining my otherwise perfect mood, so I want something to come up to solve the problem.

Otto Mäkilä

Today I've been to the Taidemuseo with one of my friends. The exhibition of what is apparently some of the best pieces from their collection wasn't particularly enjoyable. A few things stood out, but not many. I think part of the problem was that it was heavily landscape-based, and I don't find landscapes particularly interesting. The works were all examples of brilliant technical skill, but nothing really grabbed me, which was a shame. Finnish artists, particularly from the 19th century, seemed very into painting the countryside. I'm sure that if that kind of art caters to your tastes it would be an excellent exhibition to see, but unfortunately it was not for me.

After that we saw the Otto Mäkilä exhibition, and thankfully I enjoyed that so much more. The collection as quite extensive, and showed a really good body of work. Some pieces reminded me of Marc Chagall, others seemed to be influenced by Cubism and Futurism. It was really worth seeing. I also really liked that Mäkilä's sketchbook pages were included in the show; I always like being able to see the thought process behind an artist's work. Too often we are just presented with the final "masterpiece", and for art students it can be a bit discouraging to think that the artist was magically able to produce something so brilliant just like that whilst we cannot. Most of the time you don't get to see the initial planning, or the 10 attempts that went wrong before the final piece, so it's good to be reminded that these famous people weren't any different to us.

Once again, I end up wondering why no Finnish artists seem to be well known in my country. Do they not want to be known outside of Finland or Scandinavia? Is the market in Britain oversaturated with native artists, making it difficult for foreign artists to break through? Artists from other Western European countries and America seem to make a name for themselves, so why not Northern European artists? Using Otto Mäkilä as an example, there is no reason why his work shouldn't be as famous in England as it is in Finland. It's not offensive, it doesn't contain cultural references that people outside of Finland couldn't understand, and it's not actually so different to work that has been successful in that country. I'm starting to wonder if the artists choose not to make themselves known outside of Finland, and if that's the case, why? It's quite frustrating, because I think the work is brilliant and that people in other countries should be aware of it. When I go back to university I will have to write a dissertation, and I'm starting to think that this could be worthy subject matter - I'd really like to find out why it is this way. I'd like to find a Finnish artist or curator and ask their opinion on this. Artists from other countries are known in England, and some Finnish artists are extremely well known and respected here, so why does that not translate to somewhere else? There seems to be a good enough artistic history and tradition.

The only exception seems to be Tom of Finland, and I think his notoriety stems from the controversy surrounding his work. He does apparently have a gallery representing his work in London, and has had exhibitions in France and USA. Even so, I still had never heard of him before coming here. There's an exhibition of his work on at the moment as part of the Capital of Culture programme, which I'd be interested to see.

I'm glad I have the opportunity to learn about Finnish art, even if other people are still missing out on it. It makes me wonder how much quality art we're missing out on, and I think it's a great shame.

Finland artwork

When I wrote about visiting the Wäinö Aaltosen Museo here I included a picture of one piece I saw, Harro Koskinen's "Tahrainen Suomi". I mentioned that I was inspired by the piece and wanted to do something similar myself, and today I did. I felt ridiculous buying a flag from a tourist shop, but I guess it was worth it.

I felt that Koskinen's work had some negative connotations, possibly just because it was included in an exhibition themed on death. I wanted to give this work a more positive feeling, so I used a variety of colours, including some bright tones. I also included an outline of Finland, as it felt like otherwise the work was a bit lost and meaningless.

I'm pleased with it, but it was quite physical work as the flag is large, and I had to move around constantly. Now I'm exhausted. If anyone would like to purchase it, it is currently available for sale from my Etsy shop, for €25, plus postage. You can find a link to it on the "Who am I?" page.

