Alma Jantunen
Our Spring-Summer 2024 Artist of the Year is glass artist and glassblower Alma Jantunen, who lives and works in Nuutajärvi Lasikylä in Urjala. Alma graduated as a glass craftsman from the Wetterhoff Handicraft and Art Industry College in 1996. The most significant impetus for her to make glass art was the visit of the American artist Dale Chihuly to Nuutajärvi in 1995.
After graduating, Alma first worked for a year in Nuutajärvi in the Art Glass Team and then at the Hadeland glass factory in Norway as a glassblower. However, she and the glass artist Johannes Rantasalo had a common dream: their own glass cabin where they can make their own production.
Alma and Johannes tried working in Suomenlinna’s cabin, but decided to settle in Nuutajärvi. The choice of the place was supported by a lively community of glassmakers and the necessary skills to establish a cabin. In 1999, Alma and Johannes founded the glass studio Lasisirkus in the glass village of Nuutajärvi. In 2003, after the maintenance of their own cabin became a chore, the duo founded the Lasikomppania cabin, which operates as an association with other freelance glassblowers, designers and artists, where the vast majority of Finnish hot glass makers currently work.
Relationship to artwork
“Art and crafts have always been a part of my life. My starting points for making glass art are in fascinating material. I enjoy the brilliance of colors and the development of free forms under the conditions of the material. Beneath the work may be picturesque drawings made with sandblasting or freely shaped hot sculptures. The glass material offers a lot of possibilities and techniques that I use to implement different types of work.”
Many of Alma’s works are inspired by nature:
“Stones, flowers, animals, mushrooms, insects, the sky or people can be at the base of my ideas. I’d love to walk in nature and I’m a garden freak. Sometimes the most important thing in the works is the atmosphere, mysterious figures or layered patterns that tickle the viewer’s mind and lead thoughts to new paths. In art, the idea is the most important, sometimes a technically top-notch appearance is necessary, but what I like most is a robust, living handprint.”
Alma usually works on one technique or topic as long as it interests her: “It’s good to get into the topic and develop the technique. Afterwards, it is difficult, for example, because of someone’s desire to produce an object of the same style again. Competence is always at its peak with one thing, and then the development of a new thing begins. The exception to this are glass bonsai and cacti, I never get tired of their rich colors and shapes. Each individual is unique and on different days a different result is created. In a factory, you can print the same product for decades, but I’m happy when I get to do whatever pops into my head.”
Working with hot glass is a fast-paced, intense event that cannot be paused for reflection. In addition to Alma, two or three blowers from the work group are working on one piece.
“We usually act according to a plan, which is drawn one relationship to another. Assisting blowers make parts of the work, bring more glass, color buttons and whatever. All attention is focused on work and the rest of the world can be forgotten for a while. It’s great at work. I’ve done a lot of work for other artists, and then it’s just as fun to succeed together – or fail. Glass is a demanding material and sometimes things end up in the trash.”
In recent years, Alma has collected waste glass from blowing and developed its further use in different forms. He delivers the clear waste glass directly to the furnace of the glass cabin, but most of the multi-colored material ends up in a glass wool factory or for other insulation purposes.
Alma usually works on one technique or topic as long as it interests her: “It’s good to get into the topic and develop the technique. Afterwards, it is difficult, for example, because of someone’s desire to produce an object of the same style again. Competence is always at its peak with one thing, and then the development of a new thing begins. The exception to this are glass bonsai and cacti, I never get tired of their rich colors and shapes. Each individual is unique and on different days a different result is created. In a factory, you can print the same product for decades, but I’m happy when I get to do whatever pops into my head.”
Working with hot glass is a fast-paced, intense event that cannot be paused for reflection. In addition to Alma, two or three blowers from the work group are working on one piece.
“We usually act according to a plan, which is drawn one relationship to another. Assisting blowers make parts of the work, bring more glass, color buttons and whatever. All attention is focused on work and the rest of the world can be forgotten for a while. It’s great at work. I’ve done a lot of work for other artists, and then it’s just as fun to succeed together – or fail. Glass is a demanding material and sometimes things end up in the trash.”
“I picked up the best pieces from the waste heap and use them for smelting ceramic furnaces. There is still development in the technology, but the results are good. I want to develop mold technology that would allow me to fuse parts into larger entities. Using waste glass as works of art in construction or outdoor spaces would be great, but technical solutions require development and experimentation. Managing the melting process and playing with waste glass require time and your own workspace. Fortunately, the work rewards its creators. It’s a pleasure to open the oven and see what fun comes out of it. With waste glass, new materials have become familiar. When handling clay and mold materials, molding of ceramics has also been tried. The introduction of new materials inspires and brings new opportunities to your own work.”
Alma is currently preparing for the summer exhibitions, which will be displayed in addition to Nuutajärvi at Asema Art Platform Punkaharju and Taide-Nuuttila Virroi. Later in the summer, Alma will have an exhibition at the Höyry gallery in Korpilahti.
“I’m really looking forward to these exhibitions, because the planning of entities for different places is interesting.”
#almajantunen
#lasisirkus1999
www.lasisirkus.fi (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.)
Text: Katariina Guthwert
Previous artists of the Artist of the Year
Working group: Katariina Guthwert and Mervi Vuolas