Saturday 20 June 2009

June

This June has been cold, temperatures have been staying below 15C or 60F for three weeks now. Even the wild flowers are coming out slowly, but they are very much appreciated. Veronica chamaedrys:

Lathyrus pratensis:

My June BOM for Country Calendar. June is in Finnish kesäkuu, summer month. Doesn't feel like it yet!

On Thursday I had my hair cut in Hyvinkää (walk to the station and back, and in town), the other neighbour town, and I took the camera with me to take a photo of this little statue I pass on my way:

The building in the background is a school for 15 to 19 year olds studying for the exams needed for university studies.


I liked her toes! Siskokset (Sisters) by Anne Sipiläinen 1977.


Then I met the little bear on his bike. Sirkuskarhu (The Circus Bear) by Pirkko Nukari in 1977.



The next monument is for the famous Finnish female painter Helene Schjerfbeck, who lived for many years in Hyvinkää. The monument Ovi (Door) is by Tapio Junno in 1998, and based on one of Schjerfbecks paintings from 1883.



She was born in 1862 and died in 1946.



The other side of the monument:


Her paintings are well known and much loved.



Just after I had passed Helene's monument and prepared myself to take a picture of the Welders (by Mauno Oittinen in 1963), my eyes met a surprise:



Two young female artists Kaija Papu and Aino Louhi had added something to this monument, combining the history of metal industry and textile industry in Hyvinkää in their piece of art.


Pitsihilli is the name of their work, a play with words impossible to translate. Hitsipilli could be the unofficial name of the welder's tool, and the parts of this word have been changed to make Pitsihilli. This new word doesn't really make sense, but the first part of it, pitsi, means lace. Children often play with words in this way: sanakirja > kinasarja, kahvipannu > pahvikannu.

I think this is a lovely work, and a lot of knitting.



It almost looks like the men were knitting the last stitches.



The exhibition Todellisuuden Taju 2009 will be there for the summer.







In the link you can see another knitted work, Stairway to Heaven.
I hope you liked the little walk. I made all the points in need by next week for my Moving it Like Mike!
EDIT The links to the knitted art artists are in English and you can read more about their work there. Pitsihilli fits perfectly and is hand knitted for this purpose only.

9 comments:

  1. Cute little catepillar on your watering can. What a lovely walk. Thanks for taking us with you. That knitting is amazing. I hate the thought of it getting rained on. I would have liked to see how they achieved this huge project.

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  3. That deleted post was me - - - I'm starting over.

    Stephanie took the words right out of my mouth - - - I WAS going to say, "Thank you for taking us with you on this walk."

    The art pieces are so interesting. I'm especially drawn to "Sisters."

    The bear riding the bike is whimsical too.

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  4. What an interesting walk. I wonder if the knitting was custom made for the sculture or if they gathered charity shop old sewaters and sewed the main sections together?

    Your June BOM is looking so good.

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  5. That is an interesting idea about Melanie had about the sweaters.. but I never see sweaters like that here! I'm with Stephanie.. I'd love to see how they did this.

    Wonderful statues too, and I love that artist's painting you sent us too.. especially her drawings of children. :-)

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  6. Pitsihilli was hand-knitted by the artists and it took approximately 6 weeks to knit it, after making proper formula from the shape of the statue. Patterns were made "in the moment" though.

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  7. Wow - so many wonderful works on your walk, Ulla! I've never seen so much knitting - let alone seeing it on a statue! Very clever!
    Cheers!

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  8. I do like that June BOM !
    Right now we are packing for a European summer which means cardigans & also tropical summer which means skimpy stuff. Quite a headache to organise.

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  9. fabulous knitted addition to the sculpture, certainly feminizes it. thanks, k.

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