Being productive and feeling better

I'm feeling much better about my problems because I've had so many supportive messages from my friends, and also complete strangers, both Finnish and foreign people in Finland, sympathising with me and offering some welcome advice. I'm very grateful to everyone for their encouragement.
Last night I set up an Etsy shop to sell artwork on, and I'm hoping that something will get sold to help me out, even if it's only a short term solution. This morning I've been working on a new painting to go in there, which I'm very satisfied with so far, replying to all these kind messages and thinking of some other potential projects. Plus I've done the laundry, only had a few hours sleep, and it's only 11am. Most days I wouldn't even be out of bed for another hour or so! I probably need some more coffee though.
In a way I'm really glad that I now have the motivation to work on these things. One of my personal aims for this year was to develop myself further as an artist and writer. Through this blog I've definitely devoted more time to writing, but without the influence of uni I felt like art was falling by the wayside a bit. I've really been lacking discipline, and I'm very happy to have now got back into the habit of working and developing ideas.
All the advice and good wishes have given me a new perspective on things. Yesterday I felt like I almost had no choice but to give up, yet now I feel like it's not over unless I decide it's over. I don't want that yet. They'll have to drag me kicking and screaming to the airport right now. I feel much more determined, and I think I'd miss out on a lot of cool stuff if I left now. I don't know exactly what is going to happen but I'm prepared to just do my best and let things unfold as they should.
So, the current plan is:
1. Work on some more small paintings to go on Etsy.
2. Make a digital portfolio to take to galleries. (If no one in Turku wants it, perhaps go further afield to Naantali and Salo)
3. Visit the employment agency to ask about proper jobs.

If anyone has any other suggestions or recommendations please contact me. And again, thank you all for being so supportive.

Voi Vittu

I feel like I'm just a bit screwed. I called the stamp shop today and my boss won't have any work for me until March. Finding another job is proving to be very difficult, due to my poor Finnish ability. I've contacted two English language pre-schools, Little Britannia, The Castle, cleaning jobs, and plenty of independent people looking for English speaking au peres or babysitters and nothing is coming up yet. A lot of the jobs that don't require Finnish are based in the capital. It doesn't help that all of my previous employment has been customer service based, which would be near impossible here. I couldn't even work in a supermarket. I can't survive on thin air, and now I'm really starting to think it's about time I admitted that things didn't go to plan here and I should go home.
Obviously I'd much rather be able to continue my life here but without an income that's not really possible. I have plenty of free time but I can rarely go and do something enjoyable without any money. Everything feels very empty in my life.
I have a couple of ideas that I could still try: printing adverts in Finnish for an art/English tutor, which I'd be quite keen to do anyway, possibly printing another advert as a cleaner or babysitter, trying to sell some artwork, and this is a very long shot, but making a portfolio on a USB and going to some small independent galleries I've seen to try to convince them they want my work. The commercial galleries here seem to be less exclusive than the London ones - aside from one particular gallery they all seem to have lots of different works by different artists crammed together, rather than focussing on one practitioner or theme. Even if that was a successful venture it wouldn't necessarily guarantee money, but I'm at the point that I need to try anything. I'm thinking I should set up an Etsy account too. If something doesn't come up very soon I'm probably going to have to call it a day on this one. I knew my prospects in this country weren't that great, and I've always been realistic about what's possible for me here, but I honestly didn't realise it would be so hard. Tomorrow I should probably go to the employment agency and see if they can help, but previously their only suggestions were cleaning ferries, which I applied for, and working for Nokia, although the Nokia website now says that speaking Finnish is a requirement, so maybe their rules have changed.
If anyone has any suggestions, however outlandish, of potential jobs or ways to earn money I'm willing to listen, and probably give it a shot. With the exception of prostitution, my standards are pretty low right now so I'll do anything. I don't care if it's weird, or even just irregular, because a number of irregular jobs might add up to something worthwhile. I would be extremely grateful for some help from any source.

Wäinö Aaltosen Museo

Today I've been to the Wäinö Aaltosen Museo, to see the exhibition "Death and it's Many Faces," which I've been interested in seeing for a while now. It was interesting, and I've written down a lot of artist's names to look at a bit more. I thought it was good that the exhibition mainly seemed to include Finnish artists. As I've said before, I consider this a really good opportunity to look at some foreign artists who I would never hear about in England.
The piece above, "Tahrainen Suomi" (Stained Finland), is by Harro Koskinen, and it was very bold and interesting. I'm quite keen to get a flag and make a piece following this. I'm not sure what this work referred to, because I always thought the Finns were a peaceful, cheerful bunch, but it seemed to refer to guilt and blame, and obviously, death.
The work I saw covered many media and formats, with a common theme. Another good thing was that each room focussed on a different aspect of death, such as the death of animals, grief, and the depiction of Death as a character. The animal room included a giant smile constructed from cow jawbones on a steel frame, which was a bit unnerving. The show is on until March, and even though some pieces were fairly morbid I quite enjoyed myself. It's a decent sized space too. I guess it showed that some things, such as the depiction and consideration of death, are universal.
I guess this must be art week because I want to go back to Turun Taidemuseo tomorrow. I planned to go today until I found that the new exhibitions open tomorrow, so going today would have been a pointless trip. I think the work there is generally more experimental than at Wäinö Aalto, which seemed more focussed on quite traditional painting and sculpture. There weren't many contemporary works either; most were 20th century. The Taidemuseo's primary exhibition this time is of particularly outstanding works from their collection, so that should be another chance to see a lot of Finnish and Swedish work.

