Collective of artists, Sanginkontu taide polut lähellä Oulua / Sanginkontu art trails near Oulu, Finland

location of some of the art trails

In the year 2026 Oulu, a municipality with about 210,000 inhabitants, located in the north-west of Finland at the mouth of the river of the same name, is featured as one of Europe's cultural capitals.

A few years ago, ideas were expressed regarding how to give shape to this. 

The Finnish Association for Rural Culture, approached by residents of Oulu also became involved, and thus a project was developed focused on decorating walking paths with handmade artistic creations.

This post reviews the twelve creations along the trails.

1. Pet cemetery

this image and the next eleven published here in agreement
with MSL, the Finnish Association for Rural Culture

Felicia Honkasalo's contribution is an audio work related to the animal cemetery in a forest. 

Sitting on a bench by the animal cemetery, one can listen to an exposition via headphones, such as the question of why some animals have a name and a place in the forest, while others are completely forgotten.

2.  River Dragon

The wooden creation, now named River Dragon, was found in a nearby forest by children from a school in Sanginsuu.

it was a sculpture originally made by an artist who works with a chainsaw. 

The find was repainted by the children in 2023 and named River Dragon, was given a spot atop a piece of rock in the nearby forest.

3. Longing

Above creation by Pia Hentunen's concerns the longing for deceased pets, which can play an important role in people's lives.

This longing is depicted in the creation made in 2025 primarily from stainless steel.

4. The large cone

The creation Jesse Kitinoja made in collaboration with his uncle Macu Makkonen, is a large cylindrical structure composed of approximately 1,200 large, hand-carved wooden scales from a maple tree. 

It is an artwork that, when displayed outdoors, will develop a beautiful silver-gray patina over time.

5. Spirit of the forest

François Blosseville's creation, named Spirit of the Forest, combines the artist's work with the forest environment and developments in nature. 

The trees have risen in the forest and, by falling, have become sculptures that will eventually decay in the place where they were born.

6. The rapids pilot

The idea for above creation by Jussi Ruusulampi came from the history of Oulu, from times when tar boats were transported by the Oulu River to the seaside.

It was a difficult and dangerous ride via rapids. He made a huge sculpture depicting a local riverman piloting his tar boat through the rapids

7.The fkow of time

The creation The Flow of Time by Tuomas Mujunen and Kati Leinonen, currently still in preparation, will be placed along the Oulu River at the boat landing in Sanginsuu.

8. Pavillion of the crane's flight

The creation named Pavilion of the Crane's Flight, crafted in 2025 by Eero Markuksela, is situated on a wooded slope overlooking the Oulujoki River. 

Visitors can sit quietly inside and enjoy the landscape and the river.

9. The picture stone

Kai Ruohonen made the creation named Picture Stone in collaboration with local residents, who provided suggestions from which the artist crafted the tribal sign of the Lapinkangas. 

This sign expresses what the tar rowers experienced while sailing on the Oulu River.

10, The seating stone

The wooden stools, created by Aimo Laitinen, offer visitors a seat to watch a video made by Satu Pietilä, which tells the story connected to the Seating Stone.

That is a large boulder that ended up at its current location during the Ice Age.

11. Old Barn

The image above shows a barn that in earlier years housed the forest ranger and has now been renovated by volunteers thanks to the efforts of artist Satu Suvanto. 

She began using the barn as a workspace and also organized art workshops in the barn for local residents.  

The barn became adorned with 84 flower petals descending from the ceiling, as well as artworks showcasing details of the surrounding nature.

12. Long live Sanginjoki

In a picturesque spot stands a bench topped with an information board depicting the rich history and daily life of the nearby village of Sanginjoki, compiled by Satu Pietilä, Karita Heikkinen and Riitta Johanna Laitinen, and based on memories of villagers.

The bench was crafted by Kari Viinikangas, an artist who works with a chainsaw.

The size of the trails varies.

The longest art trail comprises six creations (numbers 1 through 6), followed by a trail of three (numbers 10 through 12), a trail of two (numbers 7 and 8), and there is a standalone creation (number 9).

Documentation

* In addition to the sources referred to in the reviews above, see also this website of the Association for Rural Culture

* More information about the art trails can also be found on the internet via this search query.

