#3 - Lapland: Santa's hideout, U of L, reindeer, and religion.
2/7/15
I have only been in Finland for a few days and I’m back on a plane!
My travel companion is Kevin Tavin: Head of Art and professor at Aalto University in Helsinki. Kevin was my cooperating teacher in 1996 at an elementary school in Maryland. Following this experience, I landed my first position as an art teacher in a public elementary school, and Kevin would go on to pursue his doctorate in Art Education. Here I am, almost twenty years later on a plane with the same individual who helped start it all.
It is an hour and fifteen minute plane ride north from Helsinki to Lapland in Northern Finland. It is the “official” home of Santa Claus, reindeer, and one of the northern most universities in the world - the University of Lapland. I was invited to speak at the university to a class of twenty, international art education students regarding my experiences as an art educator and my perspectives on American art education.
It takes a special type of pilot to land a plane on an ice and snow-covered runway! We were greeted at the airport by Timo Jokela: an artist, art professor and dean at the University of Lapland. Later on at dinner Timo would educate me on the origins of my family as a Norwegian, and in-depth explanation on variations of my last name, “Anderson”: s-o-n versus s-e-n.
Throughout my travels in Finland I received several comments that I looked more Norwegian than American. It was a pleasant reminder for me to embrace my Nordic roots. When I was younger I rarely revealed my middle name to classmates in fear of being teased. To carry on the namesake of my late grandfather, I was given the middle name of “Olaf”. It was not until my late teens that I realized my parents had also bestowed upon me the gloomy initials; D.O.A (dead on arrival). They had no idea at the time and we have a good laugh about it now.
Our first stop away from the airport is Santa Claus’s Village. I have always been leery of sites that prey on the tourist population with gimmicks and over-priced products. This place however is a welcomed stop after the air travel and car ride on a desolate snow-covered highway. The road signs that announce the proximity of the Santa’s village remind me of the billboards that clutter the highways leading up to the iconic, South of the Border, in the Carolina’s. This observation is particularly ironic to me when I discover the village straddles the Arctic Circle.
It didn’t take long to warm up to the visit with sounds of Christmas music playing from speakers and décor that was reminiscent of a cartoon winter wonderland. Kevin convinced me to get my photo taken with Santa Claus, and I’m glad I did. It was out of my comfort zone but it helped me get past my nightmarish, childhood memories of waiting in line with other nervous kids and then being escorted to talk to a stranger who was pretending to be someone he was not. This experience was not at all like visiting the mall in the 70’s where you might see elements of a red suit off in the distance and are somehow able to prepare yourself for the impending anxiety attack. Instead, at Santa's Village you are herded into dimly-lit, long, narrow, and circular walkway adorned with rustic-wood interiors and a maze of colored lights.
The pathway eventually leads to a space outside Santa’s living quarters where one waits their turn to be called by one of Santa’s assistants into a closed-off room. Once inside, I was welcomed with a booming voice; “So, tell me where you’re from young man!” When I responded with, “Baltimore”, I half-expected to get the now familiar response, “So is it as bad as the TV shows?” Instead, I asked Santa if he’s ever heard of Baltimore, which I later recognized as a ridiculous question; he travels the world every year, of course he’s heard of Baltimore!
I have only been in Finland for a few days and I’m back on a plane!
My travel companion is Kevin Tavin: Head of Art and professor at Aalto University in Helsinki. Kevin was my cooperating teacher in 1996 at an elementary school in Maryland. Following this experience, I landed my first position as an art teacher in a public elementary school, and Kevin would go on to pursue his doctorate in Art Education. Here I am, almost twenty years later on a plane with the same individual who helped start it all.
It is an hour and fifteen minute plane ride north from Helsinki to Lapland in Northern Finland. It is the “official” home of Santa Claus, reindeer, and one of the northern most universities in the world - the University of Lapland. I was invited to speak at the university to a class of twenty, international art education students regarding my experiences as an art educator and my perspectives on American art education.
It takes a special type of pilot to land a plane on an ice and snow-covered runway! We were greeted at the airport by Timo Jokela: an artist, art professor and dean at the University of Lapland. Later on at dinner Timo would educate me on the origins of my family as a Norwegian, and in-depth explanation on variations of my last name, “Anderson”: s-o-n versus s-e-n.
Throughout my travels in Finland I received several comments that I looked more Norwegian than American. It was a pleasant reminder for me to embrace my Nordic roots. When I was younger I rarely revealed my middle name to classmates in fear of being teased. To carry on the namesake of my late grandfather, I was given the middle name of “Olaf”. It was not until my late teens that I realized my parents had also bestowed upon me the gloomy initials; D.O.A (dead on arrival). They had no idea at the time and we have a good laugh about it now.
