Moving Day!

Yes, the day has finally come. Heather’s Helsinki is all grown up and leaving the WordPress nest. It has been a relatively smooth process, except for a few hiccups with embedded maps… I’m certain that by the time this post is published, all those little bugs will be ironed out.

From today the blog will be at Heather’s Helsinki, along with a host of other goodies. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter round out the Heather’s Helsinki brand presence. You’ll find all of those links over there also.

Moving is one those incredibly stressful life experiences. I’ve moved across the street and across the world. It doesn’t matter how often or how far you move, it’s never completely stress free. You need a good moving team to help. Luckily the moving team I had on hand did a great job, with lots of pointers that made the move and transition go very smoothly. Now we are settled in our new house busily unpacking.

Well putting things in their proper place, just like you do anytime you move.

So, to all my faithful followers and visitors I say thank you for visiting me here, especially if you took the time and effort to leave a comment. The comments are one of the best parts of blogging!

Please come and visit me at my new home. A warm welcome awaits you.

You might see this cheerful Heather out and about. Be sure to say hello!

Now I have to go and make sure all the moving boxes are empty and nothing has been left behind.

Mirja Marsch: Stitches, Sequins and Fragments *

Friday morning (September 27th)  I was heading towards my Finnish class ** when the latest exhibition to be held at Malmitalo caught my eye. The gallery is situated to the left as you enter the main entrance and right at the foot of the stairs that lead to the second floor classroom area. Impossible to miss if you need to go upstairs.

The exhibitions generally run three to four weeks and feature different art-forms – photography, painting, textiles, mixed media etc. I popped my head in as the space had been empty earlier in the week and I wanted to see what the new exhibition was all about. Imagine my surprise and joy when I saw the first picture (actually the third one in the slide show below). Buttons, paint, sequins and a subject who was just oozing so much attitude that I wanted to reach out and touch her. I snapped a quick picture thinking I would send it to my mum or my sister – they are both up to their elbows in creative ventures. Quilts, beading, scarves and mixed media, you name it, they are creating it.

Then I looked around, and immediately gasped (with joy!). All around the room were similar pieces of art. So, camera in hand (phone really) I scooted around the gallery and snapped a quick picture of everything on display. Here is the gallery, along with the names, mostly Finnish with some English. My pictures really don’t do the work justice.

Mirja Marsch – Särkyneitä unelmia

Mirja Marsch – Sanoit kaivavasi silmät päästäni

Mirja Marsch – Puheesi on kuin kärpästen surinaa korvissani

Mirja Marsch – Love Story

Mirja Marsch – After party

Mirja Marsch – Party boys

Mirja Marsch – VIP

Mirja Marsch – Isä

Mirja Marsch – Konfirmaatiopäivä

Mirja Marsch – Jano

Mirja Marsch – Liskojen yö

If you are in Helsinki in the very near future, I highly recommend that you get out to Malmi (connections are at the end of this post) and have a look at the exhibition. I grabbed a postcard and the bio of Mirja Marsch and read with interest that she is a member of the Finnish Felting Association. I did a felting course last year, and while my output was limited, I quite enjoyed the process of making felt!

The exhibition runs 26.9.2013 – 19.10.2013 in the Malmitalo Gallery. I will definitely share more about Malmitalo in the future. There is always something interesting there! Malmitalo is a multipurpose building in Malmi, close to the railway station and the bus terminal.

Getting there: P,I,N,K (yes Pink) trains from Helsinki to Malmi station (Note the trains themselves are not pink!). Bus 69, 70, 70T, 73, 73B, 73N, 76A, 76B, 77A, 78, 79, 512, 519, 520, 522 and 522K.

* The original title of this exhibition is Mirja Marsch Pistoja, Paljetteja ja Sirpaleita
** I’m studying Finnish at the North Eastern campus of Helsinki’s Finnish Adult Education School. The campus is just one part of Malmitalo.

