1933-2003
Turku Printmakers 70-years
Year 2003 we celebrate the 70th anniversary of Turku Printmakers
association.
The main event of the year is an extensive group exhibition at
the Wäinö
Aaltonen Museum of Art. Gallery Joella's exhibition programme
is focused on printmaking and its various techniques.
We
have an interesting and versatile year of graphic art ahead of
us, in all 14 exhibitions presenting already established artists
as well as young talents.
The
jubilee year was opened by the woodcut and monotype exhibition
of the honorary president of the association Juhani Vikainen.
The other artists exhibiting at the Gallery Joella this year are:
VISA NORROS, JUHO KARJALAINEN, REIJO MÖRÖ, JUHA TAMMENPÄÄ,
SIRKKU KETOLA (Turku Polytechnics diploma exhibition), SEELAPETRA,
TEIJA LEHTO, Teachers from the Belgrade Art Academy, MELEK MAZICI,
ERKKI RAUTIO (Sweden), ANNU VERTANEN and HANNU HÄMÄLÄINEN.
The year 2003 at Gallery Joella concludes with the association's
own anniversary exhibition.
The
Belgrade Art Academy exhibition is an exchange and in May Turku
Printmakers will exhibit works in Belgrade.
Another of our exchange exhibitions will take place during the
autumn at the national printmakers' Galeria IX in Budapest, Hungary.
An
exhibition calendar is available here.
Also a printed version can be ordered or obtained from Gallery
Joella. To celebrate the jubilee year, an exhibition catalogue
with almost 100-pages is published and is obtainable from Wäinö
Aaltonen Museum of Art and The Gallery Joella from the 14th of
February.
The
participating artists for the anniversary exhibition "GRR"
are:
Hannu Artinaho, Jouni Boucht, Annika Dahlsten, Yrjänä
Ermala, Matti Helenius, Sanna Huttunen, Juha Joro, Ulla-Maija
Kallinen, Heli Kurunsaari, Piia Lehti, Teija Lehto, Veikko Lehtovaara,
Laura Miettinen, Marita Mikkonen, Liili Mötuste, Marjatta
Nuoreva, Timo Olsbo, Veronika Ringbom, Tarja-Liisa Salo, Minna
Sarvanne, Seela Petra, Katja Syrjä, Sirpa Särkijärvi,
Hanna Tammi, Panu Thusberg, Hanna Varis, Juhani Vikainen and Merja
Ylitalo
The artists for the anniversary exhibition were selected by the
curator of the Jyväskylä Art Museum Jukka Partanen.
Objective
comments on printmaking in Turku at the beginning of the new millennium
It
is only fortunate for the Finnish graphic art that the Turku Printmakers
association was founded already in the 1930s. The former capital
now formed an important adversary for Helsinki, proving at the
same time that ambitious printmaking was made outside Helsinki
as well. Prior to that, Finnish graphic art had to depend almost
completely on the artists in Helsinki.
The
national association for graphic art was founded in Helsinki in
1931, which makes it somewhat strange that there has never been
a local printmaking association in Helsinki.
The
graphic scene in Finland was for a long time dominated by the
Helsinki-Turku axis. New centres including Tampere, Lahti and
Jyväskylä were put on the printmaking map only later.
It
is obvious that without the Turku Art School and its high standards
in printmaking education, Turku would never have become the significant
and flourishing town in the area of printmaking as it still today
is.
But what is printmaking in Turku? Can printmaking especially in
Turku be recognised as a school of its own?
When
comparing the graphic artists in Helsinki and Turku in the 1930s,
it is often noted that the artists in Helsinki represented a so
called portfolio printmaking, based on traditional and realistic
expression and technically high performance.
The
printmakers in Turku were technically more modest, but those imperfections
were compensated by fresh and more personal ideas. The visual
arts in Turku are also remembered for their surrealism in the1930s
and their political tendencies in the 1960s and 70s.
In
contemporary culture, the focus of which is on individuality and
globalisation, it is more difficult to compartmentalize art into
’isms’ and trends, or to find important regional or
even national specialities in art. This might hold true for printmaking
in Turku as well, yet after going through all the portfolios of
almost 40 artists, I think I do find something remarkable. It
would seem that the printmakers in Turku are not as much interested
in abstract expression as in experimenting and three-dimensional
expression mainly through installations. Obvious is also the will
to interpret the world by the traditional means of printmaking,
the intense and expressive line. Especially gratifying is the
wide spectrum of printmaking techniques used by the artists.
I
believe that a new generation of graphic artists is rising in
Turku. The emergence of female printmakers is especially strong.
Might it be due to the art education, but the phenomenon is probably
familiar in other parts of Finland as well. At the same time the
female identity and women’s position in modern society is
viewed from various standpoints in the exhibition.
The
obvious majority of the participating artists are either born
in Turku or have studied at Turku Art School, which might on the
one hand be interpreted as provincialism or introspectivity. On
the other hand it can be a sign of the young artists wish to establish
roots in their study district.
The anniversary exhibition gives a many-sided and representative
picture of printmaking in Turku at the beginning of the new millennium.
It seems that graphic art by the river Aura is strongly attached
to the present day, gazing rather to the future than basking in
the glory of its strong traditions.
Best wishes to the association on its 70th anniversary,
the curator of the exhibition, Jukka Partanen, curator, Jyväskylä
Art Museum.
