Sara Hildén Academy students’ prints on display in Rauma

The exhibition features works entered in a printmaking competition for children and young people. The theme was Finland’s unique archipelago and thousands of lakes, which participants were invited to interpret from their own perspectives.

The Sara Hildén Academy, the visual arts school of The Adult Education Centre of the Tampere Region, is represented in the exhibition by works created by its students.

Visual arts teacher Merja Honkkila became interested in collaborating with Rauma during the summer and encouraged her group to take part in the competition. Students in the Sara Hildén Academy’s elective printmaking workshop for young people began exploring the theme after the course started in August.

– Almost everyone in the group had worked with printmaking before. At the beginning of the course, we spent a month practising a few different techniques. We started working on the exhibition pieces at the end of September, and the prints were completed during October. Each student was free to choose their own technique, Honkkila says.

A total of 200 students from across Finland took part in the competition’s four categories, and all of their works are on display in the exhibition. Sara Hildén Academy student Marina Salmela won the category for upper secondary and vocational students with her work Feet in the Water.

The winners were selected by a jury consisting of Taina Myllyharju, Chief Curator at Rauma Art Museum, Mari Aspola, an emerita upper secondary school visual arts teacher and printmaker, Elina Tiainen, Producer, Audience Development at Lönnström Art Museum, and Hannu Raevaara, a member of the Board of RaumArs.

The My Shore exhibition is organised by Rauman Taidegraafikot in cooperation with Rauma School of Visual Arts and RaumArs.