Jaan Alliksoo, Hiiumaa Eiffel Tower / Eiffel Tower of Hiiumaa

this picture and the next one (2008) 

courtesy of "outsider inside Estonia", Flickr

The Eiffel Tower is a beloved source of inspiration for creators of art environments. In a lot of sites this construction is reproduced, like in this one in Estonia.

Life and works

Jaan Alliksoo (born in 1961?) has never been in Paris and he knows the Eiffel Tower only from picture postcards and the internet. He lives on the isle of Hiiumaa, in size the second isle of Estonia, situated in the northwestern part of the country, in the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Sweden. 

Alliksoo, who has a job as a constructor of wooden furniture and garden utensils and has no architectural training, single-handedly constructed this high-rising wooden replica of the Eiffel tower, which is situated in the garden around his house.

A history of many towers 

It is a recent construction but the local and family history says there were predecessors. 

The family house is located close to the sea, and the tradition has it that some 300 years ago there used to be a fake lighthouse nearby, run by a count Egelhard, a construction meant to fatally attract ships to the shore, to rob them (and kill the sailors). 

This may be true or not, in the beginning of the 19th century, for sure there was a tower in situ. Alliksoo remembers very well the story of his aunt, who told him that in 1915 she climbed a tower situated near the family house.

This one hasn't stood the years and has disappeared,

In 1978 Alliksoo, at the age of 17,  constructed a new, 17.5 m high tower meant to watch the cattle in the neighbouring meadows. This one lasted for some nine years. and then had served its time. 

So Alliksoo constructed another tower, which lasted until 1997.

picture (2008) newspaper Postimees

Hiiumaa Eiffel tower

Alliksoo's latest tower is the one nowadays still present, named Hiiumaa Eiffel, realized within four months and finished in 2007. The 31,4 m high tower is a 1:10 replica of the one in Paris, made from juniper wood. It's parts are fixed together with iron nails and ropes.

Alliksoo relates that he made this creation to the memory of his wife, who had passed away. The idea to copy the Eiffel tower was spontaneous, but, as he says on one of his websites: "Paris and the Eiffel Tower everywhere in the world are associated with l'amour".

picture from  website  kunsti keskus

(not available anymore)

 

Dispute with the local authorities

The tower had been erected without any building permit and the local authorities, not convinced of its safety, in 2008 initiated a procedure to achieve it's breakdown.

This has been going on for some years. At one moment the authorities seem to have accepted a status quo, stability and safety test have been performed and according to a July 2012 newspaper report (not available anymore on the internet) the building permit retroactively has been granted.

A touristic site 

The story of Hiiumaa's Eiffel Tower has been related in Estonian newspapers and on television (not only Estonian TV, the BBC and Russian TV also came by). The publicity resulted in thousands of tourists who visited the site during the last years. The project also has raised interest in Estonian artistic circles.

Recent new constructions 
transformed the site into a amusement park

this picture and the next one (2018) courtesy of

"La Valise. Galerie ambulante"

The picture above, taken from the Eiffel Tower, shows that the site has recently been extended with some new constructions, partly with a fairytale character, as the picture below shows.

The site thus has acquired the character of an amusement park, which can be expected to meet the expectations of the approximately 30,000 tourists who now are visiting the site every year..

In the fairytale castle there is also an apartment that can be rented as a holiday home.

Documentation
* Entry on Wikipedia
* Entry on Atlas Obscura
* Touristic website Visit Baltic with a slide show of the various elements of the amusement park

Videos

* A video (June 2011, YouTube, 0.29") by Jaan Alliksoo

* a video (February 2020,YouTube, 1'59") by Pille Väljataga with scenes of the amusement park

first published October 2010, last revised March 2022

Jaan Alliksoo

Hiiumaa Eiffel Tower

Reigi, Hiiumaa, Estonia

visitors welcome

Tapio Autio, Ateljee Autio/Atelier Autio

this picture courtesy of Sophie Lepetit
from her weblog

 

On the southwestern shore of Lake Lappajärvi in Finland, in the community of Ylipää, there is a creative complex which comprises a sculpture park, a cave with over fifty rock paintings, a troll's castle and a church.

