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.