Fringe, exhibition catalogue (Arctic Arts Summit 2019) by Arctic Art Institute

F R I N G E

Lapin yliopiston taiteiden tiedekunnan julkaisuja, C. Katsauksia ja puheenvuoroja 62 Publications of the Faculty of Art and Design of the University of Lapland Series C. Overviews and discussion 62 Pohjolan painotuote Oy, Rovaniemi 2019 Layout: Anna-Mari Nukarinen Cover photo: Ustina Yakovleva: Beads, 2014. Printed work: ISBN 978-952-337-156-9 Pdf: ISBN 978-952-337-157-6 ISSN 1236-9616

CONTENTS Ásthildur Jónsdóttir, Maria Huhmarniemi, Gunvor Guttorm & Ekaterina Sharova

Fringe

Ekaterina Sharova

Redesigning the invisible

Alison Aune Hildur Bjarnadóttir Glyuklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) Gunvor Guttorm Louise Harris Ásthildur Jónsdóttir Laila Susanna Kuhmunen Maarit Magga Ustina Yakovleva Elina Härkönen, Miia Mäkinen, Maria Huhmarniemi & Jari Rinne Antti Stöckell, Antti Jokinen & Tapani Saraste

FRINGE

The title of the exhibition Fringe refers to the outer edge, the margin or the periphery. When something is regarded as peripheral, marginal or extreme in relation to something else, it often needs to be respected and protected. The exhibition makes connections through arts and crafts showing works by artists that have studied the themes of dialogue from various perspectives with handmade techniques. This Arctic context is diverse, including dialogue with nature, people in the Arctic region, aesthetic experi ence, different generations, traditions and indigenous and non-indigenous art and culture. All those aspects are important factors in the sustainable future of Arctic art and culture. The theme of dialogue has dimensions of cultural sustainability and incorpo rates issues connected to the ownership of culture, the transformation of traditions and the intercultural and multicultural nature of the Arctic communities. The artwork shown at Fringe reflects on different aspects of our existence today. The exhibition includes different threats, including to traditions and the relationships between contemporary setting and old traditions. The handmade Arctic productions aim to increase appreciation and understanding of the diverse use of handicrafts in contemporary art, reflecting on and fostering resilience among the exhibition visitors through reflections of the North. A collaboration between humans functions well when

all members of the team actively contribute their expertise, experience and different perspectives. Consequently, in good teams, everyone has the opportunity to contribute and flourish. The exhibition is part of the Arctic Handmade collaboration between three universities, Iceland University of the Arts (IS), University of Lapland, (FI) and Sámi Allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied Sciences (NO), as well as the Arctic Art Forum (RU). The first exhibition under the project was called Interwoven and shown in Rovaniemi and Reykjavik. The project has been beneficial to all as it has shed a light on cultural awareness and given the participants international experience through rich dialogue. The producers of the Fringe are Maria Huhmarniemi, Ásthildur Jónsdóttir and Ekaterina Sharova. The exhibition is funded by the Nordic Culture Fund, the University of Lapland and Sámi Allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied Sciences. Ásthildur Jónsdóttir, Iceland University of the Arts Maria Huhmarniemi, University of Lapland Gunvor Guttorm, Sámi University of Applied Sciences Ekaterina Sharova, Arctic Art Forum

REDESIGNING THE INVISIBLE Ekaterina Sharova

What is the difference between a naturalistic and a materialist philosophy of art? It is the same difference that exists between observing nature and actually being natural in oneself, between reproducing or reflecting nature and finding one’s own nature as expressed in the nature of the relevant material or substance.