Walking in the snow

Today I've had my first full-on snow experience here. I intended to go to a couple of small commercial galleries I've seen, and decided to walk through Puolalanmäen, the park near our house, just because I wanted to see it covered with snow. It's on a hill and has beautiful views. The park looked amazing, and so different when everything is pure white.
Ultimately I didn't actually go inside either gallery - the first one had some people inside and I felt a bit intimidated and moved on, and by the time I'd walked all the way down Yliopistonkatu to the next one I was very cold, the snow was getting heavier, and I'd much rather have been at home. Maybe some other day when it is quieter would be a better time to go to those places. Even so, it was nice to have a walk in the snow. I definitely feel like I'm in Finland now! I also learned that when the ground is covered in ice and snow I shouldn't be wearing shoes with holes in them. Probably should have worked that one out already...In my defence I wore them because they look really good with my purple legwarmers. Maybe I need to be a bit more practical this winter.
This is so different to anything I'm used to, it's still very exciting and special for me.

Turun Taidemuseo

Today I've been to Turun Taidemuseo, the city art gallery of Turku, and I really enjoyed it. It's really good for me to see work by Finnish artists, because that's not something you really hear about in England. There was a good combination of contemporary work and older works from the 20th century. It's also very convenient that it's a minute's walk from the house.
It's a shame that most of the information was in Finnish and Swedish, but a very enthusiastic member of staff showed me around some of the exhibitions and gave me some information about the artists.
I particularly enjoyed this piece, about the wartime deportation of the artist's family from Lithuania to Siberia. The juxtaposition between the film of a family, happily celebrating Christmas together, and the description of the torture and problems faced in Siberia made it very moving. If anyone in Turku is reading this I'd really recommend seeing it, it was quite haunting. Yeah, I just went all art student on your ass.
I also really liked the work by Hanna Haaslahti. I'm not usually that into audience participation based work because I find it a bit awkward and embarrassing, but as I seemed to be the only visitor this afternoon I had some fun with that. One piece periodically took second long films of your motions and replayed them, so that on the screen you could create a moving crowd comprised of yourself. It would probably be better with more than one person involved but it was fun to play with. She also had another piece in which your shadow on the floor was filled with images of clouds and blue sky, whilst the rest of the floor was black.
The main attraction at the moment is a show by Matts Leiderstam from Sweden, which I actually found to be the least interesting, mainly because I'm not that into landscapes. The other exhibition was depicting journeys, both physical and mental, made by Finnish artists. It kinda worked with my current situation, but again, it was less interesting for me due to the high quota of landscapes. The room dedicated to mental journeys was a bit more enjoyable, as there was some surrealist work, and work that required more thought from the viewer.
The gallery is quite small but I liked it, and I'd definitely be up for a return visit. Most of the current exhibitions seem to be closing this month, so I look forward to seeing some new things soon. I've also noticed various small commercial galleries on my travels around Turku, and I'm very keen to visit those. Personally I prefer that sort of space to larger museums, and in London I visited the contemporary galleries in Cork Street and Albemarle Street around once a month. I think these galleries would give me more opportunities to learn about Finnish contemporary art, so that's definitely a plan for another day.
After that I went to the nearby sewing shop for some needles. All the buttons fell off my new Primark coat a few days after I bought it! And as I'm here I can't even go back to Wood Green to complain! The weather's getting to the stage now where I really can't afford to not have a thick winter coat. Why are the old women who work in sewing shops always so scary? I'm not going back in there without back up. They had some really nice fabrics and craft items, which I'll be needing for a project I'm starting on. I can't say much about that yet because it might just be a Christmas present for a certain someone called Jussi...