I welcome you to my blog about art and art education on the 66° parallel, in Rovaniemi, Finland. Yes I know, it took me the whole month to finally start it up, but it seems like it took all this time to feel a little bit settle! Don't worry though, all this time waiting will be worth it! This blog will give me the opportunity to share my experience as an exchange student for the fall semester at the University of Lapland, while pursuing my master in Art Education at Concordia University. But, you must be asking yourself, why on earth did I have the crazy idea to go study in a place where temperature can fall as low as 40C below zero, and there will be practically no sunlight in November and December? Well, in addition to the appeal of saunas, the University of Lapland has been the site and instigator of numerous environmental and community art and educational projects in the last years. From snow and willow sculptures in collaboration with school groups around Finnish Lapland by artist Timo Jokela, to community art projects to foster shared understanding between people from different backgrounds in Northern communities by art educator Mirja Hiltunen, without forgetting the community and bioart projects by artist Maria Huhrmaniemi, the University of Lapland is one of the place to be to study environmental and community art and art education.
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| Timo Jokela Daughters of Päiviö, Levi Fell, Kittilä, Finland 1996 |
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| Mirja Hiltunen, Firefox Event, Utsjoki, 2005 |
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| Maria Huhmarniemi, Installation Särkyvää / Fragile, 2009
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I am looking forward to share on this blog what I will learn in these fields during my exchange experience, all in an informal way (yes, I am sure you already noticed some mistakes, and no quotes!) But also, this blog will hopefully help me to stay connected with students and professors at Concordia University while I am away. So, you are welcome to ask me any questions, and please, write some comments from time to time!
Have a great Fall semester everyone, and there will be a new post every week, mostly on Sundays, so keep checking!
A bit more about Rovaniemi: Rovaniemi is the administrative, cultural and educational centre of Finnish Lapland, and it's population is of 60 000 inhabitants. Tourism is an important industry in Rovaniemi, and it is Santa Claus's official hometown, in addition to being right on the polar circle parallel. Just so you know, the world most Northern branch of Mac Donald's is there as well! Most of Rovaniemi's buildings were destroyed during WWII, so architecturally speaking Rovaniemi is not exceptional, but it still manage to include buildings by famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Finally, the most amazing thing about Rovaniemi is its unspoiled nature: it is common to see reindeers in your garden (a semi-domesticated animal here), if you are lucky you can see northern lights (and I was!), and there are tons of parks to hike in the forest. Finally, because Rovaniemi is situated so much in the North, the daylight will be decreasing extremely fast during the fall (10 minutes less everyday), and in November there will be only 4 hours of sunshine, and 2 hours in December.
Hey Amelie, your message on facebook about the blog posting remind me one of the most contemporary update in the Tech world, the pronouncement for the releasing date of Iphone 5. Rumours seized the brains of tech lovers particularly the iphone addicts for long so as their extraordinary eager to see it in. This blog is quite similar in case, when I first heard about it a month ago, and was watching at your laptop screen nourishing a hope that it will be on air in a few minutes. All and all, this is a well-written blog, depicts the true picture of Rovaniemi. Maybe you should also add Kuntotie in your writing because those, who spent some of their time span here, can never forget it and it constitute an integral part of the life in Rovaniemi as a whole.
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