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The beginning of our project. At first we learnt
a little bit history. Viialan Keskuskoulu,
5C. AKSELI GALLÈN-KALLELA He was the painter,
who illustrated our national epic, Kalevala. His
style was very realistic in the beginning, but
changed to symbolistic. He also told the history
of Finland and it's people in his paintings. The
painting, that we want to introduce you tells
about a settler family, that tries to build a
home. The painting tells you a lot it has been
so cold, that they have not got any harvest of
grain. It tells, how the buildings were made in
the past. It tells, that the child has not got
food enough. And what'll be the future of this
family? Look at the back of the house. Who is
waiting there? The theme of our February at 5C is
Akseli Gallén-Kallela and his paintings. We'll
look at a film, dias, and Internet pages, too,
about his art. We'll write and discuss. Of course
it would be marvellous to visit Athenaeum, the
main Gallery of art in Finland, in Helsinki,
where these paintings mostly are. This project of
environment is an art project in many ways.
Akseli Gallén-Kallela and his paintings lead us
to the past times of Finland. We'll find out
something about the time on his paintings. WE
WALKED A LONG ROAD TO THE PAST... Throughout the
northern coniferous zone block work or
corner-timbering has been used in building since
prehistoric times. In hewing the timbers, the
carpenters used a working axe as well as a
drawing-iron for marking the shape of the ridge
of the lower timber on the one to be laid above
it. In this way, the timbers could be hewn to a
close fit, which was an important technical
detail in the cold climate of Northern Europe.
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The tools derive from Roman prototypes and the
corner-timbering technique was used already in
the northern forts of Roman Empire. With the use
of closely fitting timber joints, a timber
dwelling type was developed with a square floor
plan an the low-pitched saddleback roof supported
by purlins, i.e. horizontal roof members running
parallel to the ridge. This building type is of
the same origin as the megaron, the early Greek
dwelling house (The source Lars Pettersson
Finnish wooden church) THE STOREHOUSES AND THE
BARNS The early farmers came to the western
Finland, but the settlement of the country was
depending on slash-and-burn farming a long before
the field farming. The single-room,
saddle-back-roofed storehouse was also a building
type, that was introduced in Finland along with
corner timbering at the latest. The storehouse, a
primary building for farmers, occurs in its basic
form throughout the coniferous zone of Europe.
Text Rakel Karri, Maiju Landström and Kati
Heiskanen (5C) WHAT IS THIS LITTLE COTTAGE? A
family lived in this little cottage, even in the
beginning of 1920's. There lived the parents with
their seven children. They made their food
outside in a cooking shelter. The father worked
for the farmer, who owned the fields. The roof is
made of birch bark. Text
Maiju, Rakel and Kati Finland's oldest
archaeological finds indicate settlement in
Southwest Finland from as early as 7000 B.C. We
visited an open air museum in the last autumn
(2005). Nowadays nearly everyone in Finland has
a sauna in the house. But who knows the history
of it?
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THE FINNISH SAUNA In the sauna. In the past all
the family was bathing together. It took a long
time to get the oven stove hot, so the sauna
would have been cold, if the people had bathed
one by one, like nowadays, when people (mostly)
have electric stoves. The painting by Akseli
Gallén-Kallela, Athenaeum, Helsinki In the past
the saunas were built as other wooden houses,
using timber. It was built for bathing and
washing, for making people healthy, and it was
the place, where the babies were born. It was
usually built near the river or near the lake. A
red sauna by the lake is the dream of every
Finnish people. Nowadays the sauna is mostly a
hobby for people. In the past the sauna was
important in everyday life. Usually the saunas
were chimneyless buildings, smoke saunas. In the
past and nowadays, too, you use a bath whisk made
of birch. You put it to water and then scratch
yourself. Inside the sauna there is an oven
stove. You must pour water on it to get the steam
in the sauna. Before this the stove must be very
hot. We also have electric saunas, but the real
sauna is warmed up with using wood. And you warm
the water to wash in the sauna, too. You sit on
the sauna seats. Text Amanda and Camilla -
Photos Marja , Amanda and Camilla (Viialan
Keskuskoulu 5C) Drawing Amanda Ojala and
Camilla Forsblom this is a Finnish dream.
