Exhibition opening February 3rd from 5 to 8 p.m.
Open hours 4.-14.2.
Mon-Fri from 1 to 7 p.m.
Sat-Sun from 12 to 4 p.m.

The textile art exhibition shakes up our perception of nature, its colors, shapes and places. Temporal layers and different forms of life create a network of connections. Nature and the urban are not separated from each other, but are in dialogue with each other. Humans strive to shape and build their environment. Elsewhere, nature takes over in an abandoned building or a crack in the asphalt. Using the methods of textile art the shapes and colors of nature take over the walls and floor of the Asbestos Art Space. The exhibition’s title piece, Earthy Neons, questions the idea of earthy tones. Living nature is in motion and full of energy, frost-bitten leaves turn pink on the edge and neon oranges and yellows glow on tree trunks. Earthy Forms draws attention to mosses, lichens and fungi, whose form language brings to mind underwater worlds as well as the wonders of science fiction movies. Roots – the blanket of the forest combines folklore knowledge about metsänpeitto, the tradition of quilting blankets as protection and the idea of the roots of trees and plants as a blanket covering the forest. In the exhibition, the earthy tones are also very concretely displayed in the work Moon Bell Sings The Time of The Sun, whose soft cotton fabrics are dyed with natural dyes collected by the artist. The crescent moons, which glow warmly, reflect the light from which the plants got their vitality.

Sannu Vaarala (1990) is a textile artist working in Rovaniemi and Kittilä. She works on experimental three-dimensional textile artworks, applying patchwork, sewing and embroidery methods. In her works she questions the boundaries of good taste with shapes and colors that go over the frames. On long walks she is inspired by urban culture such as graffiti under bridges and beautifully rough buildings. Nature is present in the city as the landscapes change from apartment buildings to forests. The seen is combined in the works into a whole, where nature and the urban talk to each other. The human-made environment and nature cannot be separated from each other, it is a dialogue.

Vaarala has been familiar with the tradition of patchwork and different ways of doing it for several years and has developed her technical skills and knowledge of the material through experiments. She selects the materials carefully and uses recycled and reusable materials as much as possible. As an artist, she feels the responsibility to look at things in a new way and explore existing possibilities. She spends a lot of time reshaping materials by dyeing fabric and working on details of objects classified as trash. In textile art, she is also fascinated by the tactility of surfaces and lines quilted with threads which can also be experienced with the sense of touch. She uses water, iron and needle to create curved and three-dimensional fabric elements.

Sannu Vaarala has a master’s degree in social sciences. In her previous works, she has dealt with the dialogue between urban and nature, the temporal layers of culture and identity. Vaarala also makes textile, environmental and community art as a member of the KILOTTAA collective.

Sannu Vaarala sannapauliina.vaarala@gmail.com +358 40 7009 050 Instagram: @sannu_vaarala @sannu_vaarala.artgram