Kanelit and the Monkeys make art at MIF!

Kanelit (Cinnamons) and The Monkeys got together at Museum of Impossible Forms in Kontula, Helsinki to make art!

It is amazing that the Monkeys from Your School in Olari, Espoo and Kanelit from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Kontula, Helsinki got to meet in person after months of making and sharing art from a distance!!  What an exciting morning we had at Museum of Impossible Forms!

We first got into small groups of mixed artists from the two schools to listen to the sound art we had made for the previous art project.  This way they could meet and get to know each other by physically making art with each other!  Everybody was so open and kind with each other. 

The first part of this session's artistic process was listening to each other describe what they saw in the environment.  This brought immediate smiles to their faces as they heard their own voices and their friends' on the loud speakers.  The Cinnamon group made these recordings and The Monkeys made these.  As they listened to the recordings they could draw what they heard.  They could be more abstract or more literal with their drawings.  For example, some chose to draw the soundwaves of children laughing in the background and some drew snow and sun as they were mentioned in the recordings.  The artists were free to go in any direction they wish, but the awareness of connecting sound to thought to visual output was discussed. 

After some time of collective drawing, the possibility to collage and build with maps was introduced. Maps were chosen for their symbolic purpose as our artists live in different locations, but have come together to meet and create.  Simple 2D maps turned into 3D bridges, people, and tunnels.  I was so impressed with everybody's creativity!  Masterminds at work!

We closed the day by taking a long caterpillar walk to look at the artworks and made a circle where the artists could reflect on the morning and their experience.  It seemed that everybody really enjoyed meeting their friends and making collages together.  In the closing circle, they realized that they had more in common than their love for making art!  The topic of languages came up and they discovered that their friends from the other school could speak Somali, Russian, Albanian, Finnish, and English!  What an amazing bunch of young artists and teachers that encourage their creativity and help grow their confidence!

The Monkeys stayed at MIF to eat their lunch before hopping on the metro to head back to Espoo.  Marianne Niemelä, one of the artistic directors of MIF, came up with the great idea to make wristbands!  Naturally, these were a huge hit with the kids and now they all want to come back to make more!  Thank you, Marianne!

Thank YOU and Dear You wishes you all and happy happy summer! Hyvää kesää!

With love,
Arlene

The 6 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 6 year old artists from Päiväkoti Pihapirtti in Helsinki, Finland.

In winter 2018 Dear You project in Kontula is supported by the Museum of Impossible Forms.

A Live Act was very LIVELY!

From games inspired by improvisation and experimenting with different ways of feeling the space and each other, we had a great day of building the set for A Live Act with the 6 year-old-artists from Päiväkoti Saukko! Friday, October 13th, was a full day of imagining and creating dream worlds!

After warming up, we got into small groups to brainstorm what kind of dream world we would like to live in.  We asked each other questions such as:
What does your dream world look like?
What would you like in your world?
Who is in your world?
What does your world smell like?
What are the crunchiest things in your world?
How would you like to be treated in your dream world?

Candy, love, and games had quite a strong presence in our discussions and helped form our dream worlds!  Through collective drawing, light art, and sound recordings, we made our dreams come true.

People from all over the world contributed to the building of the set! On Saturday, October 14th, we had a non-stop workshop open to public. Thank you, artists in Taiwan, China, Finland, and USA for your lovely artworks and good energy!  The artists from Puotilan ala-asteen Jees-iltapäiväkerho and The English School in Helsinki sent in packages of their beautiful worlds!

The performance on Sunday, October 15th, gave us all a chance to play within our worlds and with each other.  Vera Lapitskaya was the performance's dance artist while Arlene Tucker and Anastasia Artemeva created space for the audience to experiment with light, senses, and creating in the present moment. Mayim Alpert glued the space together with his music and intertwined live sounds by looping.

Special thanks to Teatteri ILMI Ö, Outi Sädekallio-Snellman, Sari Tupamäki, Minna Savin, and Matti Snellman. Funding was gratefully received by Suomen kulttuurirahasto,  Taiteen edistämiskeskus and Helsingin kaupunki.

This was part of Suomi 100 program. Happy Birthday Finland!  You are officially 100 years old!