Our first stop away from the airport is Santa Claus’s Village. I have always been leery of sites that prey on the tourist population with gimmicks and over-priced products. This place however is a welcomed stop after the air travel and car ride on a desolate snow-covered highway. The road signs that announce the proximity of the Santa’s village remind me of the billboards that clutter the highways leading up to the iconic, South of the Border, in the Carolina’s. This observation is particularly ironic to me when I discover the village straddles the Arctic Circle.
It didn’t take long to warm up to the visit with sounds of Christmas music playing from speakers and décor that was reminiscent of a cartoon winter wonderland. Kevin convinced me to get my photo taken with Santa Claus, and I’m glad I did. It was out of my comfort zone but it helped me get past my nightmarish, childhood memories of waiting in line with other nervous kids and then being escorted to talk to a stranger who was pretending to be someone he was not. This experience was not at all like visiting the mall in the 70’s where you might see elements of a red suit off in the distance and are somehow able to prepare yourself for the impending anxiety attack. Instead, at Santa's Village you are herded into dimly-lit, long, narrow, and circular walkway adorned with rustic-wood interiors and a maze of colored lights.
The pathway eventually leads to a space outside Santa’s living quarters where one waits their turn to be called by one of Santa’s assistants into a closed-off room. Once inside, I was welcomed with a booming voice; “So, tell me where you’re from young man!” When I responded with, “Baltimore”, I half-expected to get the now familiar response, “So is it as bad as the TV shows?” Instead, I asked Santa if he’s ever heard of Baltimore, which I later recognized as a ridiculous question; he travels the world every year, of course he’s heard of Baltimore!
We left Santa’s home and traveled fifteen minutes into town where cars and people seemed to co-exist on snow-covered pavement. Roads are barely visible and every street corner is accented with 10-15 foot mountains of plowed snow. In lieu of strollers I noticed several parents transporting their children around on plastic sleds that are pulled from behind. It is beautiful and cold, and at -13 degrees Celsius, somewhat mild for this time of the year.
We had dinner in a restaurant that specialized in reindeer. Everything from the antler chandeliers, to antler door handles, to the deer hide upholstery; this restaurant had it all covered. As recommended I went with the house specialty, which consisted of braised reindeer meat with potatoes and carrots and covered in rich gravy. I was not disappointed, and had no regrets about missing out on my second choice of black bear meatballs.
The following day I gave a two+ hour talk at the university, which included slides of student work that I had complied over the years with recent projects that focused on themes of social justice. There was something incredibly gratifying speaking about my students and their projects to a very curious group of future art educators from a different parts of the world.
Before heading back to Helsinki we explored the Rovaniemi Art Museum with our hosts from the Art department at the University of Lapland. There were two wonderful exhibits: one on tapestry and another that focused on the theme of “Wilderness”. I was particularly struck by one piece that consisted of an elongated glass table filled with plastic toy animals and two books placed on opposite ends. The animals are facing away from the books and are depicted as moving towards the center of the table. At the center however, the direction of the animals changes from a linear direction to circular. At first glance it appears to be a simple representation of “Noah’s Ark”; however the change in direction prompts the viewer to question where the animals are going. After closer examination, I noticed that one of the books was the Quran, and that I overlooked a lone giraffe sitting under the table. The piece made me think quite a bit about religion; Who is included….why, and who gets left out?
We had dinner in a restaurant that specialized in reindeer. Everything from the antler chandeliers, to antler door handles, to the deer hide upholstery; this restaurant had it all covered. As recommended I went with the house specialty, which consisted of braised reindeer meat with potatoes and carrots and covered in rich gravy. I was not disappointed, and had no regrets about missing out on my second choice of black bear meatballs.
The following day I gave a two+ hour talk at the university, which included slides of student work that I had complied over the years with recent projects that focused on themes of social justice. There was something incredibly gratifying speaking about my students and their projects to a very curious group of future art educators from a different parts of the world.
Before heading back to Helsinki we explored the Rovaniemi Art Museum with our hosts from the Art department at the University of Lapland. There were two wonderful exhibits: one on tapestry and another that focused on the theme of “Wilderness”. I was particularly struck by one piece that consisted of an elongated glass table filled with plastic toy animals and two books placed on opposite ends. The animals are facing away from the books and are depicted as moving towards the center of the table. At the center however, the direction of the animals changes from a linear direction to circular. At first glance it appears to be a simple representation of “Noah’s Ark”; however the change in direction prompts the viewer to question where the animals are going. After closer examination, I noticed that one of the books was the Quran, and that I overlooked a lone giraffe sitting under the table. The piece made me think quite a bit about religion; Who is included….why, and who gets left out?