Participants Selected for the Sculpture Symposium
Through an open call, five participants have been selected from among the members of the Association of Finnish Sculptors: Heini Aho, Ethan Hayes-Chute, Maisa Majakka, Sampo Malin, and Emma Rönnholm.
The selection was made by a three-member jury consisting of the association’s honorary member and symposium curator Maija Helasvuo, Welsh visual artist Marja Bonada, and Welsh curator and gallerist Jonathan Powell.
‘I was excited by the idea of diving into an intensive project in a new environment with colleagues. It is fascinating to start looking for suitable material for the artwork and see where it will lead. The fact that the works are burned at the end with agreed ceremonies feels liberating, familiar, new, playful and collectively warm. It is quite interesting to think how it will feel to let go of the final works together, and how the fire creates the ambiance,’ says Heini Aho.
The symposium will take place from June 23 to 30 in the village of Llansilin, Wales. The artists will work on burning sculptures together with the following Welsh sculptors: Demian Johnston, Ewan Coombs, Jonathan Green, Heidi Lucce Redcliffe and Paul Munn.
The symposium explores sustainability issues through an art-based approach. The goal is to offer artists an opportunity to work internationally, broaden their perspectives, and experiment freely.
During the symposium, burning sculptures will be created from safe waste materials. The week will culminate in a large public event where the artworks will be set on fire at dusk, accompanied by live music. The programme also includes visits to a local foundry, galleries, and artists’ studios in the area.
‘I have been using fire in my works since 2020, ranging from documenting burning artworks to creating flaming fountains. I see fire as a controllable aesthetic element that reveals the otherwise invisible gases of materials in the form of flame. One simply has to strive to control them, and the aesthetics follow almost by accident. Fire is definitely the element that interests me the most in the symposium’, Sampo Malin tells.
The symposium is made possible with the support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland. We warmly thank our supporters for promoting the internationalisation and professional development of Finnish sculptors.
Participants:
Heini Aho combines elements of sculpture, installation and moving image into works addressing issues of space and perceptions of the environment. In her works, the analytical meets the intuitive, and the material meets the immaterial. Aho’s method is based on observing a concrete phenomenon and the law-like characteristics of the material. A subtly light-hearted tone typical of the artist is present in them; it may be a touch of humour, wonderment with an element of joie de vivre to it, or a surprising feeling of freedom before ordinary matters.
Aho graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2015, and the Turku Academy of Arts in 2003. In 2016, Aho was awarded the main prize of the William Thuring Foundation. Her works are included in the collections of the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, the Saastamoinen Foundation and the HAM Helsinki Art Museum, among others.
Maisa Majakka is a visual artist and sculptor based in Helsinki. Her ceramic sculptures are rooted in personal experience, everyday life, and familiar figures from popular culture. Often portraying human forms, especially women and girls, her work carries a sense of playfulness alongside careful observation. Small-scale figures such as animals allow her to explore form and material in an intimate and experimental way.
Majakka graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2022. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in Finland and internationally and is part of several public collections including those of HAM, Kiasma, and the Oulu Art Museum.
Ethan Hayes-Chute is an American artist working across painting, sculpture, installation, and artist’s books. His work explores ideas of self-sufficiency, withdrawal, and alternative ways of living through handmade structures, found materials, and imaginative settings. Recurring themes include remote dwellings, improvised architecture, and everyday objects filled with personal or nostalgic meaning. He often searches for materials in junkyards, recycling centers, and second-hand shops, building spaces that invite both observation and participation.
Hayes-Chute graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2004. He was born in 1982 and grew up in Freeport, Maine.
Sampo Malin graduated as a sculptor from the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki in 2007, and since then he has worked in various roles within the visual art scene. These include working as a freelance artist, Chair of the Board of the Finnish Sculptors’ Association, and as a visual arts teacher. Most recently, he held the position of Lecturer in Sculpture at LAB University of Applied Sciences in Lappeenranta. Malin is now transitioning back toward the role of an independent artist.
Emma Rönnholm is a visual artist based in Helsinki. She works with sculpture and installation, often using movement and mechanical elements in combination with everyday materials like dust, sewing pins, and newspapers. Her works explore the hidden meanings in ordinary objects and pose unexpected questions. Her artistic practise stems from a fascination for language, materials and processes, paired with a passion for mechanics and do-it-yourself.
She graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, in 2011. Rönnholm has exhibited widely in Finland and abroad. Her works are included in the collections of the Saastamoinen Foundation at EMMA, the City of Turku, and Arbetets Vänner at Amos Rex.