LumiLinna / Kemi Snow Castle

Another day, another workshop in Finland. This time around I got the opportunity to design a room in a snow castle. This workshop was an interesting one because it played out like what I imagine professional commission based sculpture would. First we met with the creative director and submitted our proposal design. He requested we build on the idea of a ski hill. Then he rejected said design based on the fact that he changed his mind about the theme. Fine, we made another design, but that also got rejected because another group had laid claim to the idea. This would be all well and fun if he had did so in a timely manner, however we only received feedback on our 2nd design the day we were suppose to start sculpting. In a rush we brainstormed and constructed a 3rd design and that is the one we brought to reality.

Above you will find the details of the 3 walls. The 4th wall with the door was left blank because the snow tends to shift around on that one and we thought it would be too busy to have all 4 walls carved. The end of this workshop was a bittersweet victory. Everything turned out really good and even the indecisive manager thought we did a good job. I was mostly responsible for carving the hand and as you can see much of the detail had been lost as a result of the lighting. I am also not entirely happy with the bowling theme, but we had little choice and time to argue. I suppose it enforces the idea that a majority of art making is problem solving.

Jokivalkeat - Fire Sculpture

While in Finland I had the chance to participate in some really random art workshops. The first of which was Fire Sculpture, I was sold at the title. I had no idea what it was or how it works, but I sure was excited. This also marked my first experience with the Finnish educational style, by all accounts the best in the world. Even now as I reflect back on the whole experience I am not sure how to classify the teaching. The teachers don't really feel like teachers, more like associates. They are even addressed as 'tutors' instead of professor or teacher. At times I felt a bit lost because I didn't have that authority figure to turn to in times of confusion. Instead I was encouraged to work out my own solutions, which is probably the better way to go for the last year of my bachelors.

The main point of this workshop was to celebrate the river and the darkness which is so prominent in Lapland. We started by throwing a few ideas around and eventually came to epic conclusion of making a dragon. We sold the idea with the mythology and aesthetics associated with dragons, but lets face it, it was just awesome to make a dragon.

Once we had the wood frame built we stuffed it with hay. At this point I had no idea if it would even work.

We set up the sculpture and stood back to admire our work. It was good. Work went much faster than we anticipated so we made two baby dragons and put wings on the main dragon. I don't mean to sound cocky, but our piece definitely stood out.

Showtime came and the results speak for themselves. Its a great feeling when you got the roar of the crowd supporting your work.

Adaptation Charting

Being the hyper active artists that I am I managed to squeeze in another show before I left this weird place called Finland. This one focused more on my contextual experience rather than the development of my own ideas. The project called for an emphasis on photography, but being the crafty guy I am I managed to warp this to something I was more comfortable working with, an animation / process drawing.

This was the result of about 2 months of work. Everyday before I went to bed I made one quick drawing on a large piece of paper and took a picture. Each drawing was made to represent my day, so as an art piece I don't think this is very successful. It is more akin to a source of memories for me. Other people in the group approached this project as a scrapbook, available for all to freely read. I didn't want to make things to easy for the viewer. I felt that this chaotic assembly of imagery represented me better as well.

Halfway through my process drawing I got the feeling that I wasn't going to be entirely satisfied, so I went ahead and jumped into my favorite medium. I also felt that I didn't have enough work. Finland just wasn't pushing me enough.So I thought I would put my skills to the test and see how many paintings I could produce in 3 days. Keeping with the theme of documenting my stay on the other side of the world, I decided to do a sort of anthropological documentation with a slight twist. I asked some friends to come by and I would paint a straight portrait. The catch was that they had to make a funny face. Each person is from a different country and the expression was their own choosing. I liked this series much better than the drawing. It still maintained the main idea, but it was filtered through me now.

Who We Are

Like a good little art student I finished my stay in Finland with an exhibition of my work. I'm not really sure how I feel about the series as a whole. I had a chance to refine my technique and work out some concepts. It was quite the switch from the factory production pace that is expected in Montreal. When I stand back it feels like just another drop in the bucket. I feel an incessant drive in the back of my head and despite my best efforts I have not even begun to define it. I wonder now if it will ever be defined or will this be the buzz the pushes me to my limits till my time has come. At the moment I think that the answers I am seeking lies within some abstract art theory or psychology text, so my research must continue.

Animus and Persona

Anima

 

Shadow

These four pieces represent Carl Jung's main archetypes, the organizing principles of human thought and personality. I chose this theme for my stay in Finland because I felt that it would effectively cross any cultural barrier, and believe me there was a bunch of them.

In order to encourage people to actually comment on my work, I covered one wall in paper and wrote 'Who Are You' in the center. Even in an English environment it's like pulling teeth to get comments about your work so I thought this would be a bit encouraging. The images above is the result after a 3 week exhibition. In the end there was a lot of great answers and I'm glad I included it.

Reflecting back on the show I couldn't help but think about the marketability of this series or even portraiture in general. For whatever reason I am drawn to that particular style of expression, but I can't really see a use for it besides my indulgent need to endlessly create and express the ideas whirling around my head. I suppose we will all have to wait and see what becomes of me and my work.