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
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
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."
