Housing | For 40 years, Veli Koljonen built a special log structure aside from everything – Now it’s time to give up his life’s work

Artist Veli Koljonen has been painting from Lapland for more than half a century and at the same time built himself a log castle on the shore of Lake Särkijärvi in ​​Muonio. Now Koljonen is ready to give up the log castle, but he never plans to stop painting.

Brother Koljonen sits down at the piano and starts singing in Russian. Then the same in Finnish. The song is Olavi Virran Fragrant white flowers of brambles.

Koljonen doesn’t speak Russian, but he can sing.

There is no entrance fee for this artists’ home. And the gallery’s main product is by no means Koljonen’s music performances, but his paintings. There are more than a hundred of them on display in the house. Koljosen has a habit of playing and singing for his guests.

However, you need to know the location of Koljonen in order to come there. There are no signs leading to the gallery located in Muonio along Rovaniementie, on the west side of Lake Särkijärvi. It is a conscious choice by Koljosen.

Brother Koljonen’s dog is waiting to enter. The house has three floors at most.

Hirsilinna is easy to recognize, it can be seen from the road and you turn into its yard at the big gate. There is a note on the front door with a phone number and an invitation to call Koljosen.

To enter the artists’ home, you should follow the instructions taped to the door and call. Koljonen can’t send messages, even though he has a smartphone these days.

“I go to the neighbor’s place to post messages. I’m not at all interested in learning how to send messages,” says Koljonen.

See also  Memoir Ulla Salunen 1929–2022

Learning new things takes Koljosen’s time away from what is most important: making art.

Brother Koljonen has been painting every day for over half a century. He plans to do the same today.

“Inspiration has not disappeared anywhere. In the mornings, I still feel like I can’t bear to finish my coffee.”

Koljonen has lived his whole life in Muonio and the art he makes. The main source of income is the paintings Koljonen painted of the landscapes, animals and people of Lapland.

“I have never received a single grant,” Koljonen adds.

In addition to the piano, the large room has at least a 40-string concert kantele and an electric organ in the corner. In the other corner is a stuffed bear. Between the bear and the electric organ is a huge natural stone fireplace, to which Koljonen adds trees here and there.

Music is important to Veli Koljosen. One of the central instruments is the concert kantele.

There are two paintings on the wall behind the piano, one of which is of Koljonen, who was born in Russia Angelina-mother and in the other father Vilho Koljonen. Vilho Koljonen was a local teacher, writer and musician who sat his children down at the piano.

Koljonen originally planned for himself a career as a cantor, but in the end painting won out. Koljonen plays the piano and deck almost every day. He has toured abroad with Kantele. He also composes.

In 2021, in the Lappin Kansa’s 70th anniversary interview, Koljonen said that he will never sell his personal, approximately 700-square-meter log castle that he built himself. Koljonen has built the house piece by piece over the course of 40 years. The last to be completed was the pool room, whose log walls are lined with Koljonen’s paintings.

See also  Economy - Closes a semester to be forgotten in world markets: the worst since the pandemic began

Last year, however, the ten-room building came up for public sale.

“My mind changed. Children can’t stay like this, and as they get older, they start dreaming about different things,” says Koljonen.

Koljonen’s hopes are that artistic activities could continue in the house in some form. He says he received a couple of offers, but turned them down because of their vagueness.

It is not a problem for Koljos to give up the house he has built for more than half his life.

“Everything has to be given up at some point, however. About life too,” he says.

Koljonen the studio is located in the tower on the third floor of the log castle. On the easel there is an unfinished painting of Koljonen’s late thoroughbred horse Harri and its original owner.

There is another painting on the floor, in which Koljonen has painted himself with a horse. Koljonen had to give up Harris a few years ago. Harri was his sixth horse, but he is not going to take another horse. Keeping them has become too laborious, and it is also difficult for him to give up the animals.

Veli Koljonen also paints portraits. The meeting with Ilmari Mattila from Muonio is captured in the middle above. Mattila was especially known as the Ohvi man who appeared in the Off! mosquito repellent commercial.

“Some are weak to cars and some to motorcycles, but I have always been interested in horses. They are powerful, big and humble,” says Koljonen.

See also  Abroad Minister Skinnari will visit the United States to discuss the security situation in Europe and the forest sector

He used to ride on the surrounding fells and forest roads. Harri’s friends, two sheep and five chickens still live in the stable in the yard of the house.

Koljonen fishes in the nearby lakes, but he has stopped hunting completely. His attitude has changed.

“Animals must not be killed. It saddens those whom I have killed while hunting.”

Koljonen paintings are mainly bought by Finnish private individuals, but according to the artist, Swiss people also like his works, especially landscapes. Next, a painting depicting a beloved rock is leaving for Switzerland.

To the right of the hall is a room where a couple of tadpoles lazily wag their tails in a large aquarium. Koljonen plans to collect fish species that live in the lakes of Lapland for the aquarium.

On the wall of the aquarium room, there are pictures of the writer Oiva Arvola and Ilmari Mattila from Muoni, next to each other. Finns remember Mattila’s Off! mosquito repellent as a wise man from Lapland who urged the southern man to stop whining and use mosquito repellent.

Koljonen says that he also painted a portrait of Mattila as a commissioned work for an insecticide manufacturer’s factory.

Koljonen studied for a while at Ateneum when he was young, but soon returned to Muonio.

“Nature has been the best university for me.”

At the beginning of the year, Veli Koljose has, among other things, portraits of horsemen in his studio.

#Housing #years #Veli #Koljonen #built #special #log #structure #time #give #lifes #work

Related Posts

Next Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended