Yesterday in a Sculpture Garden.

We have only used the car once here in Vantaa/Helsinki and that was to go grocery shopping. The public transportation system is easy to use, and economical if you get a day pass, which is good for 24 hours. However, today we wanted to visit a sculpture garden in Sotunki, about an eleven minute drive away, or much longer if we wanted to take public transportation because we would have had to go into Helsinki and then to Sotunki.
We went to the Laila Pullinen sculpture park. Here is a link:
https://nissbacka.com/laila-pullinen/ 

One of our favorites. This one is called "Aphrodite".

 The studio where Laila Pullinen worked up until the time of her death, two years ago. She was 82. Her son now oversees the park and sculptures.

 Laila Pullinen-Ramsay's husband.

This building houses over 40 of Laila's sculpture. It used to be a granary: "The architecturally striking granary, built out of natural stone, is from 1912, and is the only conserved building in the area. It houses the permanent part of the collection, works from 1955 to the present day. The artist has made the remaining portion of the stables her studio, renovating it considerably in 1986."

"During it’s first decade, Pullinen set aside her own career and made Nissbacka a priority. This can be seen as a ten year gap in solo exhibitions, ranging from 1988 to 1999. During these years she exhibited exclusively in Nissbacka, allowing the collection to grow from 30-40 sculptures in and around the conserved granary to 80+ pieces covering 2/3 of the area.
Town planning and developing in the area was very aggressive in the 80’s and 90’s. Pullinen campaigned for a more humanistic approach, which would take into consideration the historical nature of the area. She managed to stave off many intrusions, first by getting a conservation act for the granary in 1986 and by making a large land art piece, an earth-relief called The Ancient Sea onto the south field in 1987, in essence transforming the location into an artwork and getting it conserved under copyright, as a work of art."
The "Ancient Sea" with "The Last" ("The Last Apollo and The Last Flora")

 Inside the studio.

 Here you can see Laila Pullinen working on a large sculpture.

"The conservationist aspects of this included the uncovering of the 17^th century stone foundations of the massive stables, which now form a part of the exhibition. The unearthed stones that were discovered in the process were used in the Helsinge 650^th Anniversary Memorial Wall (2001). The landscaping in the area also picked up on the theme of The Ancient Sea, forming wave-like structures on the perimeters of the area."

Inside the granary:

 Jeanne d'Arc

Another Aphrodite.

Jeanne d'Arc

'

There are no facilities at the park. No cafe, no vending machines, no formal parking, and no real bathroom. There is an actual outhouse behind the Granary building. It's primitive. There is a young woman inside the Granary who will sell you admission tickets and Laila Pullinen's son gives tours in Finnish (you have to arrange for a tour in English). It is a beautiful place but don't go there looking to have a nice cup of coffee and a treat, bring your own water to drink, or not, because - don't use the outhouse. Just don't.