Asger Jorn. What is an ornament? The Fringe is an interdisciplinary exhibition which raises complex questions about Arctic culture, where memory, embodied knowledge and dialogue are central themes. It seems that dialogue is a predictable topic in international cross-borders projects, that so much has been said. However, the growing intercultural gaps and misunderstandings reflect the multiple challenges which are still not resolved. The languages used do not seem to be sufficient for this communication and we have to look for new ones. Having worked with textile and recycling projects in the Arctic region for several years, I have found that the material can become a language in itself. On one hand, it can be very intimate, and on another, critical to meet challenges such as the influences of capitalism and climate change. The artists in the exhibition speak Finnish, English, Norwegian, Sámi, Icelandic and Russian, but together they speak the language of the material, which translates their private experiences into the materiality of the tangible memories.

Textile creates a meeting place for exercising social competence. The possibility of horizontal communication and opportunities to be listened to are still the exception in certain peripheral contexts. Too often the power speaks for knowledge; too often the centre represents the periphery, forgetting to ask questions and the very possibility of learning from the margins. The ecosystem for arts in the periphery is possible when there are platforms for Arctic citizens to express themselves, when their knowledge is seen as a value and their voices are heard. In order to facilitate that process, it seems that the redesign of the existing yet invisible socio-political and cultural structures could be important and even necessary, so that as many people as possible can contribute to the development of the Arctic cultural ecosystem.

EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE The Fringe is a collaborative project between universities and independent artists. Academic and non-academic knowledge are in a dialogue here, so that the process is mutually enriching and there is room for innovation. Knowledge is not always communicated; sometimes the local knowledge can be overlooked or silenced. Everyday objects can tell (or retell) stories if we are empowered with the academic knowledge of visual analysis and aesthetic theory. That happened to me when I came home after 11 years abroad. The embodied knowledge of the Northerners seems relevant today, when we all live surrounded by the “broken nature”. Ancient ornaments, methods of dying textiles, knitting and mobile architecture retain traces of the knowledge which represents intergenerational wisdom. The works in the exhibition reflect on the themes of identity, connectedness and intersections in various ways. What seems very important here is namely the method, the holistic approach where relations between a human and a nature are central, where culture and nature can co-exist, where various flowers can grow. The artists in the exhibitions represent not only themselves as individuals, but also the culture of the place, several generations or a family which revolves around the Arctic. The stories of the place are reflected in a form.

TEXTILE & TEXT The discussion about culture and nature can differ in Russia and in Nordic countries due to their different histories. The everyday language of textile and crafts can be regarded as something that is not important enough to listen to when you have high culture, which is also well-known internationally – be it ballet, monumental sculpture, a XIX century classical novel or other canons, which seem to dominate the poetic landscape. However, if you learn to hear the silent voices, you can make new discove ries. Often these details become invisible, but especially today, amidst the context of various national powers competing for Arctic resources, the preservation of material and immaterial heritage seems highly relevant. Why are the crafts important to listen to at all? To answer this question, you can try to interact with these works by remembering your own mothers. These are the most powerful memories which connect all of us as humans. Let’s have memory power – mother power.

OP E N S Y S T E MS Working in the peripheries is an action undertaken in the zone of proximate development (to use the term of Leo Vygotsky). However, it is essential to establish the exchange between academic and non-academic knowledge. Coming from the centre, you should be able to ask questions and to listen. Many things could be learnt from the Arctic hinterland, such as how to live with limited resources, how to recycle and how to learn from nature. There should be a space for the open-endedness of the system, which can include various perspectives and new voices. In the discussion about sustainable development in the Arctic, the ways of seeing are essential. Who is talking about the North? From what perspective? Who is given the possibility to express? Can we empower the silence? Are there possibilities to redesign the invisible?

