This was our second Monday morning attending Lybecker, and the combination of jet lag and schedule adjustment had finally worn off! We arrived bright and early for our classes. Noel, who is developing a series of Raahe themed postcards in his graphic design class, completed his third one today. They are proving to be popular among the local students as well as ourselves! Tara has also been working tirelessly in her class, and has already completed an impressive short animation! We are certainly making a good impression of Galway students. Today I continued some of my work from home, namely the lookup project for art history. There was a certain calm that came with doing something familiar in such an unfamiliar place. I took some stealthy sketches of fellow students and set out further plans for my sculpture project which I hope that I can complete before our time here comes to an end. After our classes had ended for the day, we joined our classmate Antti upstairs to try on his VR headset and play some of the games he had available. As we all have an interest in video gaming and its close association with art, we had plenty to discuss and soon the Latvian students joined us in playing and debating the future of VR. Having access to such a high tech piece of equipment is a rarity, and I believe that all three of us thoroughly enjoyed and learned something from the experience. Once home, we continued our sketchbook practise and discussed our plans both for our projects and for our agenda for tomorrow, as we are planning to attend the marine museum in order to absorb Raahe’s culture further, gain inspiration for or work, and to see for ourselves the Old Gentleman of Raahe, the world’s oldest diving suit, which looks as terrifying as it sounds! Broc Daly
0 Comments
The snow was heavy and mesmerising on our morning trek, keeping our spirits high while we waited for the sun to rise. We had a tutor from gti, Eileen, meeting us in college to see how are trip has been so far. We were a little anxious, as none of us had met Eileen before, yet our nerves ceased as soon as we met her and found her to be a warm and cheery individual who would prove to brighten the day as we wandered through Raahe’s museums.
Before we left, however, myself and Noel assisted Tara with her animation project, in which characters based on us three discussed the more hilarious points of our badly translated copy of our newspaper article. To record our voices, Tara led us to the college recording room, which was full of complex equipment and a still silence. Two of our classmates, Ahmed and Antti, were using the opportunity to work on their own projects by recording us, and assisted Tara in using the recording equipment. It was a fun and informative break from our regular schedules! Our first stop was the marine museum, filled with countless little treasures and curiosities that sailors had brought home from around the world back when Raahe was a bustling port town. Inside also contained an example of a typical sailor’s home from the era and the remains of the first church in Raahe, of which many of the statues and decorations had survived. We photographed almost everything that caught our eye, hoping to tap into this new vein of inspiration when we returned to college. After that, we walked to the Raahe museum, containing many artefacts of more modern history from around Raahe, like scientific instruments and videos from Raahe’s recent past. The main feature, however, was The Old Gentleman, the worlds first diving suit from the nineteenth century. It stood in a large glass box, almost watching you back as you stared into its wide glass ‘eyes’. Made of calf leather and possibly the same stuff that nightmares are fuelled by, its barrel body and thin limbs will surely stick fast in our memories. We bade goodbye to Eileen on our way back to college, happy to have had her company on our excursion, and returned to Lybecker with haste in order to attend our classmates’ weekly podcast, within which we were the featured guests. We made a circle with our chairs around the mic and gave the best participation that we could, and once the ice was broken and the recording was well underway, we found ourselves thoroughly enjoying this comical end to our college day. After that, it was back home to refresh ourselves and prepare for another day at Lybecker. -Broc Today (Saturday) was an eventful day. We all woke up around 9:00am. There was an annual festival called Laskiaishuwe taking place today and we had arranged to go with our new friends from the college. We all met up at the museum and walked to the festival which was at the Pikkulahti beach. The beach was just across the sea opposite the museum. We actually walked across the frozen sea to get to the festival. It was so surreal as it was completely frozen over. Once we arrived the first thing we were introduced to was ice skating. They had pairs of primitive skates which were made out of mousse bones and rope.
We tied them to our snow boots and used a wooden spear to propell ourselves forward. After that we took turns using a wooden ski sled. We all put on snow shoes and walked around for a bit. We went to the top of a hill and slid down in a kayak. After that, Tara and Broc went fat biking, which was a bicycle with extra wide tires for the snow. Everyone had tea and coffee and we went to see the ice hole we've heard so much about. There was a reporter at the event, he took photos of us using the bone skates and interviewed us for the local paper. After trying everything at the festival we all went to Prisma (the local supermarket) picked up some groceries and went back to the apartment to make lunch. When we finished our lunch we called over to our friend Ossi, where we played games and had a really fun evening socialising. There was also some exchange students from Latvia who also go to the college, that called over aswell. We were so grateful for the experience we had today. The festival was amazing and we really embraced the culture and all the events going on. It was great to see everyone show up and there was a real sense of community. By the end of the day we were all so tired so we had a few cups of tea and biscuits before we all went to bed. Noel Today officially marked one week in Raahe. We've already experienced so much in such a short time and have met such nice people along the way. Today everyone had a sleep in as we didn't have much planned for the day. One of our friends Ahmed organised a dinner party for a few of us. We called over to his house around 2:00pm. A few of our other friends Ossi and Antti were there as well. We socialised for a while played some bored games and cards.
