Markku Hakuri and Friends at Kerava - Goodbye to the Hole In The Universe (Reika Avaruudessa)

Sculptor Markku “The General” Hakuri marshaled a merry band of art lovers in the destruction of the pieces he exhibited in the Kerava Art Museum this summer. The closing ceremony of the show included a parade of dismantled sculpture parts and their burning in a bonfire. After the fire died down we proceeded to tumble my sculpture “Wishing Wells”. From its conception, my piece was destined to be removed at the end of the show, so, we had a fun time pulling out stones and watching the well walls cascade to the ground. Most delightful was the musical sound made by the downpour of cobbles.

Finland - Mushroom Hunting and the End of the Reikä Avaruudessa Exhibit

This weekend I hopped over to Helsinki, Finland from Denmark to join in the closing celebration of Kerava Art Museum’s summer exhibition. Back in May I made two pieces for the show. The works of all the artists come down today, and because some of them, like mine, are meant to be destroyed at the end of the exhibit we will have a ceremonial bonfire outside the museum. In the meantime, I’ve enjoyed a day spent in the woods hunting mushrooms. Kaani and Markku took me to a forest where we had good luck gathering. Back at their house we cleaned our catch of black hornpipes for drying, and cooked up a pan of chanterelles for omelets.

The Kerava Art Museum - Reika Avaruudessa

The trees in the parks of Helsinki were beginning to show signs of awakening from their winter sleep when I arrived here early May. Today, my last day in Finland on this trip, they are flush with lush green leaves. I leave behind good friends, old and new. It’s been an exciting few weeks of city life. The Kerava Art Museum exhibition is now open to the public until August 28 when the artist’s pieces will be dismantled and moved, or recycled. I’m pleased with the way my two works came out. ‘L.E.M.’ is the small stone and steel construction displayed inside the museum in partnership with Tristan Hamel’s silk-paper globe. Outside, ‘Wishing Wells’ invites museum-goers and passer-by’s to walk through and around its canyons and cavities.