ARTISTS

ALISON AUNE Sky, 2016, acrylic and paper on canvas, 36 1/₂” x 48 1/₂” For many years, I have been integrating historic decorative-symbolic motifs found in Swedish, Norwegian and Sámi textiles into my paintings. Through the process of inquiry, critical reflection and the direct referencing of these decorative patterns into my paintings, I am discovering the original symbolic meanings and the cultural significance of these designs. In this way, I am not only exploring my cultural roots, but I am keeping the imagery alive by re-contextualizing these ancient forms into a new artistic form that explores the intersection of women’s material culture, craft and heritage. In my painting Sky, I have painted my nephew in a Sámi Gákti surrounded by repeating textile patterns of the Norwegian 8-petaled rose (or star), symbolic of good luck and protection, to honor our arctic Norwegian-Sámi ancestry. Sky wears the Gákti to honor my father’s grandmother, Margarethe, who was a midwife, healer and Sámi, and his grandfather, Bernt, who was the 7th son of the 7th son and a healer who immigrated to Hazel Run Minnesota, a Norwegian settlement, at the turn of the century. They lived in Yellow Medicine County, a place named for a plant whose yellow root was a medicinal plant for Native American Dakota people.

Dr. Alison Aune is a painter and professor of art education at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her Nordic-inspired paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States, including at the American Swedish Institute and Norway House in Minneapolis, the Vesterheim Norwegian Museum in Decorah, Iowa, the Swedish American Museum in Chicago, the Scandinavian Cultural Center in Tacoma, Washington, and at Sahlströmsgården, Torsby, Samlargrafik, Kristianstad and in Växjö, Sweden. Her works have been exhibited in group shows in Denmark, Norway, Italy, Turkey and Estonia. Alison was a Fulbright scholar in Sweden and an American Scandinavian Foundation Doctoral Fellow in Norway. She has received numerous awards, including an American Scandinavian Foundation Folk Art artist grant, the Minnesota Initiative Grant, Art Educator of Minnesota awards and a Jerome Foundation Travel Grant. Her work appears in several collections in the US, Sweden and Norway.

HILDUR BJARNADÓTTIR Garden, 2011, crochet wool, plant dye, size variable (smallest piece: 25 x 25 cm; largest piece: 35 x 41 cm) Eighty years ago, my grandmother acquired a piece of land from the farm Ferstikla in Hvalfjörður, where she grew up. At that time the land was barren, mostly gravel with very few low plants. Soon, she fenced the piece of land off to defend it from sheep and other animals. Her whole life she cultivated and took care of the native plants and brought in new plants and trees. Today, there is a thriving forest on the land and an unusually rich flora. In the work Garden, I have extracted colour from 30 plants and trees on my grandmother’s land and crochet squares in various sizes. The plants function as recording devices for the social and ecological environment they belong to, taking in information from the soil and the air, thus documenting my grandmother’s existence, which then materializes in the colour I extract from the plants. In these times of turbulent environmental issues, it is impossible to ignore that at the same time the plants record my grandmother’s life and her care for nature, they also document events in a much larger context. No place on earth is excluded from the negative affect human beings have had on their environment and my grandmother’s piece of land is no exception.

Dr. Hildur Bjarnadottir is an Icelandic artist who since 2013, lives and works in Flóahreppur in the south of Iceland. In her recent work she investigates issues of belonging, ecology, place and cohabitation with animals and plants on this small piece of land in the south of Iceland. Her work brings forward diverse information, experiences, viewpoints and elements of the land through plant color extracted from the plants that live on the land. Hildur uses various methods and materials in her work such as wool, linen, silk, weaving, sound and photography. Her works are often in the form of installations which shed light on an intricate net of cohabitation and belonging connected to specific places. Hildur has a practice based Phd from the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme since 2017 and holds the position of associate professor at the MA level at the Fine Art Department of the Icelandic University of the Arts since 2016.

Photograph: Vigfús Birgisson

Glyuklya

(Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) Sweet Katorga, 2014 The film Sweet Katorga is a dialogue with the artist’s mother where the viewer encounters the personal story of a Soviet textile designer in exile during the siege of Saint Petersburg. Katorga is a Russian word signifying penal labor in Imperial Russia. The first katorgas were built by Peter I at the end of the XVII century before the growth of the Empire, and they played a role in internal colonization processes. Relations between different generations of women in the Post-Soviet context connect the histories and epoch through negation, revolt or attempts at leaving and acceptance, in the post-Utopian, post-traumatic, post-manifesto context. In the film, a situation of mutual learning is set into the context of the interview with the mother, who is telling a story of her everyday life in Uzbekistan during World War II. The visual references send the viewer back to this experience of leaving the military conflict and searching for a normalizing existence through the everyday sensations of smells, tastes and colors. At the end of the film the viewer receives the explanation that the sweet katorga is the way the Soviet Gobilen-makers described their monotonous work. The work of creating the invisible social threads is also a katorga, long-term, invisible process, but someone has to do it and it might be recognized as a sort of pleaser in the end which traditionally applied to the “sweet”.

Glyuklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) is considered as one of the pioneers of Russian performance. She co-founded the artist collective The Factory of Found Clothes (FFC) using conceptualized clothes as a tool to build a connection between art and everyday life and the Chto Delat Group, of which she has been an active member since 2003. In 2012, the FFC was reformulated into The Utopian Unemployment Union, an inclusive project uniting art, social science, and progressive pedagogy, giving people with all kinds of social backgrounds the opportunity to make art together with the help of artist method embracing the human fragility. Last year, Gluklya passionately threw herself into the research of the Integration politics and its implications for newcomers and rent for this purpose the studio at the former prison Bijlmer Bajes. The long-term project was concluded with the public street performance Carnival of Oppressed Feelings on October 28th, 2017.

GUNVOR GUTTORM My Way to Iešvuođat & Iešdovddut II, 2014, Carafes with knitted cover and reindeer horn lid

My background is in duodji (Sámi craft) and I use duodji as a basis for my ideas. For many people, duodji is one aspect of a person’s whole life. Duodji has its origins in everyday Sámi life. In my work, I have been interested in exploring how our mothers and grandmothers created an existence in which they were able to exist in the centre of life while at the same time being able to find the peace and quiet to create things, often to cover a necessity. I have chosen knitting as a technique in my own work. I have combined knitting with prefabricated elements, such as bottles that I have been given or that I have found or purchased at jumble sales. These bottles are pre-defined, but I have wanted to give them a new identity, a transition from being a bottle to being something else.

Dr. Gunvor Guttorm is a professor of duodji (Sámi arts and crafts, traditional art, applied art) at Sámi Allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino in Norway. Currently, she is a rector at the same institution. Her research is interconnected with cultural expression in the Sámi and indigenous societies, especially duodji. The focus of her research deals with duodji in a contemporary setting and the indigenous people’s context. She has also had the good fortune to work with elderly duodji artisans and share their knowledge of traditional techniques. This has indeed benefited her theoretical work. In her approach, she has also tried to understand the duodji of today by discussing what context and meaning it has and has had for the Sámi.

LOUISE HARRIS Flowers of the Field, 2019, Installation with felted wool and watercolors As an artist working with a range of media, I was trained as a painter, but I have always used textiles as an anchor to reminisce about my childhood and a way to manage my values and morals. With painting, making the watercolours is a private performance similar to the felting process and the object I make shares a similar physical presence. Even though I do not have faith in a traditional God, I am aware that my convent education was so immersive. I need to acknowledge the impact this had on me. I use the medium of felt to reflect on the bible stories which were such a major part of my childhood, particularly the verse from The Sermon on the Mount referring to The Flowers of the Field, and that they do not “labour or toil”. Living in Reykjavík has brought me so much closer to nature; for years in London, I never saw nature, thinking only of these verses. This new awareness has had a great impact on my work. Walking in Iceland, I encounter flowers in the field that have miraculously survived and bloomed in the most inhospitable circumstances; they have laboured and toiled and become the closest things to divine that I can imagine. Their resilience and also their fragility give me pause to reflect on these delicate systems which underpin our everyday existence. With the installation, I reflect on the complicated and diverse relationship between man and nature.

