SINAWI – EXPRESSION OF POWER BY FEMALE CERAMICS

Sinawi is a style of traditional Korean folk music performance. In South Korea, the tradition is often promoted by female only groups. Kwum is now exhibiting the impressive Sinawi. This is their introduction: We are a group of Korean female ceramicist. We are connected by our untraditional view of ceramic art. We experiment with and evolve different materials in numerous ways and methods. We want to show the endless possibilities of ceramics through experimental work. We promote a completely liberal approach to surface and three-dimensional form. We cherish active interaction. It has helped us exhibit every year – always with a new theme.

The works of all 17 ceramicists tell about the endless possibilities of ceramics: tradition and experimentation, tenderness and roughness. Miki Kim, who has settled in Kirintövaara Posio, Finland, tells more closely about her own work. She has lived in Finnish Lapland for 10 years and speaks excellent Finnish. She visits South Korea a couple of times a year to maintain a connection with her home country and her colleagues.

Her first trip abroad was to Finland and to Posio. Her teacher Suku Park worked there. “I was greeted by a Fairyland,” Miki reminices. The forest became her inspirational treasure chest. Miki speaks poetically about winter, which for her is always new and unique. In her works, she mostly uses white porcelain because of its similar snowy feeling. In Posio’s natural environment, the colours got eliminated, due to the snow and especially the lichen and beard moss. Miki lives in a log cabin in the middle of the forest. Next to it is a small studio. In summer, heards of reindeer pass by. Her lifestyle is also expressed in her works. As the Finns, she has also experienced the all-important rubber boots and woollen socks. Her ceramic boots and socks look so real that you get an urge to touch them, just to be certain.

MARKKU KOLEHMAINEN – NYTT  K

Music is listened to, a painting is viewed. Color painting does not have a clear logical idea that could be put into written form. With the classic layered painting technique, the oil paint gains depth.

In Markku Kolehmainen’s exhibition, the three-dimensional material was found in the joists of an old mansard roof. The cut roof sheet has a golden treatment. Galvanized and lead paint primed sheet metal together with leaf gold coating survives in the outside in the variation of the seasons and the daily hours. It reproduces the power of light dimly or brightly.

Markku Kolehmainen has worked as a professional artist for 50 years.

MARKKU KOSONEN – WICKER BASKETS AND BIRCH BARK WORKS

Markku Kosonen (1945–2010) worked as an interior architect, carpenter and designer. He worked with many domestic wood species as a pioneer and drew inspiration especially from the nature of Fiskars. His products are also in the KOTONA exhibition.