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| JONNA POHJALAINEN , HELSINKI . |
ABOUT THE ARTIST -
Visual
artist Jonna Pohjalainen ( born in 1962 at Kirkkonummi ) lives
and works in Oulunkylä, Helsinki. She has studied in Free Art School, Helsinki
during the years 1987-1988 and graduated from Art School MAA, Helsinki in 1993
and Master's Art programme in the the University of Industrial Arts in Helsinki
2007. Pohjalainen's works were shown for the first time during the art school
years in 1990. After that her works has been shown in several group exhibitions
for example in The Young Artists' Exhibition in Helsinki Kunsthalle 1992 and
1993, The Spirit of Earth in Helsinki Kunsthalle 1993 and The Silence of Earth
in the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku 1996. Her first solo show was in Gallery
Andorra, Helsinki1994. Her latest solo shows has been in Taidesalonki, Helsinki
2001, Ars Populus in Hyvinkää Art Museum 2001 and Lähi-Ö in the Gallery Stoa,
Helsinki 2002 and Gallery Katariina 2007. Her works has also been shown in solo
and group exhibitions abroad for example in Italy, Germany and USA. In 1995 and
1996 she was invited with the "Tallinna Group" to the architecture
workshop Ristmik in Tarto, Estonia and in 2001 she took part in Finnish
Painters' Union's Finnish-Hungarian Artist Symposium in Hungary. Pohjalainen
also works with installations, environmental and community art projects and
performance. Here are mentioned performances Under The Same Sky in the Turku
Cathedral 1995 and Lunch in Myllypuro, Helsinki 1999, community art projects
Giverny In The City: Home Art Laboratory in Myllypuro, Helsinki 2000-2001 and
The Circles of Light in Myllypuro 2003-2005. She has also taken part in several
environmental art exhibitions the latest of which was in Open Air Museum In
Pedvale 2006 in which she took part as an invited artist and Arte Finalndese
2008 in MuBe, Sao Paolo.
Pohjalainen has worked as an urban artist of Helsinki
Citie's Urban Project during the years 1996-2000 and as a community artist
during the years 2001-2006. During her years as an urban and community artist
she has produced many environmental and community art projects in the Eastern
Helsinki and given lectures about community art for example in Helsinki, Turku
and Oulu and Vienna. She has also been teaching art since 1996 for example in
Art School MAA (1996-2000).
THE ARTIST’S STATEMENT -
"I travelled to work in Pedvale
with empty hands. I admired the lovely rural scene and the sunsets of Pedvale.
I used local aspen in my work because of its lively forms and beautiful, grey
colour. While you sharpen your pencils you can see time passing by. Colours
bring joy and happiness in our everyday life. I chose a place of of my work
because of the sunsets. You can sit and meditate near my work and look at the
sunsets. Without sun there are no colours and life!"
JONNA
POHJALAINEN’S COLOUR PENCILS ( 2006 )
The life size pencil set
was shown as part of an outdoor exhibition at Open Air Art Museum in Latvia.
Pohjalainen created the pieces during the Environmental Art workshop on the
museum’s grounds. She arrived there supply-less and with an open mind. Everyday
she would sit quietly taking in the rural landscape, sharpening her pencils and
watching the sun set. Really, what else could she do but turn these grey aspen
logs into an enormous, beautiful, art-supply-rush-inducing sculpture, titled
Colour Pencils.
The aspens were chosen for
their beautiful grey bark color, which the artist felt resembled the outer
casings of common art supplies. The ends of each were painted with a bold
rainbow color that could be found in a colored pencil box. By installing this
series outdoors rather than in a gallery, Pohjalainen wants visitors to observe
the interplay between the sculptures and the elements. Placed in a rough
hewn circle, the pencils jut out of the ground in varying heights and angles.
One could imagine the bunch being thrown to the ground by a giant child passing
through the landscape.