Life and works

This complex was established in his free time by police officer Tapio Autio (b. 1956).

this picture and the next three courtesy of Willie Lahti

He began his creative activities in the mid 1980s, making sculptures from concrete he displayed in the garden around his house.

These sculptures represented all kind of animals and personalities, like Adam and Eve. His portrayal of biblical couple might rank as the largest concrete sculpture by an outsider artist in Finland.

In 1995 in an area at some distance of his home Autio began constructing two specific buildings, a castle and a church.

The exterior of the castle has troll-like sculptures, so this building is also referred to as Troll Castle. The interior of the castle, however, has decorations inspired by the Kalevala

The decorations in the church have a biblical connotation.

The two interiors are kind of dualistic. The castle represents the dark side of our life, wild, pagan, evil..... the church represents the good, christian, civilized side. This dualism of powers reigns human life, a battle between good and evil.. For Autio this means that during life, one has to try to find one's deepest self, some Christianity, some paganism.

sculptures at the castle

When Autio shows visitors around, he will wear a white dress when visiting the castle, in the church it will be a black one. ....dualism....

From the spot where church and castle are located one will have a nice look on the surrounding landscape, a view which will be even nicer from the top of a 16 m high tower constructed by Autio, where one has a view upon the nearby lake.

In the cave, paintings on the wall -"rock paintings" one could say- depict scenes and themes from the Kalevala, so of course this work has been featured in an exposition in Espoo, Finland (2010/11), dedicated to the influence of the Kalevala upon outsider artists in Finland.

The site can be visited by the public in the summer months. The church is available for marriage ceremonies.

In 2016 Autio retired from his job with the police, where he had worked for over thirty years.

Documentation
* A series of photos (2018) by Sophie Lepetit on her weblog, here (Chapel), here (various subjects) and here (also various subjects)
* The official Ateljee Autio website (also in English), with photo galleries and info for visitors
* Article on the ITE-taide website  
* Article (August 2016) in Finnish journal Yle Uutiset

Video

* Video on YouTube (June 2020, 0'41")

first published October 2010, last revised March 2021

Tapio Autio

Ateljee Autio

Virsulantie 126

62600 Lappajärvi, Southern Ostrobothnia, Western and Central Finland

open june 1st - august 31, 10 - 18 hrs

Ruth Lander Ericsson, Decorated wall

picture (March 2009) by Lars Tunbjörk on newspaper 

Dalarnas Tidningar 

Above picture from a Swedish newspaper shows a garden which has a stone wall in the background.

This wall was constructed single-handedly by Ruth Lander Ericsson (? - 2006), from Hornddal, Aventa, Sweden, who worked in agriculture and was a nurse.

The wall has a length of some twenty meters, is just over half a meter high and is one meter wide. And it also has been fully decorated with sculptures, flowers, impersonations of animals and small pyramids.  Glass elements, incorporated into the wall, reflect in the sunlight. 

It took Ruth Lander some seven years to complete this project.

She died in 2006. The house is family property and as far as I know the decorated wall is still extant.

Documentation

* The Nordic exposition Annan Konst (2009/2010) has paid attention to Ruth Lander's creation.. 

* Olle Nessle, Okända mästare. Skulptur på egna vägar (Unknown masters. Sculpture in its own way)  Stockholm, (Hemslöjdens förlag), 2008 -160 p. This book is about some thirty Swedish unknown outsider sculptors, among whom Ruth Lander Ericsson and Linder Eriksson.

Ruth Lander Ericsson

Horndal, Aventa, Sweden
no public visits

first published October 2010, revised January 2016

Jean Prosper Gilis, Gilis à Barras

 this picture and the next two

 courtesy of Art Insolite Amis

Jean Prosper Gilis (1907-1974) was a mason who lived in a small community in the south of France in the Bergerac area. In 1968, at age 61, he began transforming the garden around his house into kind of a garden of Eden, decorating it with brightly colored sculptures made of cement, manly depicting a variety of animals. 