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Lines to Patterns

This week’s photo challenge raises that rare dilemma: which pictures to choose?! I actually hit the pavements early yesterday morning and collected some very nice paving and cobblestone pictures. Then I remembered our visit to Galerie Anhava earlier in the summer. The artist in question was Pe Lang and the exhibition name was Moving Objects. The Engineer suggested that we visit this, and as soon as we entered the space I could see why! Lots of lines and patterns, moving, creating and recreating continually.

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All the items were constructed from electrical components, paper, magnets, cord and copper wire. No 502-519 was my favourite. It was so mesmerising, I could have watched the magnets floating up and down for hours. The Engineer was very taken with No 809, and even went so far as to find out how much it was. Needless to say, it was just a little out of our reach. Still, no harm in dreaming 🙂

Galerie Anhava is very centrally located and can be found here:

For information on current exhibitions and opening times,  visit Galerie Anhava.

For more interpretations of Lines to Patterns check out the comments on the weekly photo challenge post.

Disclosure note: The first time I visited Galerie Anhava was in 2009, for an exhibition called Contemporary Now. One of the exhibitors at that show (Shoji Kato) is a good friend of my mother-in-law. It’s a really nice cool spot to drop in to see the work of up and coming artists.

Two little letters: part I

H and H are the two letters I’m referring to. As in Heather’s Helsinki. They popped into my head earlier this afternoon when I was in the pet shop of all places. This coming Saturday they are taking part in a street festival of sorts.

The street’s name is Hitsaajankatu (Welder’s Street). The area was formerly an oil terminal, and has been reclaimed and turned into a very nice residential / commercial district. Lots of the streets in this area have industrial related names. It’s a very common feature of the street naming process in many parts of Helsinki – the names might reflect the previous use of the area or concentrate on a theme.

The street festival that is coming on Saturday is Hitsin Hulinat. A loose translation is Hell’s Craziness or Hells’ Big Noise. The idea is that all the shops in the area will be having big sales and nice happenings as well. Hitsaajankatu has a mixture of outlets and regular shops. The pet shop falls into the later category, while further up the street is Mr. 14’s favourite shop; Outlet 6, an outlet shop that specialises in skate wear.

Participants and some of their offers!
(Click to enlarge image)

The pet shop promise discounts and will have a trainer on hand to give dog training tips. Although our Perry is well-trained, there are a couple of issues that would benefit from some additional work. I’m working on reducing my wardrobe, so I’ll pass on the clothes outlets this time around. Perhaps lunch at Hanko Sushi is on the cards though. I’m pretty certain I know where Mr. 14 will want to go…

Use the picture above, and the two maps below if you are in need of some retail therapy. Have fun out there!

Open this link to a custom-made map with all the listed outlets for your convenience! https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zTLS007KwFxU.kYVrvsJBFej4

Getting there: Helsinki metro station Herttoniemi is a short 5 minute walk away.

PS: Only 27 days to go now…

Countdown to …

… a new site, a new Twitter and a new Facebook. Check out the countdown over on the right: —> it shows how many days we have to go. It’s all very exciting!

Flow Festival 2013

Flow Festival is coming, and I’m going to be there. That means I won’t be here.

My “must sees” for Flow Festival 2013

See you on the other side 🙂

… and the weather is…

I was reading our daily paper earlier in the week and came across some interesting numbers. For the month of June, 2013 there were … wait for it… 78,000 lightning strikes in Finland. Yes, that is correct seventy-eight thousand. That’s an awful lot of electricity.

Lightning 2013

The next interesting statistic to grab my attention was the fact that we had 17 official ‘hot’ days! You may well ask what constitutes a hot day in Finland – any day where the temperature exceeds 25 degrees centigrade. Helsinki itself only had 9 such days. Check out the little snapshot I snipped from a site called Accu Weather.com. Double click the picture to read in detail.

June weather stats