Göte Edsvik, Skulpturer längs Kortjärvi Naturstig / Sculptures along the Kortjärvi Nature Trail

Images by Kimmo Känsälä and Susanna Salokannel, published here
with permission from the Association for Rural Culture and Education, MSL

Kortjärvi is a village with about 130 inhabitants, the vast majority of whom speak Swedish.

The village is part of the municipality of Kronoby in the Ostrobothnia region in western Finland and it is surrounded by forests and about 20 small lakes and wetland.

Within the village grounds there is a nature trail that leads through the forest and along the lakes, while a series of wooden sculptures along the path.contributes to a pleasant walk. 

The personality pictured above,with the blue cap, ended up in a mud puddle, is an example of such a wooden sculpture, just as the one below 

These sculptures have been created by Göte Edsvik, who loves nature and began constructing the path in 1998. 

The nature trail has a short and a longer route along forest paths and boardwalks, and runs through a beautiful landscape of lakes, forests and fields.

From the perspective of this blog, a significant feature of the trail is its decoration with wooden sculptures created by Edsvik. These wooden sculptures are more or less evenly distributed along the path, often accompanied by signs with commentary in Swedish.

The images in this post give an impression of the design of these sculptures and who or what they depict. 

Broadly speaking, the collection comprises two types: representations of people in various capacities (as in the images at the very top) and various kinds of animals (as around).

The aforementioned Göte Edsvik not only created the sculptures, he also works hard to manage the hiking trail, which he began developing in 1998. 

The road along which the access to the nature trail is located is named after him, but unfortunately, much more biographical information about him is not available online.

Documentation

* Article about the nature trail on the website of the Kortjärvi Village Association

* Article by Susanna Salokannel on the website of MSL (Association for Rural Culture and Education)

* Article on the website of the municipality of Kronoby

Göte Edsvik

Sculptures along the Kortjärvi Nature Trail

Edsvikvägen 7

Kortjärvi, district Terjärv, municipality of Kronoby, region Ostrobothnia, Finland

Google Streetview, with a variety of photos