Stiina Saaristo: “Through my art, I’m able to process things that are difficult for me.”

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

For me, the most important thing art school provides is a starting point on the path to becoming an artist. It raises questions, but also offers tools—and at least partial answers—to the dilemmas of life, humanity, and artistic creation. Being part of a like-minded community is also valuable, and the awareness of peers provides strength for the creative process going forward.

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

I want to teach a healthy balance between self-compassion, ambition, and challenge. A balance between rest and hard work, ease and enjoyment—but also the effort and determination that creativity sometimes requires.

For Saaristo, art was, in her younger years, a way to deal with difficult emotions. Life itself remains the main source of inspiration for her work.

What does making art mean to you?

When I was younger, making art had a clearly therapeutic function—it helped me process difficult experiences. Today, art-making is also a way of life and a source of joy, in addition to being a constant challenge.

Where do you find inspiration for your art?

I draw inspiration from life—my own, and from everything I encounter, hear, and see around me. I try to transform even my fears and anxieties into forms I can face. I have a particular weakness for kitsch—glossy stickers and things that are aesthetically a bit tacky, whatever they may be.

What techniques are you currently interested in?

I'm especially drawn to drawing and painting, particularly to a kind of craftsmanship that is visible in the final work. At the moment, I also have a soft spot for ceramics. Everything goes.

Stiina Saaristo

• Painter
• Born in 1976
• Master of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts
• Based in Helsinki
• Teaches drawing for first-year students at the Free Art School