Layers

 

Kerrostumia | Skikt

30.5.–31.8.2025 | Kultaranta GArden

Perceptive, surprising and expressive insights into the use of wood and stone in art.

The 2025 summer exhibition Layers features the works of seven contemporary sculptors who work with the traditional materials of sculpture: wood and stone. Timo Hannunen, Emma Jääskeläinen, Antero Koskinen and Matti Peltokangas prefer various types of stone, while Mia Hamari, Pasi Karjula and Hannu Riikonen feel most affinity with wood as a material.

There is a long tradition of wood and stone sculpture for both practical and decorative purposes. The use of wood and stone in art constitutes just one layer in the historical utilisation of these materials. Sculpting is usually taken to mean the removal of excess material from a crude object, a lump of stone or a block of wood. In contemporary sculpture, it can also include assembling, the addition of material and the combination of wood or stone with other materials. The Layers exhibition offers viewers perceptive, surprising and expressive insights into the use of both these materials as artistic media.

The Office of the President of the Republic of Finland and the Alfred Kordelin Foundation are holding a series of three summer exhibitions of sculpture on the theme of nature in the park of Kultaranta, the summer residence of the President in Naantali. This summer’s exhibition is the third in the series. The first exhibition Encounters, held in 2021, explored how artists approached the depiction of animals in Finnish art from the early 20th century up to the present day. The works of the artists on show in the Natural Forms exhibition of 2022 were for their part inspired by the realm of flora, the organic shapes of plants and fruit and the use of natural materials. No exhibitions were held in 2023 and 2024 on account of basic renovations being made to the villa, other buildings and the surrounding parkland of Kultaranta.

The exhibition is cuated by Tapani Pennanen.

Opening hours and guided tours

Visitors have free entrance to Kultaranta Garden in summer on Fridays at 6-8pm until 26 September. Guided tours Tuesday to Sunday from 3 June to 31 August, at 10.30 am, 12.30 pm, 1.30 pm and 3 pm. Guided tours of the sculpture exhibition in Kultaranta Garden on Tuesdays July 1, July 15, July 29 and August 12 at 1.45 pm (tour in Finnish).

For more information, price inquiries and guide reservations, please see Visit Naantali website.

Address: Kultaranta Garden, Kordelininkatu 1, 21100 Naantali.

For the exhibition visitor

There is a QR code on the sign of each work in the exhibition. By pointing the camera at the QR code of your smartphone, you will move to the Kordelin Foundation’s exhibition site. On the website, you can read exhibition and the artist’s of this summer exhibiton. The QR code reader can be installed for free from the app store. You can also get to know the artists at the bottom of this page.

Artists

Timo
Hannunen

Read more

Emma
Jääskeläinen

Read more

Pasi
Karjula

Read more

Mia
Hamari

Read more

Hannu
Riikonen

Read more

Matti
Peltokangas

Read more

Antero
Koskinen

Read more

Kultaranta

In 1913–16 Afred Kordelin had Villa Kultaranta built in Naantali as his summer residence. The main building, of granite, was designed by Lars Sonck (1870–1956), one of the best-known Finnish architects of his day. Kordelin’s dream was to create something which could become a home museum for future generations. In conjunction with the division of the Kordelin estate, the idea of a home museum was abandoned and Kultaranta was first donated to the Finnish University Society in Turku and later to the Finnish state. Kultaranta became the President’s official summer residence in 1922. All the Presidents of Finland have spent their summers at Kultaranta, with the exception of the war years. Since 2011, The Alfred Kordelin Foundation has been involved in realizing an exhibition of sculpture for the public in the park at Kultaranta.

Photos from above:
Mia Hamari, Valeriana, 2021. Photo: Vesa Aaltonen
Hannu Riikonen, Globalisaatio, 2005. Photo: Vesa Aaltonen
Kultaranta park. Photo: Vesa Aaltonen.