There's lots of images in this blog post (scroll down for more) which I took during my residency: a combination of wonderings in the landscape as winter gave way to spring, of exploring my responses to this in the studio (through layering print, shadow, images, words and projections) of workshops with the village school and through sharing all of this with an open studio event.
The landscape of Koli has been inspiring creativity for centuries and Koli village has a wonderful rich history of residencies, exhibitions, events and activities; I feel very touched, thankful and humbled to be a tiny part in a long line of creative practitioners working there. The artists residency in Koli is part of the beautiful Kolin Ryynänen building, the whole top floor of the building houses a wonderful light and large studio and a really lovely apartment - the back of the building is at the edge of the forest with the front of the building looking out into the village. The residencies are organised by the fantastic dedicated team of the Koli Cultural Committee; different creative practitioners from around the world spend a month at a time living and working there, creating work with the community and in response to the landscape.
My work in Koli in both 2018 and 2022 involved creating responses to my experiences of being in the landscape - through exploring shadows, photography, gathering words and making little books, print making and collage. I spent a lot of time walking and exploring the forest and lake, keeping journals each day; gathering lots of thoughts, ponderings and notes about what I was seeing, hearing and experiencing (which included the beautiful and haunting sounds of snipe – sky goats – at the edge of the forest at dusk).
I adore the landscape in Koli, it holds so many tiny layers and the details are wonderful; I'm deeply drawn in by the colours and patterns in the land, finding so many layers of textures, sounds, colours and little snippets of things half hidden. I adore the feelings gathered when out walking in the forest – the really strong sense of things hidden amongst the trees; there are sounds, sudden movements, little glimpses of things; little hints of what might be happening... This, together with the way the light falling amongst the trees casts such interesting shadows and patterns gives a huge sense of a multitude of stories hiding away, you have to look very closely and be incredibly patient to begin to uncover them and even then, the forest keeps secrets…
As spring emerged tiny shoots of new growth and delicate small flowers began appearing daily on the forest floor - with intense vivid birdsong. There were intriguing tracks in the snow and scat at the edge of forest paths. I caught glimpses of so many animals all of the time I was out exploring; red squirrels were really busy and visible in the forest trees and hares were all around - in their white winter coats with patches of brown beginning to show. On one walk a tiny lizard was sunbathing on a rock as the May sun burst through - even though the rock was at the edge of a huge patch of snow and it was cold enough that I was wearing lots of layers and a thick woolly hat and gloves. As spring further emerged many bees and butterflies were busy all around, vast forest ant nests were full of movement.
Loud birdsong rang out across the forest constantly, especially at dawn and dusk. A pair of red throated divers were calling loudly from the edges of Lake Pielinen (it's a haunting sound I adore), several kinds of woodpecker were calling and drumming, cuckoos were loudly calling all around (I've never heard so many), snipe and woodcock were calling and flying over the forest edges at dusk, fieldfares and redwings were making their slightly rattling calls throughout the forest and so many other birds were singing. Even birds I'm incredibly familiar with in my own garden in the UK such as blackbirds sounded different in the vast expanse of the Finnish forest.
The workshops I ran with the village school took place both inside and outside, exploring the connections the pupils and staff have with the landscape around them in Koli and looking at the different ways each person engaged with the landscape. The starting point was discussions – through talking, writing and drawing - around why living in Koli feels special and what they each enjoy doing when out in the landscape. They looked at the different things that were important to them when spending time outside. Lots of thoughts, ideas, words and images were gathered and this generated further conversations.
I also brought with me lots of questions from the young people I work with in England who were very curious about Finland; their questions formed some really interesting discussions with the pupils and staff in Finland. There were many conversations about the different approaches to time in nature and different ways of engaging with the seasons and elements.
Things created with the school pupils included teeny matchbox books, shadow scenes, prints, drawings, words, patterns with natural materials and gathering natural objects that inspired us. The school are incredibly warm and welcoming, the pupils had such wonderful ideas and draw their surroundings so readily and with deep knowledge of what's around them.
It's so interesting working with the school in Finland, there's so much to reflect on around the things that are different and the similarities between the Finnish education system and the UK system.
The studio in Koli is a wonderful space, it's large, light, warm and welcoming; I feel very at home there. The windows on one side look out to the forest and on the other side to the tiny village, so there's so much to observe and ponder. It's an amazing opportunity to really spread out ideas and thoughts - to arrange things and revisit them, to really pause and reflect. Very quickly I spread out a set of things - including some photographs I'd taken on my previous residency, drawings, paintings, words and objects. I kept journals from the moment of my arrival and began to find ways to layer words and phrases from these with the images I was creating.
There were also several practical things and some creative problem solving to work through; this is always a good challenge but needs time and emotional energy. The studio in Koli is very well equipped, which I deeply value and I had brought a suitcase full of art resources with me (as well as another suitcase full of clothes for the changing weather!). I had many ideas before arriving of the things I wanted to explore, but of course once in Koli and immersed in the setting I kept thinking of other things to use and different bits of equipment that would be useful.
It was autumn the previous time I was in Koli, so it felt really special revisiting some special places in a very different season. The light was very different - as well as the day length; in May dusk was around 10pm and it never got fully dark; there was a wonderful twilight blue at midnight which hung in the sky until the sun rose around 3am. Much of my work and inspiration centres around natural light and I found myself very much absorbed in exploring shadows at different times of the day and spending a lot of time outside to take in the ways the forest responded to the daylight.
I used print a lot and turned much of this into little scrolls, tiny books and collage - which I layered with text and snippets of information from my walks. On my walks I spent a lot of time photographing textures and colour palettes in the forest - the subtle layers and tiny details really pulled me in.
In the community workshops I ran we explored mono-printing with leaves and there was a lovely calm creative atmosphere as everyone explored the different possibilities.
At the end of my residency I pulled things together in an open studio event - a set of "work and explorations in progress". It was really good to be able to do this, to share ideas with others and to have some really interesting and thoughtful conversations with local people about Koli. The Finns are deep thinkers and I really relish this; there are many opportunities for dialogue which explores deeper issues and enables questions and ideas to be discussed.
Finland has a huge sense of peace, calm and of living life gently, which is woven throughout everything. I could wax lyrical about it endlessly, every time I've worked in Finland I find deeper and deeper layers of inspiration. I'm incredibly drawn to the subtle, muted layers of colour, textures and details in the landscape in Finland; the forests and lakes are full of so many intriguing things, there's a deep sense of mystery about the landscape - connected with the vastness of the land, the lack of people and the quality of light.
I love how buildings sit so subtly in the land there, buildings are painted muted earth colours and situated to blend in and be hidden away - because there's a desire to live gently with the landscape. No large ego-driven marks on the landscape, no fences (people respect each others space), it's rare to see huge buildings.
It's almost a 2 day journey from home to Koli, there was something soothing about this lengthy journey as I headed home and tried to mentally prepare for the change of pace from the calmness of Finland to the fast and intense pace of the UK. A little bit of time in-between buses and trains in Joensuu provided the opportunity for a couple of inspiring hours exploring. Helsinki Airport was as calm, user-friendly and quirky as ever. Checking in at 5.30am meant the moomin cafe was closed, but I could still admire the children's rocking chairs in there. The Finns really seem to understand the need for children - and adults - to gently move whilst sitting, opportunities for it are all over Finland.
I've not got photos of this - but all the long journey was threaded with the slight comedy of me having 2 large suitcases with me on my journey!