Meet SHIFT participants 2017!

Finnish Art Agency’s is happy to announce new participants for the SHIFT mentoring program vol. 3! We received several high quality applications from Finland and abroad, that made the decision once again really hard. The aim of the mentoring program is to provide tailored support for developing artists’ careers. SHIFT vol. 3 started today with a group meeting, here are the participating artists for the year 2017!

Sculptor Elina Salonen depicts the world around her, taking notice of its minutiae while trying to understand the bigger picture. Her ceramic and glass works comprise of several pieces where she visualises something that she haven’t yet seen, processing things by giving them forms.

Painter and sculptor Päivi Allonen is interested in belongingness and the desire to be important part of something greater. How power tends to grow or diminish, to change its form and essence depending on the surrounding environment. Allonen’s works are installations, sculptures and paintings, that spread from gallery walls to non-spaces such as stairs, railings, columns and narrow gullies.

Painter Anu Kauhaniemi‘s urban surroundings and the world of young adults puts the spectator in a position of an observer. The stripped milieu results in a sort of meta-city for the urban middle class. Kauhaniemi’s paintings are figurative but yet abstract; she portrays three-dimensional space as a two-dimensional surface.

Painter Tamara Piilola‘s large imaginary landscapes present viewers with startling experiences of nature. Landscapes don’t always have to be beautiful; Piilola also paints wastelands, timber stacks and dunghills, emphasising their decorativeness. Her stagnant landscapes are creations of countless memories stored over time as photographs and sketches.

Painter Silja Selonen interprets passing moments and sculpts emptiness of matter. Her paintings are a beautiful combination of art and science, where mathematical shapes represent the invisible world of time, energy, matter and gravity – but also emotions and awareness.

SHIFT mentoring program will run until the end of the year 2017. Artists were chosen based on their motivation and commitment to develop and push their career forward. Stay tuned to see how the program continues, and remember to follow us also on Instagram and Facebook. Read more about the previous programs here.

Elina Salonen, What’s next (2016)
Päivi Allonen, Aamuruuhka/Morning Rush Hour
Anu Kauhaniemi, Café Esplanad Helsinki 13.2.2012 11.56 am (2012)
Tamara Piilola, Forevermore (2014)
Silja Selonen (2014)