Louise Harris has a degree in Fine Art from Oxford University and M.F.A. from Goldsmiths College. She qualified as a teacher and has been teaching and exhibiting since. Louise Harris is not a painter, a textile artist or a multimedia artist, and yet she is all these things. She is an artist first before any allegiance to any choice of media. This is because as an artist she does not see herself as the master of her medium, but rather she recognises that what she wants to achieve may only be possible through a dialogue with her chosen medium. In her textile work, which is the focus of this show, felting is always used to suggest biblical passages through the lyrical depiction of flower filled landscapes which are realised in a range of apparently fluidly gestural marks. The images Louise creates in felt of “divine landscapes” are the result of lengthy enquiry, it might even be argued that this enquiry stretches as far back as her early childhood.

ÁSTHILDUR JÓNSDÓTTIR Arctic Aesthetics, 2019, Installation including hand-stitched and painted table cloth, prints, and writings

For a number of years, I have been involved with issues concerning the ecology of the planet. This installation reflects on contemporary contexts and highlights the voices of participants from the Arctic region. With the work, I encouraged the participants to engage in the beauty of the Arctic, both physically and psychologically. The participants wrote reflections about their aesthetic experience of the Arctic. The stories talk about atmospheres from different places, happenings and experiences, including memories and dreams. With my work and the participation of different individuals in the Arctic region, I want to place beauty on the pedestal it deserves and emphasise its important role in how we perceive our reality, our knowledge, our values, our well-being and the quality of our lives. I want to bring attention to how human interaction can further our understanding and practice of well-being with respect to the integrity of nature. During the exhibition, visitors are able to interact with the work.

Dr. Ásthildur Jónsdóttir is an Icelandic artist, curator and art educator living in Geneva, Switzerland. Her interests include arts and cultural movements that support sustainability at all levels. For a number of years, she has been involved with issues concerning the ecology of the planet. In her work, she is concerned with places/environment, memories, recollection and identity through authorship and collaboration, questioning individuality, and exploring what is unique and what is common. With her works, she wants to bring attention to how human interaction can further both the understanding and practice of well-being with respect to the integrity of nature. In her later years, participation has played an essential role in her work. With participation, she creates settings for people to experience significance through actions performed in close connection with the spirits of nature.

L AIL A SUSANNA KUHMUNEN The Karesuando Traditional Costume Adapted to Special Needs, 2016, Polyester I am a northern Sámi, belonging to the Karesuando area, and I take my tradition as the starting point in my creations. My design is based on the experience I gained when I worked for few years as a personal assistant for people with reduced physical functions. I saw a need within the Sámi society which had not been dealt with earlier, or at least which had not been given much attention, namely the need for a traditional costume that is adapted to the needs of handicapped persons. The dress shown here was designed to address the specific needs of a woman I collaborated with. Based on her personal desires, I designed a modern and functional costume. Through the design process, I asked myself if it was possible to adapt the traditional costume to the individual’s needs so the value of wearing the costume would increase for the person. I kept in mind issues like the difficulty of putting the costume on and taking it off and the difficulty of using the costume. The final project resulted in giving the model the opportunity to be able to dress herself on her own and at the same time feel satisfaction about the aesthetic nature of the costume.

Laila Susanna Kuhmunen lives in Jokkmokk, Sweden and is a Master’s degree student in duodji (meaning authentic Sámi artisanship) at the Sámi Allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino in Norway. During her time as a student, she was given the opportunity to use traditional Sámi handicraft as well as being exposed to other materials and techniques found outside the Sámi handicraft context. In her work, she expresses her Sámi background and culture by using different materials. She has a special interest in the traditional Sámi costume, which she uses as a metaphor in an art installation in her coming examination project, where relationships and cooperation are the focus. In autumn 2019, she expects to receive her Master’s degree in duodji.