Sanginkontu Art Trails near Oulu, region North Ostrobothnia, Finland

Teuvo Jalonen, Veistoksia metsässä./ Sculptures in the forest

Images on this website by Veli Grano,published here with
 permission from the Association for Rural Culture and Education, MSL

The image above shows a half-hectare area in a forest, designed as an art environment with concrete sculptures, a site located far from the main roads in southwestern Finland.

Life and works

This area was designed by Teuvo Jalonen (born in1961) together with his wife Marjana Perttula. a couple living in the city of Pori with some 83.000 inhabitants, located some 10 km away from the Gulf of Bothnia. The photos in this post give an idea of the site and the sculptures of all kinds of animals located there.

Jalonen has a job at a paper mill in Pori. He's not retired yet; that will be in 2026 when he turns 65, the standard retirement age in Finland.

His partner suspected that Teuvo had an artistic bent and she bought some modeling clay.This turned out to be a real hit. 

Jalonen shaped the clay into a mammoth, and then filled the couple's home with numerous other small clay sculptures. 

He preferred creating all kinds of animals, exotic and rare ones, but especially cats, which are interesting to sculpt because of the plasticity of their bodies.

In 2012, two important developments occurred in Teuvo Jalonen's development as a non-professional artist. He began creating large sculptures, and the couple acquired a space in a forest to situate these creations within an art environment.

He created the lifelike, large sculptures from cast concrete. Just as with his smaller creations, he showed a preference for animals in his choice of subjects.

The image above shows a tiger in a design that demonstrates great realism, which also applies to the animals depicted in the photos below.

As said, the second development in 2012 was the couple's acquisition of a piece of land in a forest. 

Teuvo's parents had bought a half-hectare plot in mid-1979, which Teuvo and Marjaana were able to re-purchase from their inheritance.

The forest, called Metsäpuisto, is located along a back road near the municipality of Eurajoki, about 40 km south of Pori.

The focal point of the art environment in the forest is the Siberian tiger. There are now also deer and a lynx, and Teuvo intended to add other animals, such as  a raccoon, a badger, and a brown bear.....

Documentation

* Article (undated) on the website of the Finnish Association for Rural Culture and Education

* Article (undated) on a regional website of above Association

* Article  (May 2023) on Finnish newspaper SV24

Teuvo Jalonen

Sculptures in the forest

Raskintie 170,

27150 Eurajoki, dept Satakunta, region Western Finland, Finland

visitors welcome

site on Google Maps

Tuula Paavola, Odotan bussia lähellä lyhytikäistä taideympäristöä / Waiting for the bus near a short-lived art environment

all images in this post are from Google Streetview
this one by by Timur Matsiev

The man with a suitcase, waiting patiently for the bus by the side of the road, as in the image above, is one of the remaining sculptures of an art environment with sculptures in Finland

People living in the area call this man Vasarainen Vaari, which is Finnish for Grandfather Vassarainen. 

This name also refers to the location of the bus stop, which is along a major road not far from the hamlet of Vasarainen, that is part of the municipality of Rauma in the Satakunta region in South-West Finland.

 

part of a photo by filemo films 

Above magnification shows the friendly smile given to the man with the suitcase by Tuula Paavola, the non-professional artist who created the sculpture. 

She was born in 1971 and works in Vasarainen as a nurse. 

In her younger years she was already active in making creations and she followed a course in making garden sculptures at Rauma Civic College.

When she started creating an art environment along the main road is not exactly known. 

On Google Streetview from 2011 there is no art environment to see yet. On the shots on Streetview made eight years later, in 2019, the man waiting for the bus can be seen, as well as a small wooden structure with an open front and inside an animal resembling a horse.

this image (July 2020) by Timo Kostamo 

In 2020, the site was expanded with a number of animals, such as a lying horse, a standing horse and a large, difficult to recognize animal that looks a bit like an elephant.

August 2019

A short-lived art environment with limited publicity

In the field of Finnish ITE-art Tuula Paavola has not yet got much publicity. On the internet there is  a short article in ITE-Satakunnassa. p.64 

Another concise text about her sculptures, appeared  on the Finnish website Walttia. 

This text looks back on the summer crowds that in 2020 would like to visit the art environment, when it was in full existence. There was only room for a few cars to park along the road and some residents of Vassarainen made it quite clear that the safety of passing motorists had been jeopardized.

