Huskies!!

During the week at the snow hotel we were offered a ride with huskies!!

Ofcourse we all said yes! It was definitely a grand experience! Apart from not being able to feel my fingers or toes, the sky was perfect, the company jolly (& just as frozen), and the day excellent!

Without much instruction and just being told to hold on tight, we were off!

I think pictures speak louder than words on this one!

Desperate times..

call for desperate measures!!!

Freezing!

Yes..so..when it's cold outside we stay inside. No. Not in Lapland! When its freezing, you freeze. Not you but sculptures!

~The lake~

As part of the Time Space Place workshop we decided to make sculptures from freezing material by using water from our natural enviroment a.k.a the frozen lake. Our topic was "tracks" and we decided to create forms of animals found in the north!

~getting started~

First we had to create wooden forms and then cover them with soaking wet material! Waterproof gloves would have been a good idea..

~almost there!~

As we worked as a group we were able to get the job done pretty quickly! I also think that the thought of getting inside to the warmth sped up the process!




~Reindeer and fox~



So after spending the whole day outside, I thought I might turn into a block of ice myself!



~got ice..~


Erasmus has been full of quotes and the sentence of today was made by my teacher. While trying to move a massive piece of ice he told us "You can dance with it if it is not so wet" as he continued to twirl around on the frozen lake humming a song to himself!



~Tada!~


The job was finally done before the sun set and although they were not masterpieces, after not being able to feel my fingers or toes after 10minutes in, I can happily say I was proud of our work!






Patience and persistence. Never underestimate the power of layers!

And it's getting cold..

This morning I walked to university in -15oC. Record!

I also realised that although were surrounded with snow I still havnt built my 1st snowman yet!! Luckily I have a week to do something similar though!

We have been designing a snow hotel and will be going to build it in late November/early December!

Note to self! I need new gloves!!!

Ouch!!

Today my heart bled as I spent a ridiculous amount of money on ski trousers!

~♥~

Good thing I think they are awesome though! :D!!!

(They are also extra extra warm!!! No more feeling -13oC!!! Woop!!)

Lantern Design!

In Finland people just do.

After a strenuous two weeks of Lantern building and Fire Sculpture Workshops I have come to realise that no matter the weather, if its in the name of art, an artist will do it! Especially in Lapland!

For the past two weeks a group of exchange students and some Finns designed, prepared made and burnt their work!

Being part of this group has been the most stressful time I have had here. I cannot lie and say it was all flowers and sunshine! It was more like hard work and snow!

WEEK 1:

Welcome to the workshop

After a week of quick planning and getting into small groups, Lantern design had gotten into full swing. We were told to design lanterns that would be displayed at the annual River Lights event in Rovaniemi on the 6th of November. We were told only a few things. The lanterns would be made of wood, paper and thin material. We would have all materials supplied for us and our theme was fishing equipment.

Research, models and discussion

All hands on! After being split into a group with two other people, we quickly agreed on the idea of making a fishing net in which we would put fish as if they had been caught.

The skeleton. 1/3 done!

After creating the outer skeleton it was time to wrap the sculpture in the material. Luckily we were inside, it was getting cold out and the rain was also paying us a visit.

hard at work

It turned out that it takes two people to cover a structure properlly in material..team work all the way!

Kiitos! (Thank you in Finnish)

Once we had finally covered all of the constructions (not the easiest of shapes might I add!!, with the material and paper, it was time for the making of operation mass production fish to begin! Luckily some friends decided that cutting out fish was a fun experience! More hands make light work!

"If I had a hammer.."

Although Lantern building was a challenge we still had Fire Sculpture to look forward to and that would be outside!

Snow!!

So I could tell it was getting colder but I don't think I was ready for it to snow so heavily so suddenly!

~Friday morning~

I woke up on Saturday morning, opened my curtains to reveal a white ground and snow flakes falling gently from the sky! SNOW!!!!

Ofcourse the first thing that I did was to run through to my flatmates bedroom and jump up and down like a small child!!! That was it! Hats on and boot up! We're going out!

~Saturday morning! (about 30minutes after waking up)~

After playing around in the snow for a while, a group of us decided to head into the city centre to catch a coffee! We took the long way and my Caffe Latte was well appreciated!

~Angels~

Seeing as it was a Saturday we had to run back home before the sunset to make it in time for sauna! We passed some beautiful scenery on the way. It was now time for the weekend to begin properlly!

~Wowza~

Today the landscape inspired me once again. I like how the trees appear to be on the otherside of the river in this photograph. Infact they are just silhouettes of the trees about 5m infront of me. It seems like Lapland never stops to surprise me.