Kuvasto Passenger Åsa Hellman Hoplaxskolans Kårböle-enheten 1-5 (Kaarelan koulu), Sorolantie 2, 00420 Helsinki Indoor Sculpture Åsa Hellman’s (b. 1947, Porvoo) Passenger in Huopalahti Primary School’s Kaarela section (Kårböle-enheten 1-5) is a ceramic relief made of some 50 individual pieces. The four-metre-long work is mounted on the wall of the entrance hall that doubles as dining room. The colours of the work are produced by ceramic engobes developed by Hellman and applied on unfired clay. An engobe is both a ceramic material and a technique in which a slurry of clay and water is applied to wet, leather-hard or bone-dry clay before the first firing. The engobe layer remains between the body of the object and the glaze applied after the first, or biscuit, firing. The final object has undergone three firings: biscuit, glaze and lustre. A shiny lustre finish is typical of Hellman’s work. In order to connect with the world of children, the artist revisited her own childhood, where she remembered having been interested in ornaments and decoration and narrative pictures in particular. Thinking of her target audience, she wanted to create a figurative work: the final piece includes plants, fruit and a fantasy animal – a passenger that resembles a fox. The work reflects the curiosity of children and their anticipation of life’s adventures. Yet, the work is not exclusively narrative, with the figurative forms accompanied by abstract elements. Hellman has used bright and warm colours to create a tropical atmosphere that offsets the grey and cold season that dominates the school year. The colours of the work change with the time of day. Hellman’s aim was to fire up the children’s imagination. The work was produced under the Percent for Art programme, and it belongs to the collection of the City of Helsinki, managed by HAM Helsinki Art Museum. At map