It is not incomprehensible that Tuula Paavola took this very much to heart and removed most of the sculptures, leaving lonely the sculpture of the man waiting for the bus.

Tuula Paavola

Waiting for the bus near a short-lived art environment

along mainroad 2052 near Vasarainen

Finland

can be seen from the road

Google Streetview (2021)

Teijo Monni & Pertti Riikonen, Middle of Nowhere Taidepuisto / Middle of Nowhere Art park

pictures published here in agreement
with Middle of Nowhere

In a wooded area in the village Kaukanen in Finland, 50 km north of Helsinki, work has been done on the design of a park exposing outsider art (ITE-art in Finnish). This park, new in the field of Finnish art environments, was officially opened on June 29, 2024.

The initiators

It is a project undertaken by two entrepreneurs, Teijo Monni who was a wholesaler of office supplies for over twenty years and Pertti Riikonen, who was an electrician by training and had a business in that field.

Inspired by the publications of the Finnish organization Maaseudun Sivistysliitto (Rural Culture Association) that promotes ITE art in Finland, they visited art environments and studios in that field to take photos and then it happened that they gradually became great enthusiasts of this form of art.

Creating an art park

Their enthusiasm went so far that they decided to quit their current jobs and start working on the realization of a park where ITE art would be exposed.

A daring undertaking indeed. The two initiators also thought so .....

Anyway, they bought a wooded site of two hectares near Kaukasten and began working on this project in November 2022. 

The site included an old, abandoned farmhouse and a barn, that needed to be renovated. But these buildings also included many old items that could be used. There is also a beautiful apple orchard.

After just over a year and a half of preparation, the park now has opened and it has got the shape the two initiators had in mind. The existing accommodations have been renovated and made suitable to receive visitors, provide refreshments, repairing bicycles and so on.

Paths have been laid out, along which visitors can make a walk to take a look at.....well, that is the most surprising happening of the past period:.....various ITE artists have contributed in many ways to enrich the park with sculptures and other creations, both for permanent placement in the park and for contributions to intended stand-alone exhibitions.

Meanwhile, the park already has a large number of sculptures. For example, the family of ITE artist Pekka Lampinen donated sculptures and other works to the park after his death, a gesture based on the expectation that they will be better maintained in the park then in their own environment.

The second photo from the top shows an airplane painted in many colors, a creation by ITE-artist Paula Huhtanen.

The three-time chainsaw champion Juha Käkelä contributed some image-defining works, namely Big Foot and Green Man.

Big Foot, pictured above, now accompanies the large Middle of Nowhere nameplate seen in the photo at the very top.

The Green Man, pictured above Big Foot, is a large pine that grew on the property and had to be felled. This tree had a rare three-armed top and, after being processed by Käkelä , is now exhibited in an inverted position as a three-meter-high Green Man with a triple beard. 

The Green Man, usually depicted with a face made of leaves and the like, is a legendary creature, often seen as a symbol of rebirth or the dawn of spring.

The park meanwhile has a collection of almost a hundred sculptures and other creations, made by about twenty artists. They are partly located in the vicinity of the main building where refreshments are available, and partly along the constructed walking path as shown in the photo above.

Photos of the creations can also be seen on the Facebook site of the art park, but given the atmosphere provided by the wooded area, there is a lot to be said for seeing the creations in reality.

The opening season, started July 2024,  will feature all artists who have so far been nominated for ITE artist of the year. They are presented on the park's website

Documentation

* Website

* Facebook

* Article (September 2023) in Finnish journal Helsingin Uutiset

Video

* Video (December 2020, YouTube, 1'54") by Middle of Nowhere

Teijo Monni and Pertti Riikonen

Middle of Nowhere Art park

Koskenmaantie 187,

village of Kaukaasa, part of Hyvinkää, region Uusimaa, Finland

park is open for the public from June 29, 2024

Raoul Cardo, Cardoland parc d'attractions / Cardoland amusement park

this image (2018) by Benoit Prieur, published here under 

license of Creative Commons CCO 1.0

The road sign near the village of Chamoux in eastern France in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region indicates that Cardo Land is nearby. an area with an art environment composed of dozens of sculptures, mainly of prehistoric animals, handmade by Raoul Cardo. 

It is a complex that became one of the first amusement parks in France.

