Seasons in the Arctic Circle, series Varies durations of Time, 2012/2023. Installaatio: 330 asettia / installation: 330 saucers. Mäntän äärellä exhibition shown in houses on sale in Mättä. Curator and photograph by Krister Gråhn.
Maltese-Cross, series Varies durations of Time, 2009/2023, installation: saucers and cups. Mäntän äärellä exhibition shown in houses on sale in Mättä. Curator and photograph by Krister Gråhn.
Moment, series Varies durations of Time, 2009/2023, installation: saucers and cups. Mäntän äärellä exhibition shown in houses on sale in Mättä. Curator and photograph by Krister Gråhn.
Lampaan villan lankataulu, värjäämätön lampaan villa ja vaneri. 2023. Mäntän äärellä -näyttely myynnissä olevissa asunnoissa ja taloissa Mäntässä, 2023. Kuraattori ja valokuva Krister Gråhn.
The family consists of red trees that I crocheted. The work was displayed in the exhibition "The Human Trace," curated by Aira Huovinen in 2023 at Gallery Valo, as part of the Faculty of Arts staff exhibition. näyttelyssä ”Ihmisen jälki” jonka on kuratoinut Aira Huovinen 2023.
Roots. Hand died wool yarn on wool cloth, 2022. Photos by Marko Junttila.
Himmeli sculptures, 2011-2017. "I started making the series of Himmeli-sculptures in reaction to a comment in 2011 by the True Finns Party, proposing that only Finnish nationalistic fine arts should be supported by the Finnish state. They admired fine arts from the period of National Romanticism, (the Golden Age of Finnish art), but ignored the fact that Finnish art has always been influenced by other countries and cultures. Himmeli is a traditional Finnish decorative mobile. It is made from short strips of rye straw tied together with string to form a complex and symmetrical three-dimensional structure. It is used as Christmas decoration that hangs over dining tables in many Finnish homes. Anyhow, origin of himmeli is a canopy decoration used in Medieval and Renaissance festivities in Central-Europe. The word himmeli has origins in the Swedish and German language: himmel means sky and heaven."
Twistmas, 2017, installaatio (olki, muovipilli, puuvillalanka) Nordic House, Reykjavik. Intergenerational workshop as part of series of community art workshop through himmeli making.
Mond, Sonne und Regenbogen, 2013, series of sculptures (plastic drinking straws, cotton thred) "I morphed traditional symmetric forms into free and wild sculptures using coloured plastic drinking straws and created several series of himmeli sculptures: Sterni, in reference to stars, a big blue sculpture Haus representing a house, Sturmi representing a strorm and Rose I-V."
Rose ja Sturmi himmeleitä, 2011-2017, veistossarja (olki, muovipilli, puuvillalanka)
The Moment and Maltese-Cross, series Varies durations of time, 2010-2014
Vuodenajat, Kuu, Vuosi ja Yö. sarja Eripituisia aikoja, kahvikupit ja asetit, 2012, Galleria Valo, Arktikum, Rovaniemi.
Elina Härkönen & Maria Huhmarniemi, 2018-2019, Nature Colour Theory, 2018, installation (hand-dyed wool yarns, photo enlargements). "Wool is hand-dyed by mushrooms and plants in Lapland. The forms of the wool yarn pictures break their established shape of traditional decorations."
Arctic arts and celebration of interculturalism
Ennen aikaan rukinlapa oli käsityötä, joka tehtiin itse ja annettiin kihlajaislahjaksi. Niihin kaiverrettiin symbolisia rakkaudentunnustuksia. Ruusukeverkko on yksi yleisimmistä koristekuvioista perinteisissä suomalaisissa rukinlavoissa. Nykyään kuvio tunnetaan elämänkukkana. Minä olen kirjonut ruusukeverkkoa kasvi- ja sienivärjätyllä villalangalla osana Kirjotut kannat -kollektiivia. Teoskuvat Marko Junttila, 2023. Näyttelykuva Suomen käsityön museosta Jyväskylästä, Elina Luiro, 2024.
Elina Härkönen, Maria Huhmarniemi, Miia Mäkelä ja Jari Rinne, 2019, Shared Woollen Patterns, knitted participatory art project. "Elements of the three cloaks are from artisans all over the Arctic region. They have learned to knit patterns as part of their cultural heritage. The cloaks brings together the cohesiveness of a shared tradition."
Elina Härkönen, Maria Huhmarniemi, Miia Mäkelä ja Jari Rinne, Shared Woollen Patterns, vol 2, 2019, series of photos.
Maria Huhmarniemi, Jari Rinne, Miia Mäkelä ja Elina Härkönen, Keskusteluja kirjoneuleista, 2019, ääniteos (kehystetyt kirjoneuleet ja kuulokkeet). ”Teoksen äärellä voi kuunnella otteita käsityökirjoista. Niissä kerrotaan sekä kirjoneulemallien paikallisuudesta että toisaalta kulttuurisesta vuorovaikutuksesta, jossa malleja jaetaan, uudistetaan ja viedään paikasta ja kulttuurista toiseen.”
Imaginary Bloodline, 2007, Gallery Kajo, University of Lapland. "The work consists of decorated shoes and an interview of Honna Havas, director of the East Sami Museum in Neiden. The work is based on experiences from village Neiden in Northern Norway, the most western village of Skolt Sami people. The installation represents Neiden as a meeting place for nationalities and ethnic cultures, intercultural history and the emancipation of the Skolt Sami culture. Sami traditions have been under a threat to disappear because of Finnish and Norwegian influences and discriminatory politics in Norway."
