The final week- residency at Arteles - 2017
Part six of my Finland residency blog series; the final week. Exploring sculpture, learning to weld and escaping with adventures.
This blog is an edited version of one you may have read on my previous website.
THE FINAL WEEK
On Monday we had our weekly meeting as usual. I explained how I’d enjoyed hearing about everyone's work and about their creative processes as it was helping with my own. There was a lot of talk about it being the last week and soon time to go back to reality. I was already in a reflective frame of mind and was thinking about what I’d learned.
I felt like I knew myself better after having time in Finland to explore my creativity and by extension my personality. My gut instinct had improved as had my health and general well being. I was feeling a lot of gratitude towards my fellow artists for opening up my eyes to lots of different things. There was also anxiety bubbling under the surface about getting my phone back. I wondered how I would cope in “the real world” without scheduled daily group meditation classes and Yoga three times a week. In the afternoon it was time for my studio tour so beforehand I went for a great walk in the forest. I wanted to get lost, explore and capture what Finland has been to me, I still can’t believe I’m in Finland!
STUDIO TOUR
It was finally my turn for a studio tour, I was apprehensive because I didn’t feel I had “made” as many physical things as the other artists had. I showed some of the smaller works in paper that I had made at the start, my sketch book designs and my mind map. I placed more emphasis on the mind map. I explained that I’d wanted to explore my creativity and this was what all my reading and thinking had been about, exploring this theory behind creativity. I felt like no-one understood what I was doing, I probably hadn't explained myself well because I was still working it all out too! There were a lot of questions; What’s the point of it? Why are you stopping your creativity of actually making things, to make this?
The general consensus was I was stifling my creativity by exploring the theory behind it when I should be making things. I understood what they meant but as I had felt my pieces weren’t finished until I made them in metal I had moved on. One of the artists suggested I get out of my head and go back to making 3D models. Some other useful points were made; there is a lot of creativity in what I do for my clients. I am able to pull ideas out of people, or take their ideas, and find ways of incorporating all the different things they’re suggesting. It was also pointed out to me that the way I listen to, and interact with people is a skill in itself. One which I would now like to understand better and improve on.
MEDITATION
After the studio tours had finished we decided it would be a good evening for another fire meditation. I had missed the last one not realising it was happening; as I sat in the meditation room for meditation while everyone else was outside!
I did fall about laughing during meditation this time, a couple of swans flying in the distance made those hilarious honking noises that they tend to do. After meditating someone passed around marshmallows and long sticks and we spent a large part of the evening eating and talking around the fire. Despite the very cold weather in Finland, we were able to spend a few evenings like this, outside enjoying each other's company. It's a very different and wonderful experience to be sitting around actually talking to people, no-one was on their phone or looking something up on the internet, conversation flowed naturally and we all enjoyed each other's company.
SCULPTURE
I acted on the feedback I’d gotten the day before and went back to working in 3D models. I decided that in order to get an idea of what they could look like I’d make my 3D pieces larger than the small paper models I had been working with.
I am particularly pleased with the one that incorporates rope. These were still working with the idea of chaos and control that I explored way back here, and I was able to manipulate the paper in a way I wouldn't be able to easily with silver. I could visualise how they’d look as a large sculptural piece in slightly weathered steel with large ropes. The balance between the metal and the textiles would be really pleasing and I began to wonder if sculpture was something I could explore more when I returned to Scotland.
Tuesday evening brought the beginning of the farewells. One of our artist friends was leaving the following morning. However, not to leave on a sad note, she made a couple of large jugs of margaritas on Tuesday night and we all swapped our contact details so we could stay in touch.
PEOPLE START TO LEAVE
This was the first day someone left, it was tough, it signified the beginning of the end for all of us and her departure left a weird feeling around the building.
On Wednesday morning I worked in order to distract myself. I made more paper samples and then I took the opportunity to learn how to weld. One of the artists wanted to create larger works while she had the opportunity and space. I helped set up the outside working area and once she finished her work she kindly took the time out to show me how to weld. It was so difficult, and different to my usual soldering, I can see it taking some time to master! The idea of having one small area where you’ve bonded the metals was totally alien to me, when I wanted every part of the metal connected in jewellery making. I kept getting the soldering rod stuck to my piece. I did however manage to solder three rods of metal together, even though it's not the most amazing thing I've ever made I’m still pretty happy with. I LOVED the super warm suit I wore to weld. This felt like my happy place, being outside, doing something physical and learning.
The late afternoon was spent having an adventure to escape the sadness, it was lovely to spend some time driving around rural Finland and spending a little more time getting to know each other. The scenery in Finland is just so beautiful, with so many lakes and trees around every corner. We found a defrosted lake on this walk, piles of ice had collected at the sides after being pushed up by the water.
THURSDAY
Despite this week being the exact same length as all the other weeks we've had here, it felt quite short. My creativity had been boosted and I’d made a lot at the beginning of the week after the studio tour feedback, but as people started leaving it became harder to focus and concentrate on much. I realised I was a bit scared of going home and having to create in my own space again. I think that's partly because I did so much planning and organising for Finland, I hadn't thought about what came after it. I had no idea what I was going home for. I was going to miss my friends, our daily nourishing conversations, after work saunas and the adventures we'd been going on!
