EnvironmentalArt.net 

Pedvale 2002

"The Stones like mushrooms" 2002
Open Air Art Museum at Pedvale.

Installation of four big stones shaped with clay,
depicting mushrooms

Photos: working time

Mätäjoki 2000

Seat for Romance, Mätäjoki 2000.
The seat is made of wood and filled with straw.

The view from the seat overlooks a waterfall.
This kind of scene is reminiscent of old romantic
Finnish movies.

The Emigration, 2000 Mätäjoki,  
The grass on the lawn was mowed to represent the floor plan of an ancient building in Pompeii.

I have worked with environmental and performance art groups since 1995. That year, I got the idea of creating exhibitions outside museums and galleries. This was close to the idea of community art : to show art in the open air, in common spaces like parks, riversides, old empty factories…and to communicate directly with the public, so that they can meet the artist at work and become involved with making an art exhibition.

We needed a lot of help: financial resources, multiskilled people to assist the artists, public relations officers, people in charge of a large exhibition taking up a vast space (as on the streets). We produced the exhibitions in co-operation with residents' associations and people living nearby.
In 1995 I also founded a group of artists called Nomad and acted as the chairperson of the group until 1998. Nomad also co-operated with poets. We made several exhibitions in Helsinki and Jämsä.

Photo: Lea Turto "Muistojenkirjasto",
Jättömaa-ympäristötaidenäyttely,
Ruoholahti, Nomad-ryhmä, Helsinki 1997

Photos from Jämsä.
The area of the Environmental Art Exhibition
"Siltojen välissä" -98, Nomad-group

Lea Turto, "The Hidden Place", Jämsä 1998.
Installation of three big stones shaped with clay,
depicting red mushrooms, an aquarium and a butterfly.

Middle part of the installation

In 1998 I left the Nomad Group. My working partner, planner and producer of the exhibitions, Harri Markkula also left the group.

In 1999 I worked together with Harri and made an environmental art exhibition in the city of Vaasa. At about the same time, I moved house to live on the other side of Helsinki. There I met artists Nella Keskisarja and Sofia Wilkman. They planned to start a group and produce an Environmental Art Exhibition on the Mätäjoki riverside. I liked the idea and started a discussion about the natural qualities of the riverbank.

More information: the Mätäjoki Environmental Art Exhibition 2002,
Copy of the original page of Lea

In 2000 I moved to live in Jyväskylä, Central Finland.
In 2005 my idea of exhibition at the forest came true: SKUTSI -The Forest Environmental Art Exhibition in Central Park of Helsinki.
My work in Forest.

Colour Wash 2000 - a performance

After the Mätäjoki exhibition of summer 2000, I met Nella Keskisarja at an art gallery in the old Railway storehouse. It is situated in the heart of the city and the City Council had started a planning process for new, big buildings in that area. In protest, Helsinki people staged a demonstration to conserve this building. We got an idea to stage a performance Colour Wash 2000. This happened very spontaneously and we only had a couple of weeks to get the performance ready. We asked Riitta Schild-Oivo and Sami Sarasalo to help us. Jonna Pohjalainen had also expressed interest in taking part in our group exhibitions. Community art is also very close to her heart. She was very keen to participate. Likewise, hundeds of members of the public took part in the performance of cleaning the walls and the roof of the old storehouse. We dressed the participants with colourful robes: red, green, blue, yellow.