Serlachius Residency Guests

Anita Gratzer, Austria

Austrian artist Anita Gratzer is visiting Serlachius Residency for the third time. This time, she arrived for the project Art Castle and will stay from January to February. The artist, who loves the Finnish winter, she has been able to really enjoy the snow and frost.
 
Gratzer says that she has been teaching for a long time. In the workshops at the Art Castle, she moves among the students and shows them how to mold paper pulp by the hand. Cooperation goes well, even though the common language, English, may not yet be very well understood by fifth-graders.
 
“I would like to have features of African masks, monsters or superheroes familiar to the students. Finland also has a strong tradition of mythologies with fairies, elves and goblins,” she says.
 
Anita Gratzer’s material is paper in its various forms. During her previous residency period in 2022, she made architectural, wearable paper sculptures in which she used recycled materials. She is interested in shaping clothes in the direction of an individual protective shield. 
 
Most of her works have been created abroad in residencies and under the influence of local cultures. In addition to Switzerland and Japan, Finland has become one of his favourite destinations, and she wants to return to it again and again.

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in January 2024.

Asami Munejima, Japan

Asami Munejima, who arrived in Mänttä from Tokyo, says that she has been to Finland about ten times and is studying the Finnish language. She started her residency at the beginning of February and will stay until the end of March.
 
“I’ve enjoyed my time here so much! The snowy landscape made an impression when I arrived here. The nature and the town are beautiful, and all the people I meet are so friendly,” she says. 
 
Asami makes wall rugs by weaving and tufting by hand. She is fascinated by the warmth of handmade rugs and the sophisticated use of colours. “I am inspired by everything related to Finland: nature, seasons, animals and architecture.”
 
She is interested in the motifs of old paintings, but she says that she also likes works by contemporary artists. Her rugs can be viewed at the end of March at the Serlachius Residency.

TThe text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in February 2024.

Amanda Vähämäki, Finland

Amanda Vähämäki is known for her comics, in which she mixes everyday reality and fantasy. She is currently drawing a graphic novel at the Serlachius Residency. 

“The comics take place in today’s Finland, but all the characters have some magical or supernatural properties. In it, two adult friends reminisce about their childhood and youth at a magic school that I have placed on an island somewhere in Lake Näsijärvi,” she says.

Amanda says that she has been drawing and writing regularly since she was a child, including comics. At the age of 13, she lived with her family in Italy for a year. After high school, she returned to Italy and studied art history for a year in Bologna. After that, she transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts, majoring in painting.

“Quite quickly, I drifted back to drawing, comics and printmaking. I lived in Italy for six years, I started making and publishing comics there, so it was a remarkable experience in many ways. It felt like I had stories in my mind that had to get out somehow, in the form of a comic.”

After graduating, she moved back to Finland and has continued to make and publish comics here. She also creates illustrations and occasionally graphics. Working at the Serlachius Residency has been calm and focused. In Helsinki, she shares an office with others, so having her own room to work in is a luxury. Her comics can be seen in the residency exhibition during the weekend.

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in February 2024.

Heikki Hautala, Finland

Heikki Hautala (b. 1980), who lives on Finland’s west coast in Pori, has had two solo exhibitions in just over six months, one at Poriginal Gallery and the other at Gallery Mältinranta. He is originally from Ylistaro, South Ostrobothnia, and has completed her art studies at the Kankaanpää Art School. 

Heikki Hautala will spend no less than four months at the Serlachius Residency, from the beginning of March to the end of June. He says that he applied for the residency because he needed a break and a change from the routines of everyday life and his hometown, as well as time to calm down and focus fully on making art.

During his residency period, he will focus especially on painting and drawing. The aim is also to try out new ideas, methods and techniques. He brings with him, among other things, recording equipment, as the goal is to work on music projects and experiments with sound.

“At the moment, there are no exhibitions agreed, but the intention would be to apply for exhibitions with the results of the working period,” he says.
 
“I look forward to an intensive period of working with image and sound, but also for calming down and developing new ideas. It’s also nice to get to know Mänttä, meet new people and just follow the progress of spring in beautiful scenery.”

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in March 2024.

Jirko Viljanen, Finland

Jirko Viljanen (b. 1991) from Lahti has mostly worked with printmaking in recent years. At the beginning of the year, he revived his painting and ceramics skills at a residency in Jakobstad and from the beginning of March at the Serlachius Residency.
 
He started his art studies at the Turku Arts Academy in 2016 specifically by painting, but switched to printmaking in the second year. 
 
“It’s been refreshing to pick up a paintbrush again and look at it through a printmaking filter. I have continued to work in painting here in Mänttä. Since I also have a workshop at my disposal, I have combined the painting with woodwork. I also have a small lump of clay with me, so I may also make ceramics during the residency,” she says.
 
At the residency, he will create works for her future solo exhibitions. He will have an exhibition at Theatre Vanha Jukoo in Lahti in late 2024 and at Gallery G in Helsinki in early 2025. 

Jirko Viljanen was already a little familiar with Mänttä. The steam and winter swimming at the Serlachius Art Sauna have helped him settle in Mänttä. He praises the setting offered by the residency, even though there is no printmaking press in use. 
 
