Modern life! (until 30.7.)

A major shared initiative of five Finnish museums portrays the first five decades of an independent, modernising nation as a multi-level experience through architecture, design, photography and visual arts. The guided tours offer insightful facts and stories behind the exhibited works. Suitable for all ages.

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Tyko Sallinen (until 27.8.)

Tyko Sallinen was a pioneer of Finnish modernism and a lively personality, whose art and life left many stories worth sharing. With a guide, we examine Sallinen’s works as well as the colourful personality behind them. This tour can be combined with a short tour of Tove Jansson’s works. Suitable for all ages.

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Image: Tyko Sallinen: Alders in Spring, 1911 © HAM / Photo: Hanna Kukorelli

Pleasure (25.8.–12.11.2017)

Featuring paintings by three Finnish contemporary artists, Anna Retulainen, Elina Merenmies and Jukka Korkeila, the workshop will examine how the artists express their ideas and how they explore the world around them. The viewer’s role as recipient and interpreter of art are also discussed. Suitable for all ages.

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Eero Nelimarkka (15.9.2017–4.2.2018)

Eero Nelimarkka (1891–1977) is known for his paintings of Finnish flatlands. The exhibition at HAM turns the focus to the artist’s lesser-known output of self-portraits, still lifes, pictures of children and views from his studio. Suitable for all ages.

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Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson’s party-themed frescoes paint a whole new picture of the beloved artist. A tour of Jansson’s works in the HAM collection can be combined with a tour of the Tyko Sallinen exhibition. Suitable for all ages.

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Image: Tove Jansson © Per Olov Jansson

Language immersion tour, Tove Jansson

The tour is an immersion tour on which the guide will talk about Tove Jansson’s work in Swedish. The guide will speak only Swedish but does understand questions in Finnish. Come and practise your Swedish! Suitable for all ages.

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Image: Helsinki City Hall, restaurant Kaupunginkellari. Tove Jansson and Niilo Suihko painting the fresco Party in the Countryside. © Helsinki City Museum / Foto Roos

HAM highlights

Do you want to see only the best that HAM has to offer? This tour offers a comprehensive look at HAM: the architecture and history of Tennis Palace, the main themes of the exhibitions and the most notable works of art on display.

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Image: Tuula Lehtinen: You don’t know how beautiful you are, 2015 © HAM / Maija Toivanen

Paint a fresco

This workshop is a crash course in the art of fresco painting. We examine the frescoes by Tove Jansson and make our own small-scale frescoes using plaster, coal and water-soluble colours.

• Age recommendation: Pre-school, 1st–9th graders, upper secondary and vocational school pupils
• The workshop is associated with the following sections of the national curriculum: Art, History
• Topics: Cultural competence, interaction and expression (L2)
• Duration: 2 hours

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The ABC of art: Mixing colours!

How are the different hues used in paintings created? What is a complementary colour? In this workshop we explore the paintings in HAM’s collections, learn to mix colours and study the colour wheel while working with acrylic paint.

• Recommended age: 1st–6th graders.
• The art workshop is connected to the following parts of the national core curriculum: Visual arts, history, Finnish language and literature
• Topics: Cultural competence, interaction and expression

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The ABC of art: Near and far

How do you create depth in a drawing or painting? What is perspective? In this workshop we take a look at the landscapes and cityscapes included in HAM’s collections. We draw pictures using central, atmospheric, frog and value perspectives.

• Recommended age: 1st–6th graders.
• The art workshop is connected to the following parts of the national core curriculum: Visual arts, history, Finnish language and literature
• Topics: Cultural competence, interaction and expression

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ABC of art - draw a face!

Have you ever wondered how to draw a life-like face? In this workshop you will learn the ABC of drawing a face.

• Age recommendation: 1st–9th graders, upper secondary and vocational school pupils
• The workshop is associated with the following sections of the national curriculum: Art
• Subject areas: Cultural competence, interaction and expression

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Strange moods (25.8.-12.11.)

The workshop explores the strange moods in the paintings by Elina Merenmies in the Pleasure exhibition. Participants will create ink paintings of pleasant dreams, nightmares or other pictures stemming from their imaginations.

• Recommended age: elementary, high school and vocational school students
• Duration: 1.5 hours
• The workshop can be integrated with the following subjects in the Finnish comprehensive school curriculum: Kuvataide, L4 Monilukutaito, L 2 Kulttuurinen osaaminen, vuorovaikutus, and ilmaisu.

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The ABC of art: Shadow and light (10.8.-12.11.)

Pictures are created with light and shadows. The workshop explores artworks in the exhibition, focusing on how light and shadow are used to created depth and feeling in the picture. Back in the workshop area, participants will create a still life with pastels.

• Recommended age: children in day-care and grades 1–6.
• Duration: 1.5 hours
• The workshop can be integrated with the following subjects in the Finnish comprehensive school curriculum: Kuvataide, L 2 Kulttuurinen osaaminen, vuorovaikutus, and ilmaisu.

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Sun boy and snowman (5.12.20717-4.2.2018)

This workshop showcases the humorous world of Pekka Kauhanen’s sculptures. Participants will construct fantastical sculptures from junk.

• Recommended age: children in day-care and grades 1–6.
• Duration: 1.5 hours

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Dancing colours, moving shapes (until 30.7.)

We start off with a visit through the Modern life! exhibition, examining abstract artworks as well as patterns found in design house Marimekko’s fabrics from the 1950s and 60s. The art workshop circles around printed fabrics, movements and compositions found in abstract art, as well as the relationships between colours, shapes and lines. We use a collage technique.   

• Age recommendation: Suitable for all ages, also for special needs groups
• The workshop is associated with the following sections of the national curriculum: Art Topics: Cultural competence, interaction and expression (L2)
• Duration: 1.5 hours

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Image: Modern life! Sam Vanni: Contrapunctus, 1959. © HAM / Photo: Hanna Kukorelli

The home of the future? (until 30.7.)

Look around, design is everywhere! We visit the Modern life! exhibition with a special focus on the development of design and design education. The workshop invites to build scale models and reflect what the home of the future could look like.

• Age recommendation: Suitable for all ages, also for special needs groups
• The workshop is associated with the following sections of the national curriculum: Art, History, Environmental Studies
• Topics: Cultural competence, interaction and expression (L2), Participation and influence, building a sustainable future (L7)
• Duration: 2 hours

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Image: Modern life! Otso Pietinen, 1956. Advertising image by UPO Oy. © Pietinen collection, The Finnish Museum of Photography.