Kim Somervuori: “Every minute you spend working helps you grow.”

What is the most important thing you’ve learned in art school?

“I only came to appreciate the importance of seminars later on. It’s important to talk about artworks with others. It’s also valuable to be challenged to justify your choices—to yourself as well. Ongoing reflection is essential if you want to grow as an artist.”

What is the most important thing you want to teach your students?

“The importance of working and drawing. Every minute you spend working helps you grow. No one else can do it for you.”

Whose student would you have wanted to be?

“I have many favorite artists—some more lasting, some more fleeting—but in fact, I’m very happy with the teachers I had at the Academy of Fine Arts between 2006 and 2012. I received good instruction from many different kinds of teachers.

It’s important that teaching is diverse—that richness is something I’ve only come to appreciate in hindsight.”

What techniques are you most interested in at the moment?

“All techniques interest me. Maybe my newest love is oil pastel—I discovered it about five years ago.”

Kim Somervuori

• Visual artist, Master of Fine Arts
• Born in 1975
• Studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts (Helsinki) and Folkhögskolan in Stockholm, 2005–2012
• Works in Espoo
• Teaches painting to first- and third-year students at the Free Art School and supervises thesis work