Some sculptures represent personalities, like the famous French marshal le Clerc and general Charles de Gaulle, but it is obvious Gilis preferred to make sculptures of animals.

Gilis has been making these creations for some five, six years, and since he suffered from sciatica, he must have needed a lot of willpower and energy to pursue his creative activity. As he got sicker, he made his creations lying on a stretcher.

It appears that one of the statues, presumably depicting de Gaulle, in reality is a self-portrait of Gilis, which -because time was pressing- was mounted upon a torso of the general. This must have been the last sculpture Gilis made (This information by Jean-François Maurice on the weblog of Jean-Michel Chesné, see below in the documentation).

Jean Prosper Gillis died in 1974. In 2010, when this post was first published, the garden still existed, but it was clear that the sculptures gradually were loosing their colours and that the seasons had taken their toll.

picture of the garden (summer 2010) 
courtesy of Sophie Lepetit, from her weblog

 

Madame Gilis had become too old to take care of the garden and there was no one around to help her. She probably has passed away meanwhile

The garden was a sweet, small monument reflecting former times, a testimonial to the creativity and perseverance of a modest man from a former generation, whose creations hardly anyone cares about today.

Developments from summer 2024

The editors of the website Tipeek Photos visited this art environment in July 2024. They found that it still existed and that some sculptures had been stolen. 

The sculpture of General Charles de Gaulle was still intact, although somewhat faded.

They visited Gillis' daughter and her husband, who live in Gillis' house, and took some sculptures with them to restore.

The image above shows a fox whose broken leg was repaired.

Documentation/more pictures

* Article (September 2024) on the website Tipeek Photos

* The weblog of Jean Michel Chesné  has two notes (here and here) with pictures of and information  about Gilis' life and works (October/November 2010)

* Pictures from a visit (2010) by Sophie Lepetit have been published on her weblog 

* The site got a review in:  Bruno Montpied, Le gazouillis des éléphants.  Editions du Sandre, 2017. 
* Entry on the website Habitants-Paysagistes (Lille Art Museum), with pictures of the sculptures

Jean Prosper Gilis

Gilis a Barras
47500 Bonaguil, dept Lot-et-Garonne, region Nouvelle Aquitaine, France

first published October 2010, last revised November 2024

Joe McKinley, Moscow Joe's outsider art environment

facade of the house (2000), picture by Peter Haining
(item not available anymore on the internet)

Above pictured decorated house, one of the few art environments in Northern Ireland, doesn't exist anymore.

Life and works

Joe McKinley (1931-2003) from Carnlough, Northern Ireland, bought the house  in 1964. He lived there with his wife and the couple would have three children.

He earned his money by running a company which delivered milk from a milk factory to households in the area.

Friends and people around would not see him as an easy going personality, he had his peculiarities, maybe because of a personality disorder. He was active in the creative field, making paintings in a naive style and decorating the garden with arches and mosaics from pebbles and shells.

But Mrs McKinley, who liked a tidy household, was not very happy with her husbands probably somewhat messy creative pastimes. 

The year 1990 was a turning point: Mrs McKinley left the house, the milk delivering company had to be sold to a former partner who had started his own business. Eventually McKinley was on himself, no company to run, no family around.

picture by Peter Haining

In the following years McKinley began abundantly decorating his house. Inside he had his paintings and he covered the walls with lots of collages. At the outside he filled the garden with a variety of junk articles. He composed texts in a very personal style on posters he displayed around the site

picture by John Matthews, Blackflash
(item on internet not available anymore)

The site got some fame. Local TV came along and students and experts with an interest in outsider art visited and interviewed him.