Life and works

The parents of Raoul Cardo, who was born October 28, 1924 in the  Spanish city of Bujalance in the Andalusia region, were prominent in the Spanish art world. His mother, Emelina Torres, was a renowned dancer and his father was a professor of fine arts in Madrid.

At an early age the boy would come into contact with this world, like it happened when he was five years old, that he accompanied his mother on a trip to Paris, where she had to appear as a dancer in a film. This happened more often when she had to perform elsewhere in Europe.

unless indicated otherwise, this image and the 

next ones are published here in agreement with

Francis David, as on website Habitants-Paysagistes LAM

In addition to what he learned at primary school, he gained all kinds of knowledge of the art world through those travels, which was also supplemented by lessons that his father gave him on this topic.

In the 1930s a civil war raged in Spain and in this context, in 1938, Raoul Cardo's father was murdered by Spanish troops. His mother decided to migrate to France with her children. Raoul was 14 years old at the time.

In Paris he could become a novice dancer with a theater company, where he mainly expressed himself in flamenco dance, but also as a novice choreographer. From 1948 onwards Cardo wrote ballets for which he created the sets and costumes.

The highlight of his career as a dancer was when he became principal dancer at the Paris Opera. He also appeared in a number of films, including one in which he teaches flamenco to Brigitte Bardot.

On the way to an amusement park

Raoul Cardo was broadly oriented artistically. In addition to his activities in the field of dance, he made paintings, drew comics and did architectural work.

In 1967, when he was in his early 40s, he added a new hobby: creating life-size prehistoric animals, made by adding a layer of cement to a properly shaped infrastructure of iron wire.

He started this hobby with the idea that one day he could set up a place with an exhibition of these creatures from the past. 

The choice of this hobby may also be related to the fact that he was now in his early forties, an age at which a career in the dance world generally ends. (The exact moment when Cardo stopped dancing is not available on the internet).

In the 1970s, Cardo and his family left Paris to move to the hamlet of Moulin Granard, part of the village of Gâcogne in the Morvan region. There he had the necessary space to store the sculptures of prehistoric animals. The thought of opening a park for those creations must have occupied him more and more.

In 1981 the idea became reality when, aged 57, he moved to Chamoux, a village some 40 km north of Moulin Granard. 

Just outside Chamoux, along the departmental road D951, he had bought a 10 hectare plot of land.

the entrance of the park (as on Google Streetview)

In 1984, the Jurassic Park called Cardo Land was officially opened. It included more than 80 life-size sculptures of prehistoric animals and people.

Cardo would manage the park for the first 25 years.

From the opening of the park, visitors could follow a walking path of more than 900 meters that leads past the sculptures. From the beginning of the park there was also a cave with decorations made by Cardo, a spot reminiscent of the Lascaux caves.

There are all kinds of activities for children, such as drawing, painting and sculpting, but also assisting with the "birth" of baby dinosaurs.

After Cardo died in 2009, the park was managed and run by his wife, children and now also his grandchildren. The park is therefore still a business run by the Cardo family.

In 2019, at the initiative of Cardo's daughter Mélusine, a new presentation was added to the park's activities, the so-called Prehistoric Circus. 

This is a performance of over an hour with all kinds of demonstrations and acrobatic equestrian sports by Mélusine and other family members. 

A special event is also the appearance of family members dressed as dinosaurs, who perform an act that appeals to the audience.

Documentation

* Website of Cardoland

* Facebook

* Tripadvisor with more than a hundred photos

Video

* Video (2020) from Facebook with a short impression of the Prehistoric Circus show 

Raoul Cardo

Cardo Land  amusement park

35 Rue Principale (=Departmental route D951)

89660 Chamoux dept Yonne, region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France

open from July 1 to August 31

Eldfinn Austigard, Treskulpturer i en skog / Wooden sculptures in a forest

this picture and the next two from Facebook, Skabelonen

The image above shows a covered area next to a bakery. There are tables and benches for visitors to the bakery, but also walls decorated with carvings, depicting all kinds of characters and decorative items.

Welcome to the small village of Årdal, part of the municipality of Hjelmeland in southern Norway. Lovers of art environments will find a lot to see in terms of wooden sculptures, created by Eldfinn Austigard. 