Maria Huhmarniemi and Elina Härkönen ”New image of string art” exhibition, 2021. The colors of wool are from natural dyeing: from onions, mushrooms, and plants. Elina has dyed yarns, Maria have drawn with them in a similar way that people used to make decorative crafts in Finland. Traditional topics have changed into modern shapes and images influenced by world cultures. The exhibition is a tribute to living heritage: the revitalization of plant dyeing and sting art.
Environmental political discussions trough art
Series Hannukainen mining plan, 2023 Too little space left for hazard pictograms The Plan Never Completed Holy Rowan by the Saivo Lake Uncertainty The work comments on the iron ore mine plan for the village of Hannukainen, in the landscape of the national park: to the lands of the midnight sun, candle spruces, cloudberries, and mushrooms. Symbols of protection and danger frame pictorial themes, as traditionally seen in blanket embroideries. Some of the embroidery patterns are only sketched with basting thread, hinting that the mining project may not come to fruition. Photo by Tatu Kantomaa / Rovaniemi Art Museum, 2024.
The Plan Never Completed, blanket embroidery: hand died wool yarn on wool cloth, 2023. Holy Rowan by the Saivo Lake, blanket embroidery: hand died wool yarn on wool cloth, 2023. Photos: Tatu Kantomaa / Rovaniemi Art Museum, 2024
The Excavator's Stone is a performance by artists Tommi Yläjoki and Maria Huhmarniemi, examining the relationship between humans and nature in the era of ecological crises and overconsumption. In the performance, a man grapples with himself and a stone. He is unsure about what to do with the stone: should he care for it or demonstrate his own strength to it. The performance is accompanied by Huhmarniemi's monologue, discussing the risks of a mining project and repeating itself. Photos from the exhibition opening of the Shifting Ground exhibition in the Rovaniemi Art Museum. Still-photos from the video by Aira Huovinen, 2024.Kaivurin pyhä kivi, Piuhat irti -näyttely, 2025, Pyhätunturi
The Illusion of the Forest, installation: recycled paper, wooden lath, pellet briquettes. The theme is based on people's relationships with forests in Finland. We are used to looking at a lake shimmering in the distance at the edges of clear-cut areas. Trees have been measured with a gaze calculating the revenue from logging. Regulations for the protection of rare habitats are not respected, and the conversion of Lapland's forests into pulp for China has been celebrated. The work refers to tree plantations and the pulp industry. Photo: Mirja Hiltunen, 2024, from the exhibition New Genre Arctic Art and Art Education Exhibition, Bodø, Norway.
Maria Huhmarniemi and co-artists Francis Joy, Misha del Val, Hugo Peña, Amir Abdi, Tanja Koistinen, Raisa Raekallio and Smaranda Moldovan. Encounter-a-tree, 2021, participatory installaation (posters on the wall, sharable cards, Instagram @encounteratree), 1782 mm X 5940 mm.
Battle. Part I of the series Sense of Forest Conflict, 2021, Installation: boxing gloves and stickers Forest Culture. Part II of the series Sense of Forest Conflict, 2021, installation: 8 knits, chains. Industrial forest maintenance in the current form is not accepted by a large number of the Finns. The ongoing battle positions most of us to the audience.
The Huff, Puff and Blow, 2017, art installation and series of printed postcards. "Huff, Puff and Blow comments on plans for an iron mine: threat to local culture, the cleanliness of nature and to the community. Postcard with a picture of the installation can be sent to the politicians and decision-makers responsible for the future of Äkäslompolo."
Alien Hiker, 2010 (29 X 40 cm X 70 cm). "The work is a series of landscape photographs from Austrian Alps, in which scarves wave in the wind like flags. When the mountain views create images of national pride and white men in the mountain conquests, the scarves of the installations raises issues of multiculturalism and woman."
Berry Pickers, 2011, installation (recycled items, photograps from home albums, interviews). "The installation explores local berry picking cultures through a variety of practices, values, traditions and meanings that people in the Northern Finland associate with berry picking. The installation makes use of interviews, objects and personal photographs that I collected from local berry pickers to build portraits that shed light on local berry picking cultures at the time so called berry wars."
‘Welcome to the Cook Politics!, 2011. "The cooks included Junya Lek Yimprasert, Richard Thompson Coon and two Finnish artists: Mikko Lipiäinen and Maria Huhmarniemi. We made Thai food using local ingredients: Som Tam with lingonberries and rice with cloudberries. We offered this food to the public and discussed the berries, problems that foreign pickers have in Lapland and the experiences and feelings of locals on this subject."
Fragile, 2009, installation (coffee cups, small plates, and ribbon fence). " The work is based on collaboration with biologists Mikko Paajanen ja Piia Juntunen. In Finland there is only one spot where Capricorne boisduvaliana is known to leave. It is located near Rovaniemi in Sierilä. The habitat will be flooded and lost for this insect, if the hydroelectric power plant will be built as planned."
Table Discussions, 2008, dining tables, crocheted tablecloths, interviews, Mini-disc-players, and bowls used as speakers. "Interviewed participants talk about their diets chosen to fight against climate change."
Natural Resources, 2008, installation (recycled plastic bags crocheted to the form of bananas, oranges and pineapples), Oranki Art, Pello. "Imported fruits from South Europe and Africa are as common and ordinary in Finland and in Lapland as plastic bags."
Public art and installations
Cameleon, 2014, 14 environmental performances and photo documentation as part of the ArtsSwap project.
Scarf Caste, 2009, Kemi. "The second hand carves used in the installation have patterns that are constructive and modernist: some of their models are like paintings or architecture, with strong well shaped lines, squares, curves and stripes. Some scarves have a romantic pattern. Flowers and balloons are reminiscent of summer meadows, flower beds and forgotten lands between buildings."
Nomad, 2004, installation. "Ten constructions were raised outside the Regional Art Museum in central Murmansk as part of the Trans Barents Highway -project. A group of artists traveled for one month on the Barents Road by bus."