MAARIT MAGGA The Promise, 2018, Narrative around the Window Curb takes my childhood, Wall Textile by Embroidery and Photographic Transfer

My mother´s uncle lived nearby and the exterior light was a promise to come to me. The shabby, old-fashioned living environment was lit by a turquoise kitchen cabinet. There was a candy bag in the cabinet box, sometimes up to two, often the best Fazerin Parhaat or Kettu candies. Uncle’s way was to show affection as I remembered from his church trip. I remember the smell of pipe tobacco that was soaked in his clothes as well as in the interior of the cabin. I haven’t come to know him as a person, but I’ve heard a lot of stories about him. According to the story, Uncle was sometimes in love with the fact that wedding bells were already ringing. Wedding dresses had already been made. However, the wedding did not come because the Bride went to another. According to the story, the Bride was afraid of Uncle’s flattery. Or did Uncle just want new clothes? Based on the style of the 1940s, the contemporary gákti Promise reflects the groom’s wedding dress, though this reflection was accomplished through my son.

Maarit Magga is an artist and duodji expert. She has a Master’s degree in Duodji and now she is working as Phd Candidate in Duodji in Sámi University College. She has a long experience in traditional duodji. In her recent artistic work, she has oriented to a new field in which she combines crafts and literature; she tells stories through embroidery. She has featured work in a number of exhibitions on Sàmi handcraft and culture in the Nordic countries and elsewhere in Europe. She also holds many positions of trust in the Sámi culture.

USTINA YAKOVLEVA Mollusks My practice revolves around deconstructing and decontextualising nature’s aesthetics with labour-intensive contemplative practices. Through long-running meditative projects, I create abstract objects, installations, books and paintings, all conceptualised as an effect of time and local surroundings. A large part of my practice is constituted of graphic works which consist of identical individual strokes that grow into abstract forms. It is a kind of automatic writing which binds the time into the material form. The basis of any object is a simple structure: the form is constructed gradually, like a living organism in which every bead is a molecule building up atoms, amino acids, cells and so forth from the micro to the macro level. There are forms born which combine qualities that never coexist in nature, the ones which could be encountered in an alternate dimension where creatures unite in their abilities to live on the land, in the air and underwater. Some projects I develop are figurative and represent imagined or real landscapes; there, various techniques allow me to reveal the peculiarities and variativeness of the same landscape, depending on objective and subjective factors. I create works without sketches, as I am interested in self-forming composition as part of the creation process; drawing develops as a living organism, taking new forms throughout the work. Individual elements construct larger structures, like the atoms and cells construct the objects around us.

Ustina Yakovleva lives and works in Moscow and Berlin. Graduated from Moscow State Pedagogical University (Graphics Faculty, 2009) and in the same year graduated from the Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Ustina was resident in Gridchinhall residency, NCCA residency in Kronstadt, Zarya residency in Vladivostok. Ustina works in mediums of drawing, painting, and sculpture. Sometimes they are abstract forms, sometimes they resemble organic forms and organisms: corals, algae, molecules and embryos. Time is always an important factor in her art, she is allowing the works to grow and develop by their inner rules, in a way similar to the mechanisms of nature.

ELINA HÄRKÖNEN, MIIA MÄKINEN, MARIA HUHMARNIEMI & JARI RINNE Shared woollen patterns, 2019 The installation examines a shared cultural heritage of the Arctic through traditional knitting patterns. The pieces were collected in collaboration with knitters around the Arctic, who have shared their knowledge of their regional knitting traditions. The knitted pieces represent pieces of cultural identity and heritage. Attached together, the pieces show similarities and differences between different traditions. The soundscape dislodges actual knitting sounds and the creation of stories, defecting beyond palpable physical patterns. The installation aims to make the handcraft traditions visible and demonstrate their dimension as a shared tradition of knitting that brings people together. Alluring audio cues open the listener to hearing the “knitting state of mind”, like slowing down, cozy feelings and a safe space for sharing.

