Retretti (1)

Retretti, Punkaharju, Midsummer Day, 20 June 2009. - On a cloudy and chilly Midsummer Day it seemed like a good idea to visit the Art Center Retretti. - We soon noticed that many others had the same idea. The center was well attended but not too crowded for comfort. - Retretti is one of the biggest art centers in the Nordic countries. - It is located on the Punkaharju esker in the Puruvesi district of Lake Saimaa. The Punkaharju esker is famous for one of the most ravishing landscapes in Finland. (The name Punkaharju itself means Punka Esker.)

The Retretti Summer 2009 comprises:
1. Kim Simonsson: The Golden Deer exhibition with 20 ceramic sculptures
2. An Albert Edelfelt documentary video in the Rock Concert Hall
3. Children's Workshop: "It has ears on two sides, what can it be?" - an imaginary forest where colourful butterflies can be created
4. Materials Live - Ceramics and Glass Art from the Kyösti Kakkonen collection - Finnish art and design objects from the 1940s to the 1960s, a period of high modernism
5. Vesa Varrela: Surfing Fish - 8 vases and 18 glass surfboards
6. Albert Edelfelt and the Nordic Summer - Edelfelt and his contemporary Nordic colleagues Anders Zorn, P.S. Kröyer, Anna Ancher, Michael Ancher, and Christian Krohg
7. Children's Exhibition - Ransu at Retretti - the video retriever Ransu and his friends Riku and Eno Elmeri, familiar from YLE TV2 Pikku Kakkonen children's programming
8. Siim-Tanel Annus: Money and Poetry - Estonian art reflecting history and politics via paintings based on obsolete banknotes from Estonia, the Soviet Union, Germany, and Finland
9. Punkalive: Freedom of Form - Furniture and Pavilion - also presented in the Milan Furniture Fair in 2009
10. The Himmelblau Graphic Print Workshop - leading artists: Inari Krohn, Tapani Kokko, and Marja Pirilä - also on show prints by Outi Heiskanen, Juho Karjalainen, Juhani Linnovaara, Elina Luukkanen, Gunnar Pohjola, Esa Riippa, and Rafael Wardi