“The new landscape gives new perspectives on what you do, and the new workspace cheers you up nicely. Here in Mänttä, it is good to think that the noise and temptations of the city have been removed from the surroundings. Let nature and the silence of a small town inspire you.”

He will display works he has finished in Mänttä in the residency’s gallery. The exhibition, titled Beautiful Trauma, serves as a demo version of the exhibition at Gallery G in Helsinki, which deals with drowning in person. The trauma is explored through acrylic paint, oil pastels and ceramics.

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in March 2024.

Ville Vuorenmaa, Finland

On the table in Ville Vuorenmaa’s (b. 1980) studio, there are watercolours and sketchbooks full of text and pictures. There is an electric guitar on the floor. They are his most important tools. “I didn’t plan anything special for the residency period. Changing places and breaking away from your own routines is good for your brain and thoughts,” he says.
 
The artist, who lives in Oulu, will work at the Serlachius Residency for three weeks in April. Coincidentally, the Serlachius Headquarters next door is building an exhibition called Thank-You Letters, which will open in June, and he is one of the artists of it. 
 
Vuorenmaa uses watercolours to create detailed works that combine text and image, with a quiet, insightful sense of humour. The electric guitar, on the other hand, creates songs that often find their way into the repertoire of the band Sur-rur.
 
“Last autumn, I held an exhibition in Seinäjoki, which I did for over a year. After that, I wanted to take a break from painting. In addition, I broke my right wrist in the winter, and I couldn’t paint or play for two months. It is only here that the hand and the whole process have started to work,” he sighs with relief.
 
In Mänttä, he has given himself the opportunity to do what ever is to come. In the autumn, there will be an exhibition in Rovaniemi. On the easel, a painting is being completed that depicts the milk trade with all the products that are even slightly related to the matter, from soy milk to large milk cans. According to Vuorenmaa, it is typical for him to catalogue different things in his art.
 
Sometimes he grabs the guitar and plucks the melody. Sur-rur, who has been playing alternative rock since 1996, has made a total of nine albums and almost three hundred gigs over the years. Ville Vuorenmaa writes the band’s songs, which can deal with a wide range of issues. Often, however, there is something personal about them.

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in April 2024.

Arundhati Deosthale, India

Indian journalist and columnist Arundhati Deosthale will come to Mänttä in July to get to know the Finnish contemporary art scene. Arundhati is currently writing a weekly column, and she would also like to talk about Finnish art. Her aim is to increase the knowledge of Finnish art in India and to create bridges between the Indian and Finnish art fields.

Suvi Vepsä and Egle Oddo, Finland/Italia

Sicilian Egle Oddo’s work Evolutionary Garden has been the subject of close observation in Mänttä for the past few weeks. In connection with the 2021 Mänttä Art Festival, the artist, who has lived in Finland for years, sowed a garden near Pekilo from seeds of Finnish wild ornamental and useful plants. Doctoral researcher in art history Suvi Vepsä has followed the development of the garden during her residency.
 
Vepsä studies multi-species art and its political potential during the Anthropocene, i.e. human-caused climate change and biodiversity loss. Multi-species art refers to projects in which non-human entities, such as animals, plants and microbes, are co-creators of the work instead of just the subject or material.
 
Vepsä completed an internship related to her master’s studies in art history at the Mänttä Art Festival in 2021 and became acquainted with Oddo and her site-specific, public artwork. She returned to the garden whenever she had time from her other work. A deep spiritual connection was also formed between the artist and the researcher. 
 
Vepsä has visited the garden and followed its development every summer for four years. She has also been involved in the implementation of two other Evolutionary Gardens. One of them was made in Palermo, Sicily, and the other in Bratislava, Slovakia. Joint projects play an important role in Vepsä’s doctoral dissertation, although she also discusses the works of other artists.  The exhibition notes from the field, compiled by Vepsä and Oddo, presents Vepsä’s doctoral research, garden project, and its progress with pictures and texts. The exhibition is on display in the gallery of the Serlachius Residency.

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in August 2024.

Tuija Teiska, Finland

Tuija Teiska graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree and a degree in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2016. The Helsinki-based artist lives and works extensively in residencies in Finland and abroad. 
 
Teiska’s artistic work often begins with personal emotional reactions, which in the process transform and grow into feelings of love, loneliness or hope that touch the lives of many people.
 
Lately, she has focused on conceptual drawing. The resulting works are installations, sculptures or performances. The drawn line serves as a common thread between different art forms. A line can be created as a structure in sculptures or space, or it can appear as a line of movement. 
 
She does not want to compartmentalise her work according to one technique or material. She enjoys doing physical things, which is why the techniques are often very physical. For example, the idea of making tattooed works originated from her own tattoos.
 
“In my work, I mainly use recycled and organic materials as well as my own body. I tattooed drawings on the skin of animals, among other things. I get it from used clothes and accessories, for example. The material is always an ecological choice for me,” she says.

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in September 2024.

Rica Shimabukuro, Japan/Sweden

Rica Shimabukuro (b. 1970) is an artist born in Tokyo and currently living in Sweden. She has been working at the Serlachius Residency since the beginning of September and will continue until the end of November.
 