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Of course you can run to swim, when having
sauna. But don't do this, if your heart is not
healthy. Take it easy. And what happens in the
winter? You must break a hole on ice, if you want
to swim. But take it easy. You must not run to
the water immediately after being in the hot
sauna. Text Amanda and Camilla - Photo The
Finnish Sauna Society AKSELI GALLÈN-KALLELA
Kalela, the atelier of the painter. It is in
Ruovesi and it is a Karelian style building, but
has also something about the style of the west
coast churches. The painter designed it himself
and it's a good example of a traditional Finnish
woodwork. The painting about a settler family.
The painting is situated in Juselius Mausoleum,
in Pori, Finland. The painter himself in the
end of 1800's, in the middle of the unspoiled
nature, searching the soul of Finnish people.
Akseli Gallén-Kallela searching the themes to
his paintings. THE STOREHOUSES AND THE BARNS AND
THE WINDMILLS A drying barn. The grain was dried
here. There were three types of windmills in the
past. They were used to grind the grain. The
types of windmills were the "lady mill", the toe
"mill" and the "magpie mill". The "lady" was
mostly used in the west part of Finland.
Drawing Maiju Landström a drying barn (Viialan
Keskuskoulu 5C).
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A "lady" mill, drawing by Niklas and Lari The
photo Yli-Kirra's open air museum. A "lady" mill
in Yli-Kirra's open air museum. The 5C visited
this museum in the last autumn. Model by
Niklas, Lari, Konsta and Lauri. WHY DO I LIKE
THIS PAINTING? I introduced my class about ten
paintings of Akseli Gallén-Kallela, those
paintings, that tell something about our
environment now and in the past. My pupils chose
one painting, that they liked most and told, why
they liked just that painting. Its the mirror.
Akseli Gallén- Kallela has painted this beautiful
lake. Its a beautiful lake, so silent and
peaceful. I like the light in this painting and
how the ice reflects the sky. The season is
spring. I feel like I would have been waking up
in a beautiful morning in spring. The sky is not
as real as the lake. The island makes this
painting very interesting. Veera Varjonene Do
not spoil this landscape. I could paint the lake,
too. The lake is like a mirror. You can see your
picture on it. And you can swim and row.
Nowadays people often make the lakes dirty. The
fish and the birds are suffering a lot. You can
not swim in a poisonous lake any more. The lake
is a beautiful landscape. Do not spoil it!
Henna-Riikka Hänninen I like the lake most,
because this painting looks so real. The painter
has painted the lake so well. The island is very
real, too. Finland is a country of thousands of
lakes and they look like this. Its spring in
this painting and its a good time to paint the
lake. In Viiala we have a lake, which looks quite
the same. Jesse Kärkkäinen
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I like the past times. I like this painting,
because there is an old woman with a cat. I can
see, what kind of clothes the people used in the
past times. The painter has exaggerated the
woman's feet, hands and stomach. But the stomach
might be like this because of the hunger, too. I
can also see the fashion of hair on this
painting. In the past Finnish women used to have
this kind of hairstyle. I think, that the woman
is poor. In the past there were no old people's
houses in Finland. Heidi Koivula An old woman
and a cat. I chose this painting, because there
is a real Finnish landscape and countryside on
this painting, old gates and old buildings. I
also like the colours of the ground. I can also
see a lake and old boats. The field path is full
of hey straws. Lauri Jouppi
Akseli Gallén- Kallela He was the
painter, who illustrated our national epic,
Kalevala. His style was very realistic in the
beginning, but changed to symbolistic. He also
told the history of Finland and it's people in
his paintings. The painting, that we want to
introduce you tells about a settler family, that
tries to build a home. The painting tells you a
lot it has been so cold, that they have not got
any harvest of grain. It tells, how the buildings
were made in the past. It tells, that the child
has not got food enough. And what'll be the
future of this family? Look at the back of the
house. Who is waiting there? The theme of our
February at 5C is Akseli Gallén-Kallela and his
paintings. We'll look at a film, dias, and
Internet pages, too, about his art. We'll write
and discuss. Of course it would be marvellous to
visit Athenaeum, the main Gallery of art in
Finland, in Helsinki, where these paintings
mostly are. This project of environment is an art
project in many ways. Akseli Gallén-Kallela and
his paintings lead us to the past times of
Finland. We'll find out something about our
environment on his paintings.
Marja Laine, Viialan
Keskuskoulu, Finland