Jöötti ry Exhibition at Poriginal Gallery
On July 30, Poriginal Gallery will open a group exhibition featuring sculptors from Turku. The exhibition includes nine artists who share a common material: bronze. The exhibition’s title, Cire Perdue, comes from French and refers to the lost-wax casting technique used in bronze casting. However, the sculptors in this group also employ other techniques, and the exhibition features works in stone and leather as well. All participating artists are members of Jöötti ry, a sculptors’ collective and shared foundry. The association was founded nearly fifteen years ago to maintain a bronze foundry located in an old industrial building in Turku, known as the Jokikatu Artist House. The group consists of both established sculptors and young artists who have graduated from the Turku School of Drawing.
Bronze casting is a labor-intensive and demanding process with multiple stages, which is why many sculptors outsource the work to commercial foundries. However, Jöötti has gathered a dozen sculptors who find it essential to create their works entirely by themselves, from start to finish. Having their own foundry has provided them with the opportunity not only to learn this ancient casting technique but also to experiment and push its possibilities further. There are also practical benefits to working collectively: the long hours of kiln monitoring are shared in shifts, and the actual casting process requires multiple participants.
Over the years, the foundry has been used for casting more than a hundred times—resulting in nearly two thousand sculptures or medals! This extensive experience is reflected in the active exhibition history of Jöötti members, who have held numerous solo exhibitions as well as group exhibitions. In 2000, Jöötti’s 10th-anniversary exhibition was held at the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum in Turku and later continued as a summer exhibition at Pirkanpohja in Ähtäri. After the current exhibition in Pori, the group’s next stop will be Mältinranta in Tampere in the spring, followed by a major showcase at Rantakasarmi in Suomenlinna in July next year.
This text was created with AI assistance