Elina Härkönen works as an art education lecturer at the University of Lapland. In her artistic practices, she is interested in everyday cultural heritages, especially in the northern parts of Europe. She has concentrated mainly on the connection between handcraft traditions and contemporary art. She has been organising knitting circles in different contexts: art museum and art events. Her inspiration for wool and knitting comes from traditional patterns and the social phenomenon around knitting. Dr. Maria Huhmarniemi is an artist and a teacher at the University of Lapland on the Faculty of Art and Design. In her work as a visual artist, she engages with questions concerning the North, multiculturalism and interculturalism. She does installation art and environmental art. Miia Mäkinen is Finnish visual artist who works and lives in Rovaniemi. She manages various painting techniques from traditional watercolour painting to street art painting with spray paints. In her artistic work, she also combines craft techniques such as embroidery in her watercolour paintings. Jari Rinne serves as the Innovations Manager on the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland. He has a background in live rock music and education. His artistic works promote artistic ways of thinking with the methods typically used in corporate environments. Alongside his professional life, he is involved with playing in a band.

ANTTI STÖCKELL, ANTTI JOKINEN & TAPANI SARASTE Shelter, 2019 Before the evolution of permanent settlements, lightweight shelters were carried along. These shelters were quickly constructed on the spot, often using the materials found there. This construction was accomplished by using specific craftsmanship combined with traditional utility methods. Along with skill and technique, the choice of the camp site was guided by other practical factors, like water sources and using the terrain shape to maximise protection against wildlife and other threats. These factors together created the aesthetic of the camp, with the shelter placed in the centre. The tradition of building shelters is still kept alive and contemporary versions of the shelters can be seen and used by campers and wilderness enthusiasts. The old survival skills, like the types of structures, joints, weaves and knots to employ, are still required today. People have the basic need to build shelters, nests or homes. The theme of the participatory art is related to the basic need for shelter, as well as to the handicraft skills and aesthetics. To celebrate the Bauhaus centenary in 2019, one approach in the project was to study the basic forms and design of the Bauhaus style with a Nordic twist. Today’s modern mini houses and other ecological and environmentally friendly housing solutions have a connection to the traditional lightweight shelters. Environmental issues and homelessness are problems that relate back to thinking about the basic needs and forms to adopt for shelter and housing. Antti Jokinen is a Finnish visual artist and art teacher. He lives and works in Rovaniemi, Finland. As an artist, he mixes modern and traditional media into minimal and abstract art. He mainly focuses on printmaking and photography. In his artwork, there is a continual theme of exploring time and landscape. Tapani Saraste is a visual artist currently studying art education at the University of Lapland and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. Saraste is currently interested in tabletop role-playing games as artwork, improvisation as practice, getting back to painting on linen, some more embroidery, student-centred art education, physicality and the use of space, art as research, the terror behind feeble social constructs, the sun and grass. Antti Stöckell lives in Rovaniemi and works as a lecturer at the University of Lapland on the Faculty of Art and Design. He graduated as an artist with a specialisation in sculpting and teaching art. He has also studied to be a nature and wilderness guide. In his artistic work, he focuses on working in nature and on the fields of environmental art and community art.

Hildur Bjarnadóttir Gluklya Gunvor Guttorm Louise Harris Ásthildur Jónsdóttir Laila Susanna Kuhmunen Maarit Magga Ustina Yakovleva Shared Woollen Patterns collective

Á Laila Su

Picture: Ustina Yakovleva, Beads, 2014

The Fringe exhibition is part of the Arctic Handmade collaboration between three universities, Iceland University of the Arts (IS), University of Lapland, (FI) and Sámi Allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied Sciences (NO), as well as the Arctic Art Forum (RU). The project has been beneficial to all as it has shed a light on cultural awareness and given the participants international experience through rich dialogue. The producers of the Fringe are Maria Huhmarniemi, Ásthildur Jónsdóttir and Ekaterina Sharova. The exhibition is funded by the Nordic Culture Fund, the University of Lapland and Sámi Allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied Sciences.

Elina Härkönen, Miia Mäkinen, Maria Huhmarniemi & Jari Rinne

Shelter collective Antti Stöckell, Antti Jokinen & Tapani Saraste

Co-curated by Ekaterina Sharova, Ásthildur Jón

by Ekaterina Sharova, Ásthildur Jónsdóttir and Maria Huhmarniemi