It’s been amazing how the lack of internet connection and mobile phones along with living in the forest with fewer people had allowed my body and mind to reset. The deep sleep must have been helped by my lack of screen time. Waking up at 7 am was easy now, as was going to bed because I was exhausted everyday. The best thing was, I was going to bed at midnight and getting up at 7 am and I actually felt rested. Often at home I would find myself up early on some days, raring to go, others I turn off my alarm and go back to sleep without realising it until I wake up at 9 am or later. This re-setting in Finland led me to believe that the combination of all those different factors and pressures of work and trying to conform to other people's working hours was making me feel guilty about when I worked.
I felt exhausted today; and because in Finland my body and mind were far more connected and had less external stimulation, I knew it must be all the emotions of leaving that were making me tired.
SUPPORT FROM HOME
It had become a bit of a running joke that I was constantly receiving mail and I received another barrage of post today. It was a wonderful thing, to get letters in the post in Finland, it made me feel a little closer to home and reminded me of all the wonderful people I was going home to see. I received a pretty excellent care package from my mum. She had sent me two boxes of Tunnocks Teacakes. A lovely taste of home to share with my Finland friends!
On Thursday evening we had our farewell meeting with the Arteles staff. The wonderful Ida, Teema and Reeta. They provided us a spread of tippaleip (a type of funnel cake), munkki (donut) and a mead called Sima, which is seasonal and mostly drunk around the time of Vappu, which is a celebration on the 30th of April. It was a good chance to chat to the Arteles staff and discuss what we’d liked about the residency programme and discuss what we got out of the experience.
FRIDAY
We were all up early on Friday as another member of our tightly knit group was leaving. I was glad I was leaving the next day, before a lot of the others, as I found it hard watching others go.. After the emotional goodbyes, I started to pack up my own work space and my bedroom. It was strange to drag my suitcase out from the cupboard under the stairs where I had been hiding it, knowing that I was off home soon. I felt sad but excited about getting home and starting new adventures on my own.
I wanted another Sauna before I left Finland, so tonight was the only night to do it. I was torn between helping light the sauna fires and going on another adventure in the little blue residency car but based on my last attempt at lighting the fires I decided on the adventure!
LAST FINLAND ADVENTURE
The trips we had been taking in the car made me want to go out and explore more when I got home, and had reignited my desire to have a car again. I wanted to journey more outside of the UK too - my sense of scale also changed. Finland seemed like it was only a few hours away on the plane, and therefore more reachable to me than I had expected. I felt like I had been stuck in a bit of island mentality at home without even realising it. Going back to my first blog about my experiences in Finland: the scale of the world, the variety of the people in it and the vastness of their experience is not something I’d appreciated like this way before.
Going out for long walks always led to one-on-one chats. It was nice to be able to walk and talk, especially as it's often easier to talk about the big things in life when you're walking side by side. I discovered I had a lot in common with people by having these chats; feeling lost where we were living, missing out on a sense of belonging and not quite sure what route to take with our creative work. The space that the residency provided has been wonderful to take a step back and consider new options in life.
Once we were back from our adventure I had my final Sauna. I’m going to miss having a Sauna twice or three times a week, especially when it's cold outside! The after sauna process of scrubbing all the dead skin off, having a warm shower from a bucket in wood-fire-heated water followed by the best sleep of my life will sorely be missed.
After a lovely hot sauna, a few of us cooked and ate together in the main kitchen. There was a lot of food to use and it was wonderful to spend more time with these amazing humans. If anything the last few days has brought us together more, we’ve shared more and savoured our time together.
I’ll miss these connections and I’m glad we’re all making an effort to email, write and keep in touch now.
BACK TO REALITY
I got my mobile phone back on Friday evening. I had, of course, missed a lot of things being offline and without my phone; but I think it would've been a greater shame to miss the people and connections I made at Arteles. Being offline meant we couldn't easily escape, we had to be present and spend time with each other and ourselves. There was no sitting with laptops, browsing the internet together. Instead, we sat and read together, had cups of tea, chatted in the kitchen whilst cooking. Watched a few movies, but mostly we shared our experiences, stories and lives with each other.
One of the weirdest things I noticed about having my phone back was that I experienced motion sickness when I went back on Instagram. It was nothing compared to the weird depression that hit me when I went back to Facebook.
SATURDAY - DEPARTURE DAY
I was up and packed in plenty of time before a few of us were being driven into Tampere. There was time for one last walk in the forest with my friend Kripi. We had been on a forest walk on the first day so it seemed like the perfect ending to go on another walk together.
I found it horribly emotional leaving the residency, and Ida the residency assistant said everyone from Scotland cries when they leave. Really I was just carrying on a tradition! I hadn't planned for what I would do when I got home, other than getting there and knowing I had the next month to work on my blogs and processing all of what had just happened.
ARTELES BACK TO BASICS RESIDENCY APRIL 2017
We’ll probably never all be in the same room at the same time ever again. These are the wonderful people I spent the month with. I have shared things with them and they have seen parts of me (literally, in the sauna!) that most people haven’t. I’ve never felt so deeply understood, seen, valued, comfortable and cared about with any other humans. That is truly a wonderful experience to have on its own. A massive thank you to each one of you that was there.
Arteles residency April 2017
Arteles still does the Back to Basics residency and I suggest that if you've enjoyed my blogs you should apply.
This residency was made possible by the generous support of Arteles and Creative Scotland.