2011

Aino Kajaniemi

Finland

I have graduated in 1983 from the University of Arts and Design, Helsinki and I have worked as a free artist since 1990. I have taken part in numerous exhibitions in Finland and abroad, made several commission works and liturgical textiles for 6 churches. Last year I was selected as textile artist of the year 2010 in Finland got an award from Jyväskylä city and 5 years grant from the state of Finland.

My way of working

I make pictures from small, concrete things, moments and atmospheres in a human’s life so that they form a metaphor of something greater in my mind. I would like to achieve even more with small gestures. In many images I search for an emotion: longing, insecurity, fear, jealousy, joy, guilt, shame, success, the difficulty of communication and co-existence.

I am interested in photos showing stopped moments in magazines, books and home albums. There`s something about the posture or facial expression of a human in relation to its environment that can create a memory or an association in my mind to something I have experienced. I use limitless amounts of pictures as material to my advantage; I combine and eliminate pictures in my own creations.

There is a perfect sketch for all of my textiles. I put the paper draft behind the warp of the handloom and follow the figure as I weave. Only when the drawing changes into a tapestry do the threads, the lines begin to live and the surfaces get depth. As a material textile, it brings softness and optimism to the picture. At this point I choose the colours, tones and materials of the threads. Weaving is about making decisions; how thick or thin threads to use, do I combine threads to form different tones or use original colours, do I want the surface to be shiny or rough, do I use create structure and effects using thicker materials? Do I want the tissue to be dense so that it cloaks the warp threads or that the texture of the tapestry stands out and the fabric become almost transparent?

Like in life, tapestries have different levels, entities and little moments and events. These different areas emphasize the nature of each other like sensitivity and clumsiness, intimacy and space. I back this idea up in the process by choosing different materials in a tapestry, ranging from thin weaving thread to thick, unhandled hemp and jute fibers. In the most intense areas, like faces, I use thinner threads, but, for example, an eye needs at least three threads of different thickness to look alive.

Nowadays I get all of my threads from flea markets. That way surprising tones and materials appear in my colour pallet. I can also mix together many thin threads. So I will get more tones and new colours and the surface becomes smoother. Weaving is also finding; even though I have practiced this technique for over 30 years, I´m not in complete control of the threads. Chance has its role, for example when I weave a face, the threads may position themselves so that a smile turns into sorrow or anger becomes joy. I don’t embroidery on tapestry, when it is woven, it is ready.

The execution demands relaxing and trusting the threads and technique. The materials and my handloom are not a challenge but a work partner. Sometimes I decide and every now and then the threads and technique set the limits; then you just have to see the opportunity and a different solution that the new situation brings.

I build texture with the help from a pattern starting from the bottom corner and progressing in the order the lines and surfaces determine. Because I use an upright loom and not a frame, I use pedals so that I don´t have to pick up the leases. In my opinion this frees me to concentrate on what matters: being expressive and the choices it requires. I attach the weft to the texture with an ordinary fork. Sometimes I feel like being a solid part of my handloom. The connection occurs in many ways; my feet pedal, eyes watch, brains decide and hands interknit.

I am happy that I have found weaving; no other technique contains similar history that is recognizable all over the world. With weaving I can express all emotions from sensitiveness to fear and brutality.