Academy of Fine Arts Alum Raimo Saarinen in Residence: Jan van Eyck Academie 2024

17.3.2025 0 Tykkää 0 kommenttia Henna Kontusalmi

Working at the Jan Van Eyck Academie was a unique opportunity to refocus, experiment, and untangle ideas in my practice that had been difficult to address in the usual rush of everyday life. The calm surroundings of Maastricht and the academy’s historical spaces gave me the chance to explore new materials in ways I hadn’t been able to before. Applying for this residency was not only about learning a new medium but also about creating enough distance from familiar routines to approach my work with a fresh perspective.

At the start of my residency, I began working with a material that was completely new to me. Within just a few days, I was able to connect with experts in the field, which was fortunate, as this kind of guidance wouldn’t have been easily available back in Finland. Since Jan Van Eyck didn’t have specialized knowledge in the expertise area of scents, I attended courses outside the academy and met a perfumer who helped me work with chemicals and establish best practices. This intense learning experience quickly became the focal point of my time at the residency.

While the residency’s quiet environment allowed me to dive deeply into my work, I soon realized that being part of a community was equally important. Interacting with other artists, sharing our daily processes, and discussing the ideas behind our work often felt as significant as the solitary time spent in the studio. Shared meals and conversations ranged from lighthearted to profound, and even though each of us had a different focus, these interactions broadened my own approach to my practice. Being surrounded by others who were working through their own challenges and ideas was unexpectedly grounding.

With uninterrupted time, I found myself engaging more with research and literature than I had anticipated, particularly in areas such as production methods, chemistry, and sustainability. Jan van Eyck Academie’s library became an extended workspace where I could immerse myself in these topics. This research was not just technical; it also served as a form of reflection on the broader questions I wanted my practice to address.

The residency gave me the chance to see things from a new perspective, not only regarding the new material I was working with but also in terms of the larger context of my work. The other residents formed a diverse network, each offering insights into how they navigated their own artistic practice in various settings. The residency period left me with new ways to approach my work and strengthened my commitment to continuing to question and experiment as part of my artistic process. My work with scents deepened, and new possibilities emerged, inspiring me to think about how art and scientific research might intersect in the future. Uniarts Helsinki´s Academy of Fine Arts and Saastamoinen Foundations residency grant at Jan van Eyck Academie provided the space and peace needed to develop my skills and reinforced the importance of continuous exploration, learning, and the support of a creative community.