Näkymätön luonto/Invisible nature- teaching practice at Espoo art school
. Experimentation with organic materials and textilesMe and Anni Haunia did a teaching practice for Espoo art school in spring 2021. We both study at Aalto University, MA programme in art education and the practice was a part of our studies.
The theme for the practice was ‘Näkymätön luonto’ (The invisible nature) and was held for 6-7 year old children outdoors, in the woods.
The aim of the teaching session was to create somekind of clothing from sackcloth and material you could find from the nature, such as plants, rocks and bark. The children planned their clothes and started sewing and designing their creations and were really pleased that they now knew how to make themselves an actual piece of garment 😍️!
Egyptin varjo - study project about how to deal with colonialism in the exhibition ‘Egypt of Glory’ at Amos Rex
Zine from the project Egyptin Varjo. Photo: Melanie Orenius
The project ‘Egyptin varjo’ (The Shadow of Egypt) ran alongside with Amos Rex exhibition ‘Egypt of Glory’ trough fall 2020 until spring 2021. The project was a collaboration between Aalto University art education students and Amos Rex art museum staff.
The working group wanted to ‘get to know’ the artifacts of the exhibition in Amos Rex by listening to the stories of the items. I started investigating the artifacts, such as the statue of Sekhmet, by going into the museum and drawing out the lines of Sekhmets’ shadow. By viewing the artifacts in an alternative way, rose questions such as ‘Who is telling the history of whom?’, ‘What is not shown and said in the exhibition?’, ‘Why aren’t the issues of colonialism discussed?’.
The project included workshops with both museum experts and elementary school students, an installation in the window of the museum and a zine which was distributed in the museum shop.
Egyptin varjo won the award for museum pedagogy (Vuoden museopedagoginen teko, Pedaali Ry) in 2021.
More about the project: https://www.aalto.fi/en/news/study-project-draws-out-the-background-of-amos-rexs-popular-egypt-exhibition
Green Actions!
Jevi and Emma in Kautokeino 2017Green Actions! was a study project combining climate consciousness and art in 2017. The working group consisted of dance teacher students and fine art students from Turku University of Applied Sciences.
Workshops in movement, soundmaking and sculpting were organised at Pääskyvuori elementary school in Turku with 8-year old children.
As an ending to the project the working group took part of the Sámi Education Conference in Kautokeino 2017.
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