The association of Finnish Printmakers

As we were walking towards the Design Museum in Helsinki I stopped to photograph this old chemists sign. It was only when I looked down from the camera I noticed that this was actually the doorway to a small art gallery that is the headquarters of the Association of Finnish Printmakers.

These life sized paper dolls by Maria Matikka dominated the second room of the gallery and lead to me making some ooohs and ahhhs.

Outi Koivisto

In the first room was a bed laid out with this crocheted blanket on it- one part of it was faded, as if by the sun, or something more sinister perhaps.

Here's some info about the gallery from their website:

GALLERIA G is an art gallery maintained by the Association of Finnish Printmakers. The programme is diverse, focusing on graphic arts and artworks on paper, but the gallery also exhibits paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations.

Address Pieni Roobertinkatu 10, FIN- 00120 HELSINKI

tel. +358 9 700 285 01, galleria.g(at)taidegraafikot.fi

Opening hours: Tue, Thu - Fri 11 - 5 p.m., Wed 11 - 6 p.m., Sat - Sun 12 - 4 p.m.

Helsinki- Textile Art Now

While in Helsinki I was really excited to see that the Design Museum was hosting Textile Art Now! an exhibtion of contemporary textile art from Finland. You weren't able to take photos in the show, so I ended up buying the catalog (it has an English translation in too). Here's some of my favourites:

Maiju Ahlgren (site is in Finnish, but can be translated pretty well)

Touko Ussakainen

Nina Nilsonen

Maria Nuutinen

I think Maria Nuutinen's was my favourite- perhaps because i've been working with old photos, printing and hankies recently too. But there were very few pieces in the show that didn't excite me in some way. Once again good timing was on our side (and totally unplanned) as I had no idea this show was on when we set out for Helsinki.