Riitta Turunen

Riitta Turunen (b.1957)

is a textile artist based in Heinävesi. She graduated from the University of Art and Design Helsinki in 1981. After graduation, Turunen participated in a crafts workshop for professionals in various fields of the arts in Helsinki. She went to work for a while in the textile industry, but moved on to textile art and was the provincial artist in Joensuu among other employment.  During her career, she has utilised a wide range of textile materials and developed her own applications and combinations based on traditional techniques. The ideas for the works come from emotions that require one to pause or from visual thoughts. The actual working process also generates enthusiasm and new pieces often emerge from earlier ones. At the M_itä? Biennale of Contemporary Art, the Kuopio Art Museum will feature textiles made by Riitta Turunen by crocheting and embroidering based on sketches produced through a spontaneous painting process. The term used by Riitta, ‘painting by darning’, is an apt description of the process of creating the pieces. In the works, the free expression of the draft stage and the laborious and demanding work with yarn create a masterly entity of fine textile art.

www.finnishdesigners.fi/portfolio/riitta.turunen

Photos: Harri Heinonen

Riitta Turunen