artist |
Marja de Jong |
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2014 in review
2014To make this review no too long I made some links in the text. It is possible to get more information about some subjects through these links. Your curser will show you when there is a link and the text is white. At the end of the year it is interesting to have a flashback on nice,
exiting, glorious, joyful and sometimes sad moments of the year.
This year different Dutch friends were visiting my home. With my best friend I had a great time in September. During the 125 years railway celebration another old friend stayed for 2 weeks at the station and my cousin came with Christmas for one week. They all did not see the place after I started to live in it and they were all impressed by the way this old building has got its new content.
The first pages from the book Clazien Immink made after her visit in September. The content shows her impressions in a personal way and is touching me.Living in this building gives good feelings to me and even all the facilities are not on a high level, it is a warm and cozy place. After the renovation in 2013 of the kitchen and the shower area in the building, in 2014 it was the atelier which has to be reconstructed. The room was originally the office area, but I selected it to make an atelier out of it. It took 6 weeks to fix it. Now it is an inviting place to work. The winter of 2013/14 was exceptional, too less snow, too high
temperatures and too short in length. During ski holidays at the end of
February there was even no snow in this region. For heating this winter
was perfect, but for nature it was dramatic. I like to see the white
world around me, it makes the light brighter and the reflections on the
snow makes everything beautiful. The snow covers all the mess under its
blanket and makes everything soft and clear. Already during several years AREFS art and culture association organized art
lessons at the school in Hiirola, as well as at the schools in Rämälä
and Haukivuori. In 2014 we finished the art program
THIS IS MY BACKYARD. The results of this initiative can be seen on
the website of AREFS.
This art program was possible through the support by different art and
culture organizations. 
Trees are nice, but sometimes they start to be dangerous when they have lost their strength. In April Bas and Frits have sawed a huge over 20 meter high pine tree which was almost empty inside. It is work for specialists and Bas is an expert. Laying down the tree was sawed in smaller pieces and later on they will be even smaller and after drying the will be used for heating. 
It was a wish to have an old wagon at the station. It would be possible to create a location for visitors and artists to stay, work and enjoy nature and local environment. At the end of the winter the half of an old train wagon was placed in the yard. This wooden wagon is original from 1927 and cut into two pieces. For years it was in use as a summer cottage and sauna and in 2015 the renovation will take place to transfer the neglected wagon into an inspiring place to stay. 
This year was also the year of cleaning up the yard. During the years the yard next to the station was covered with all kinds of bushes and trees. It has become a wall which closed the view on the whole area. It was great that village people started to cut trees and bushes and took all the branches from the yard. Children from the school have been active in participating in this cleaning-program. The left-overs, big piles of branches were transported to somewhere else and at the end there was the feeling that the original garden plan opens itself. 
In spring the yard started to be lovely, it was so nice to look around and to be able to walk everywhere. 
In spring, just when nature starts to be alive, it looks wonderful. Nature on this latitude is very exuberant, it grows without any limit and as fast as possible. Gras cutting and tree and bushes pruning rigorous is the only way to keep the yard open. 
An atelier is the place an artist collects all the stuff which can be
used in the artistic process. Most artists can use everything and to
store this 'everything' is a huge job. 
In the hottest period of the year I started with the final renovation. Everything is replaced, walls are painted white and finally an open area in the middle of the room was the result. Now there is a place to work. (images show the atelier from the north wall over east - with window, to south - with doors and oven)
In August the last train stopped and departed from Haukivuori. In
the policy of the railway company it is important to save 3 minutes
on a trip of 3-4 hours and to stop the possibility for people in
rural regions to travel by train. Demonstrations, petitions and even
politicians were not able to change the decision.
At work with children at different schools was lovely. The art
program
THIS IS MY BACKYARD has finished in spring.
The Hiirola village community was very active to prepare the
environment of the station for the SAVON-RATA 125 year event. The
huge train painted by children of the school was placed at the
opposite of the railway and the installation GOODBYE - NÄKEMIIN has
been installed at the front side of the building. In the yard
different art works were arranged.
Living in an old railway station is directing your interests to what belongs to the railway and to stations. Together with others we started a group around the railway track in this region. Savo is the name of the region and SAVON-RATA means railway track in Savo. The name of the group is SAVON-RADAN ryhmä. Together we initiated the celebration SAVON-RATA 125 years in the beginning of October. At Hiirola station over 200 persons visited the place. Together with the local village association we organized a small fair, an old-timer presentation, the stop of an old-timer train and music. The local wool factory has been open that day too.
At the end of the year an impression of the child art painting of the long train projected on the bushes at the opposite of the railway station.
and different art works around the building in a winter atmosphere. Looking forward to a continuation in 2015. The activities at Hiirola railway station are in cooperation with
AREFS taide ja kulttuuri ry and SAVON-RADAN ryhmä.
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