Hanna Rantala

"The Talking Circle of Gratitude"

Prologue

On one of our bike rides across the city our course leader Joel took us to a place just a kilometer away from the Arabia campus, where there grew tremendous amounts of sea buckthorns. The plant forms inpenetrable bushes with huge thorns and berries that are therefore hard to pick, but unbeatable as a source of vitamin-C. As the name indicates the sea buckthorn grows predominantly on the sea shore, where there is a lot of sunlight available. And it was a sunny day, didn't feel like we were in Helsinki by any means but some where more south. We discussed the area in the group, if it was pleasant piece of nature by the sea or rather creepy and suspicious strip of wasteland. Meanwhile a girl from our group was attacked by a huge dog, that barged out of the bush. The abrupt owner explained that he had supposed they were alone and that that was why he did not tie his dog. He even argued that the place was not a tourist area...So what area was it then? Whose area? What was it for? Who would use it? Could I do something over there?

Getting started

So on Thursday the 5th of September rode my bike back to the buckthorn beach. This time alone, I could feel both the peaceful solitude and the creepiness of the impenetrable. Again it was a lovely hot day and once I got company as a swan couple came to share the beach with me, I started to feel relaxed and blessed.

Creating a place in the space

I started by walking around in the area seeing what kind of materials I could find and spent some time exploring for a spot with the best possible feeling to it. Finally I found an ideal location under a dried up   tree with thick bushes on the back side and sea view on the front. Good feng shui. I cleared all the high grass and vegetation away from my spot and started to carry in big rocks that my guests could sit on. I wanted to have people over, share the niceness of the spot and express my happiness and gratitude for all the good things around: the sun, the sea, birds, flowers, people, berries...the generosity of life in general.

And I went on playing with my little hidden hut. I built an official doorway to get in. Found an empty tin can and filled it with water and flowers. In the middle of the round hut I collected all kinds of attractive things from around, cones, feathers, shells, rose hips...the whole place took a form of a little shrine dedicated to gratitude. I followed a rule of not using any material or tools that I hadn't found that day. I found a useful piece of rope but didn't want to cut it, as in that case I would have had to use a brought knife. I've heard that some sculptors feel that their role is to help the form come out of a certain material, like the David had always been hiding in the chunk of marble just waiting for Michelangelo to let hem out. Well, however I felt just the same, helping the place to become visible in a new way in the space where it had always been.

The doorway from both directions. 

The Circle, waiting for talkers.

 The shrine.

"The Ceremony"

The following day everything was ready and I invited the class to join me in "the talking circle of gratitude". We parked our bikes behind and continued walking through the bushes. I tied my hair up with a large swan feather I found on the shore the day before and played my drum as we walked. My guests played the lupin rattles I had handed them.

We came to the hut and everyone took a seat. I expressed my thoughts about this work, that finally took a form of ceremony more than an object, I reckon. A shared collective moment in a place in an open space.  And finally we took turns and everyone got to say what they had in mind. I never made an "art piece" like this, but I did feel calm and good afterwards. This time "the piece" just wanted to come out of the bush in this form. 

The Talking Circle of Gratitude

 Greetings and thanks to all the talkers!

Mushroom soup by eleven chefs

On Wednesday the 4th of September we took a trip to Nuuksio national park in Espoo. Like all the great adventures, this one had a moment of thrill in the S-train when we discovered that the train was running late and we were unlikely to make it to our connecting bus to the forest. Realizing that we might have to wait for the next bus connection for an extra hour, I decided to see if technology could help us on our way to the nature. I took out my iPhone, went to the city transportation website and called the customer service. I explained our unpleasant situation and directly asked if the connecting bus could wait for our group in Espoo. And thanks to the helpful customer servant the bus was still there waiting for us once we finally got out the train. I felt very good about the fact that even though Finns are known for precision and punctuality, humanity and flexibility can still be found in even as big system as the Helsinki metropolitan area transportation. Thank you Apple and HSY, we got into the forest "on time".

And we were lucky!

Found a perfectly firm boletus edulis and some other boleteceae.

Plus a good harvest of albatrellus ovinus.

Chop chop.

Ahh, what a scent...

Mmm, and what a taste!

The next day we discovered that everyone was fine and still alive and in good health. Our collective foraging and mushroom identification skills proved to be on a level where we managed to hold our horses from picking the wrong kinds.

  

 No matter how pretty and inviting they can be, fly agarics!