Peter Haining, an artist who made a trip by bike to make an inventory of outsider art in Ireland, was one of them. He first met McKinley in 2000. In an essay that was available on the internet, he not only related McKinley's life history, but he also described the rather messy and filthy interior of the house.

picture from website rte.ie

McKinley liked to call himself  Moscow Joe McKinley. 

He made some three trips to Moscow indeed and used to wear a baseball cap with all kinds of Russian badges.

His walking stick also was covered with badges.

picture from the website Catalyst Arts

This walking stick is one of the few items that has been left after McKinley died in may 2003.

The site has been demolished

After McKinley's death the family decided to remove all decorations and to demolish the building. It was replaced by a decent two storey house.

"There's not much of Moscow Joe's stuff left in Carnlough. 
 This sign is almost obscured by ivy and is quite close to where his house used to be" .

Picture and comment courtesy of Zoe Bowyer, march 2008 (item on Flickr not available anymore)

So most of the creations have disappeared. A number of his paintings are in private collections, three of them on the walls of the Londonderry Arms Hotel in Carnlough, amidst works of other local artists, and one in a medical practice in Glenarm.

Documentation

* Essay by Peter Haining (not available anymore) 

* Entry on website Culture Northern Ireland (not available anymore)
* Referral to programme on Irish radio in 2001

Video
* Video (3'35", YouTube) by Jimzvidz 1, shot around 2000, published in 2019, especially showing the posters in front of the house

Joe McKinley

Moscow Joe's outsider art environment

Carnlough, Northern Ireland

site doesn't exist anymore

Léon Évangelaire, Sculpture garden (Tarzan and Jane)

this picture and the next two courtesy of Thierry Bariolle 

Above picture shows an art environment in Pont-à-Vendin, a small community in the Pas de Calais area in northern France, that has existed from the 1970s until around 2018.

Life and works

The modest garden in front of a modest house included sculptures created by Léon Évangelaire (1925-2017) .

 In 1945 Évangelaire settled in Pont-à-Vendin with the idea to find work in the mining industry, at that time the dominating industry in the north of France. 

He first had some small jobs and then he was employed by the railway service of the regional mining company, first as a switchman, later as a train driver on the line between Lens and Auchy.

Évangelaire has been working at the train service for over 33 years

In the 1970s, already in his forties,  he began making sculptures which he put on display in the small garden in front of his house. His first creations already included representations of Tarzan, an elephant and a giraffe.

In later years sculptures of other animals were added and Tarzan's companion Jane was also depicted.

In this way the garden became kind of a zoo, or maybe a jungle, featuring Tarzan with the monkey Nkima on his shoulder and Jane, who carries a monkey on her right arm.........

The scene is not what Hollywood movies would let us believe about Tarzan and Jane, but would that affect one's appreciation of Évangelaire's charming representation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fictional characters?

Around 1998 Évangelaire made his final creations. At that time he was in his seventies and moreover, the garden was too small to include more sculptures. He died in 2017

picture by unknown photographer

In 2018 the garden, which could be seen from the street, still existed in its original lay out. However, in September 2020 it was reported on Facebook that the sculptures had been removed, maybe sold by his heirs.

Documentation
"Le zoo de Tarzan et Jane de Léon Évangelaire", in: Le Service du Patrimoine Culturel de la région Nord-Pas de Calais,  D'Étonnants Jardins en Nord-Pas de Calais.  Inventaire général du patrimoine culturel (Images du Patrimoine, 293). Lyon (Ed. Lieux-Dits), 2015, pp 68-73
* l'Inventaire du patrimoine culturel. Région Hauts-de-France, pictures and description
* Website Habitants-paysagistes (by Lille Art Museum, from march 2018 on) has a variety of pictures by Francis David (2002) and also a documentary panel by René Escard

first published October 2010, last revised December 2021

Léon Évangelaire

Sculpture garden
83 rue du Général de Gaulle

62880 Pont-à-Vendin, dept Pas de Calais, region Hauts-de-France, France
site doesn't exist anymore

in August 2019 the site still could be seen on streetview