Shimabukuro, who has a master’s degree in textile art, worked for more than 25 years in jewelry, textile and fashion design. Using screen printing and paper cutting methods, she did a lot of commissioned work for Japanese department stores, among others. 
 
In recent years, she has dedicated herself to independent artistic work, with a particular focus on paper art, which offers unlimited possibilities. It is also environmentally friendly and does not consume too much of the world’s natural resources. 
 
At the Serlachius Residency, she has created a large-scale (240 x 100 cm) papercut work that depicts the nature and natural phenomena of Mänttä. The daily cycling along Love Trail from the residency’s accommodation to the studio has made a great impression on her. 
 
“I am amazed by the incredibly beautiful sunrise and sunset. The surrounding nature and the peaceful flow of time offer an ideal environment for working,” she says.
 
In addition to Finnish nature, he has enjoyed Serlachius’ collections and the steam of the Art Sauna. She thinks it is great to bring paper cutting as an art form to the residency, whose activities are based on the foundation created by G. A. Serlachius, a pioneer of the Finnish paper industry and an art lover.

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in November 2024.

Chih-Tung Lin & Noora Lehtovuori, Taiwan/Finland

Chih-Tung Lin is a curator and artist from Taiwan who currently lives in Helsinki. She graduated from the Praxis Exhibition Studies Master’s Programme at Uniarts Helsinki in 2021. 
 
Lin has curated several independent and collaborative projects in Finland and abroad, and her work has been exhibited in group exhibitions in Finland and Estonia. She has been working on a project called Studio Visits by Chih-Tung Lin since 2020 and has recently published a graphic novel of the same name. 
 
Noora Lehtovuori is an artist-curator who currently lives in Vaasa. She met Chih-Tung Li during her master’s studies at the University of the Arts Helsinki. Although they come from very different cultural backgrounds, they soon found a connection with each other. Noora invited Chih-Tung to collaborate on her exhibition tour Life is Boring. 
 
At the Serlachius Residency, they became acquainted with the local and at the same time international art world as a curatorial duo. They visited local art organisations and met local art actors during their week-long visit. During the rest of the residency period, they worked remotely.

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in November 2024.

Hsin-Yu Kuan, Taiwan

Taiwanese Hsin-Yu Kuan (b. 1985), who has been in residence since the beginning of November, works as a storyboard writer in the animation industry, where she has participated in countless independent animation and film productions. ”Lately I’ve started making short comics under the artist name Kuan the Waterbird.” At the Serlachius Residency, he will present a 24-page comic strip No One, which is inspired by a snow-covered landscape. The comic explores the themes of curiosity, self-discovery, and the unknown. 

“However, the narrative content is abstract and enigmatic. The story follows a character who searches for mysterious footprints and finds himself in a confusing encounter.”

Hsin-Yu came to the Serlachius Residency in Mänttä because she wanted a completely different culture and environment than in her home country of Taiwan. Mänttä has turned out to be a peaceful and quiet place where she has enjoyed himself. A simple lifestyle, the opportunity to spend time with nature and work has been rewarding for her. 

Hsin-Yu admits that he shas not had much contact with the locals. Still, all the people she has met – shop assistants and strangers who have advised her on how to sort her rubbish – have been very kind to him.

“The Serlachius Residency offers excellent support for living and does not require additional costs, and as a first-time artist, I can focus on my project without scheduling or financial pressures. I’m very happy to be here,” she says.

Her comics can be seen in connection with the event on 27 December.

TThe text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in December 2024.

Amenallah Atrous ja Dora Dalila Cheffi, Tunis/Finland

When Finnish-Tunisian Bachelor of Arts Dora Dalila Cheffi (b. 1990) applied for the Serlachius Residency, her life situation was very different from what it is now. She wanted to paint a series of works that would deal with her relationship with his Tunisian father.

The birth of her daughter postponed the residency period, but now she will spend the rest of the year in Mänttä with her eight-month-old daughter and her work partner Amenallah Atrous. Amenallah is a Tunisian performance artist.

“Now I’m really ready to delve into this topic and, through my daughter, also study things that are passed on from one generation to the next. The series of works consists of oil paintings and video works. Some of the paintings in the series will be made at the residency. In addition, we are rehearsing with Amenallah for the filming of a video work,” she says about her upcoming exhibition in the corner of Porvoo Kunsthalle in September 2025. She wanted to come to the Serlachius Residency because she has been away from Finland for many years and has not worked here since her student years. According to her, the setting offered by the residency is perfect for working on the video. A new perspective on working at the residence is brought by her daughter, who is involved in the spacious studio.

The upcoming video work is a continuation of the pair’s previous work, Tunisian Dance Tutorial with Mamou, in which the viewer is introduced to the secrets of Tunisian dance. The next video is karaoke-themed. The couple wants to warm up with a karaoke-themed performance, which the audience hopes will take part in singing on Friday 27 December at Serlachius Residency. 

“At least there will be no lack of fun and laughter!” Dora Dalila promises. 

The text ant the image were published in the Serlachius Residency newsletter in Finnish language in December 2024.