These sculptures are not only located around Austigard's house, in his workshop, in the covered area or flanking the entrance, but also a few kilometers away in a forest with some 50 wooden characters installed along a walking path of 1.5 km.

In above left image Eldfinn Austigard, standing in front of his bakery shop Skabelonen which he started around 2017. shows a loaf of bread he baked himself. The character carved in wood above right shows a sign with the text Bakstehuset, Opnar kl 15 (The bakery opens at 3 pm).  

Austigard  does his bakery work as a hobby, going to work on Thursday and selling the homemade bread on Friday. 

the entrance to Austigard's bakery, workshop. house

and some other houses as on Streetview (2019)

Life and works

In his younger years Eldfinn Austigard probably wouldn't have thought that he would become a hobby baker later in life and that he would make a large variety of wooden sculptures as a non-professional.

He was born in 1953 in Årdal and after his primary education he attended secondary education in Stavanger. 

He started his working life assisting his father, who owned the local bus company and he succeeded his father when he retired in 1977. A few years later the bus company was taken over by another company. 

Eldfinn and Gunhild, to whom he was now married, then bought a petrol station and a workshop from the bus company which they operated until 2007.

this picture and the next ones, scenes of the adventure forest,

 from Facebook, Eventyrskogen

Austigard was now in his mid-fifties, and the part-time job as a cultural mediator he could get with the Hejelmeland municipality, undoubtedly suited the social and creative activities he had undertaken in the previous years.

In 2005, for example, he received the culture prize from Hjelmeland for his efforts in a local sports team, but also for his activities in the social and cultural field. He was apparently already active as a maker of wooden sculptures in previous years.

For his wife Gunhild the termination of the work at the gas station was also pleasant, because now she could devote more time to her activities as an amateur painter.

In 2009 Austigard became head of culture at the municipality of Hjelmeland.

Wooden sculptures in Eventyrskogen

Many years before the opening of Eventyrskogen (Adventure forest), the municipality of Hjemeland had already planned to create such a tourist attraction and for that purpose Eldfinn Austigard was already creating a collection of wooden sculptures.

As part of a national project aimed at developing a National Tourist Route, which was also planned to pass through Hjelmeland, the municipality started negotiations with the owner of a wooded area (Bønardalen) to locate the fairytale park there.

But initially the negotiations with the landowner were unsuccessful. They came to a halt in 2010.

After some time negotiations were resumed and the municipality concluded an agreement with the land owners, which also included the construction of parking spaces and toilet facilities.

The park was officially opened in April 2013 and by the end of that month some 6000 people had already visited it.

Along a circular path in the spruce forest stand the dozens of wooden figures from various fairy tales and legends created by Austigard. The trip among the trees in the mysterious forest takes about an hour and is suitable for the whole family.

Eldfinn Austigard has not only produced the wooden sculptures for the forest area, in his spare time he also contributes in other ways, such as in the construction and maintenance of the paths and all kinds of management arrangements.

The adventure forest has become a success, it is very popular with families with children and easy to reach for young and old.

 

In October 2021 Eldfinn Austigard received the Rogaland Public Health Award 2021. 

Norway uses a broad definition of public health and so the recipient of the award should have contributed to social support and to well-being and quality of life of the population.

 

Considerations of awarding the prize to Austigard included that he has made a contribution to public health beyond his function, that he is the "father" of Eventyrskogen, that he encourages people to do outdoor activities and creates social encounters and activities across generations, all things that promote public health.

Documentation

* Facebook page of Eventyrskogen i Årdal

* Google Streetview with a variety of photos of Eventyrskogen

* Website of Tripadvisor with an entry about Eventyrskogen, with a variety of photos

* Website Sandelsand with an introduction to Eventyrskogen

* Facebook page of Skabelonen (=the bakery)

* Article on weblog Jonebloggen with the story of the bakery and some biographic info

Videos

* A short video 2021, 0'35". Vimeo) by Appex

*  Another video (1'48", YouTube, undated) by Hilde Cecilie Kjørmo

Eldfinn Austigard

* Gallery/bakery

   Ryfylkevegen 5359 

* Eventyrskogen

   Location: see streetview 

Village of Årdal, part of the municipality of Hjelmeland, Rogeland county, Norway 

visitors welcome at Eventyrskogen, see Tripadvisor for opening hours