Usko-koirani, löysin sinut! Istuit tuomenoksalla Kuoppapellon ja Otonahon välillä (to the left), 2024, wood, hackberry burl, colour. Koirat tuonpuoleisessa (to the right), 2016, wood and colour. Kuva: Aukusti Heinonen.

Kirsi Tapper Wooden images

26.4.–19.5.2024

This is how I work: I search for wood, during the day I teach and return to my studio, I cut and turn wood, look for colors, sweep the splints of wood, go to the market and the recycling shop, and in the evenings, I read a carefully chosen book.

For this exhibition, I will bring, among other things, a piece I made in memory of my deceased dog, Usko. Usko was born on 10.10.2013 on the day of Aleksis Kivi, the day of Finnish literature. A precious day, the flags were waving. I imagine I received the dog as a gift from my deceased father, who was a writer. That’s how I am.

Usko died unexpectedly last summer on the name day of Esko. I wonder what day it is to die, Esko’s day? The farmers told me: “There is a saying: There is no such thing as a headless Esko, as it the time when the rye must be cropped.”

The wood I’ve reserved for the work “In Memory of Usko“, is now well dried and waiting to be realized. I have already built a box for my work out of board, but I want to wait a little longer for the sculpting of the image. I have planned it carefully, but it is unlikely to go according to plan, anyway. I’m counting on making it right. This feature has only recently come to me.

Throw off the contemplative form and face the future with courage.
       – Quote from Aleksis Kivi, freely translated

– Kirsi Tapper, in Jyväskylä, 17th of March 2024

Sculptor Kirsi Tapper lives and works in Jyväskylä. Her tool is a knife (puukko) and the material she uses for her sculptures is wood. Tapper often finds the subjects of her works in ordinary life, enriched by humour and everyday wisdom. Tapper graduated from the Kuopio Academy of Design in 1978 and from the Lahti Institute of Design  and Fine Arts in 1981 as a graphic designer. Tapper has also spent more than thirty years in rural areas as a teacher of visual arts.

The Finnish Heritage Agency has supported the payment of artist’s exhibition fee.

Vaan ei tule uni (to the left), 2007, wood, colour and brass. Närhet ja läheisyys (to the right), 2024, wood and colour. Photo: Aukusti Heinonen.
Valehenkari, 2024, wood, colour, iron hook. Photo: Aukusti Heinonen.
Kirsi Tapper, Dogs in the afterlife. Photo: Pekka Rötkönen.
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