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The 2023 Aïda Alliman Grant has been awarded to painter Erik Creutziger. Creutziger graduated from the Free Art School in 2007. Erik Creutziger:The atmosphere of my paintings is usually based on personal experience. I draw on flashes of memory – moments I’ve encountered during travels or even on eve...
The 2021 Aïda Alliman Grant has been awarded to painter Inkeri Halme. Halme (b. 1985), who lives and works in Helsinki, graduated from the Free Art School in 2020. “The grant allows me to work full-time on painting over the coming months. In addition to supporting my artistic work, I will use the g...
Painting has always held a self-evident place in art history as an expression of the timelessness of human existence — a mirror reflecting the poetic nature of our soul and imagination. Despite the persistent predictions in recent art history about the death of painting, this has not come to pass. ...
In the final Painting of the Month vote of the Spring Term 2025, students selected a work by Enna Saari as the winner.Saari is currently in her first year of studies. ArtistEnna Saari, born 2004Hometown: Heinola...
Maire Gullichsen was a true force and reformer in the art world of her time. The Free Art School in Helsinki was founded in 1935 at the initiative of Maire Gullichsen (née Ahlström). She studied at the school herself and later served as its director for many years. Educated in France, Gullichsen (19...
Founded in 1935, the Free Art School has played a role in the education of many renowned Finnish painters. Tove Jansson first participated in the school’s croquis evenings, where quick, sketch-like drawings are made from live models. In 1937, she enrolled as a full-time student. “She wanted to broad...
The Free Art School has served as a healthy counterbalance in Finnish art education for 85 years. At different times, that balance has been needed for different reasons. From the 1930s to the 1950s, the Free Art School represented the international modernism of painting, which the nationally incline...
Novia University of Applied Sciences and Free Art School see many new possibilities for cooperation in the art sector in Helsinki Novia University of Applied Sciences and Vapaa Taidekoulu - Free Art School have entered into a partnership agreement, which will give new opportunities for collaboration...
The graduation exhibition catalogue Vapaa '22 by the Free Art School has been awarded in the Most Beautiful Books of 2022 competition organized by the Finnish Book Art Committee. The winners were announced on 30 March 2023. Vapaa '22 was recognized for its successful cover design. The graphic design...
Press release, 4 April 2022. For immediate release. The Free Art School’s traditional and highly anticipated annual sales exhibition was held this year from 12–20 March in Gallery Vaaga, located on the school premises. In the exhibition, students from different year levels present their works for sa...
The 2022 Aïda Alliman Grant has been awarded to painter Camilla Mihkelsoo. Mihkelsoo (b. 1978), who works in Sicily, Italy, graduated from the Free Art School in 2014. “I paint figurative oil paintings based on found photographs, my own image archive, and everyday things I experience and live throug...
Vapaa '25 lopputyönäyttelyssä kuullaan Kaapelitehtaan Puristamossa kaksi musiikkiesitystä Eevi Oittisen maalauksien inspiroimina. Lisäksi perjantaina Myymälä 2:ssa jatkuu teossarja Fragments. Tiistaina 6.5. Klo 18 Harmonikkataiteilija Laura Mehmeti tulkitsee Eevi Oittisen maalauksen "Notations". Ke...