Ahmed had made a vegetarian lasagne as Tara is vegetarian and he also made spaghetti for me as I'm vegan. We all helped out making the meal. Once it was all ready we sat around the dining table and had dinner. After dinner Ahmed gave us some traditional tea from Iraq. It was a black tea with mint and after we tried black tea with cardamom, We had some snacks after tea and played some more card games. We left around 9:00pm and went back to the apartment, made our lunches for the morning, stayed up for another hour and then went to bed ready for another week ahead. -Noel I think it's safe to say we're finally getting into our stride. We're cooking for each other, making lunches and just supporting one another. Our neighbours made us beet soup for dinner which was a lovely gesture.
Today I spent the day with the Latvian exchange students (Today I found out Vaihto is exchange in Finnish) We started making our puppets for the stop motion. Pekka was teaching me all about armature which is great as I've never been taught it before. Felicity is leading the project as she has the most experience in stop motion. We intend on making the actual set obscure and abstract in a sense. We're going to try and incorporate real ice if possible. First we will need to time how long it will take for ice to melt indoors. We all agreed that stop motion was the way to go as animators as it's nice to get away from digital when possible. It gives us a chance to experiment. This evening we decided to catch up on our sketchbooks and watched a movie recommended by a classmate. We also paid our rent today which is nice to get out of the way. Something I really like about Raahe is that everything seems to go at a nice slow pace. Sometimes Galway just seems so sped up from responsibilities, to just how busy Galway is as a city. It is just so wonderful to be able to immerse myself into animation and solely that. Kiitos -Tara Hey guys it's Tara. I'm here in Raahe with Noel and Broc.
Today is my 4th day on my work placement but it was my first day of animation with Pekka as he's been away. Two Latvian students joined Lybecker today and are also studying animation. We are planning on doing a mini stop motion project together. I am also doing a project practicing lip syncing using ToonBoom software. For the stop motion animation,- Felecia, Zeila and myself drew photos on a piece of paper and the other two had to create a story based on our drawing. The winning drawing/ idea is included in the photos. This is so different to how i'd normally approach a project so it is really exciting and refreshing to do this kind of spontaneous take on it. It's also very interesting as there is a slight language barrier between me and the others but it's working out pretty well. Today, Bea (our neighbour) brought us food shopping and recommended some Finnish cuisine to us. We tried 'Mammi' (Which is essentially fermented rye bread). It tasted horrible but I am glad I tried it. We also went for tea at her house the evening before. Some of the students of the college invited us to Ossi's house to play games the students had designed in class, as a project they completed earlier this year. Just being able to see what the students had created in such a short time span was impressive. It really made me appreciate the brilliant facilities Lybecker has to offer- they even have a motion capture rig. The standard of the students is impeccable. They work for clients getting paid for projects and that money goes towards the school. Which is such an interesting concept. All of this stuff is so new and refreshing to me and it's kind of overwhelming to take in. I am so grateful to be so immersed in not just the college work but also the students that live here. -Tara Today we had a slightly later start at ten o’clock, and we took our time strolling to college in order to soak in the scenery a little more. Once there, Noel and Tara headed off to attend their graphic design demonstration, and I found the sculpture room, where I would be taught by Hilppa, who is one of the many friendly tutors. She allowed me to begin the sculpture project that I had been planning to do here and one of the most comfortable things about working here is that you are left to work independently, something which I personally prefer. Hilppa left me to set up my desk, and from there I was busy for the rest of the day.
Yesterday, some of our fellow students brought us to the local newsagents where they sell SIM cards, which we were in need of to set up our internet in our apartment. Afterwards we invited them to have some tea at home with us and share differences and similarities between our cultures. One immediately apparent difference was that Finnish people drink coffee in the manner that we drink tea.......excessively! We also discovered some of the customs of Finnish living, such as removing your shoes inside the home, and the regular use of saunas, of which there are eight million in the country for only five million people! Many apartment blocks (though not ours) have a sauna in the basement which can be booked for use, which many will do around twice a week. They seem to be used as regular as you would bath, with young and old alike enjoying them. After so much socialising, we had all talked ourselves to the point of tiredness, but our new friends dealt with our talkative and excited behaviour with great patience. We turned in for the night and I watched the glitter of snow from outside my window as I drifted off, imagining us in a giant snow globe! -Broc Today was our second dayat Lybecker, and the first time that we were required to attend from the beginning of the day, which begins at eight! After many coffees and near constant yawning, we trekked out into the snow in high spirits, looking forward to another day of brand new experiences. Today involved printmaking for Tara and myself, and Noel was attending a graphic design tutorial.
The printing facilities here in Raahe are second to none, and unlike any that I have experienced before. Unlike at home where we must hand turn our press, the students here have access to mechanical ones, which I’m sure take out a lot of the required labour for this process. Our tutor for today was Raija, a warm and calmly quiet woman who invited us to make some dry point etchings for the day. We were each given a copper plate upon which to etch, something which we simply wouldn’t have the funds for in Galway. This would be my first time making a dry point using copper as opposed to acetate, and I found it to be far softer and pleasant than what I am used to. At one o’clock we met with a group of Lybecker students whom we are friendly with, and also Rikka, one of the tutors whom we met on our first day in Finland. We were invited to Shrovetide festival this Saturday, where there will be many fresh new cultural experiences for us to try. We immediately agreed, and now have our first weekend outing to look forward to. After we had finished our taks for the day, we met with Sarah to dine as a group, for this was her last full day here in Raahe. Over dinner we shared our experiences of Finnish culture so far, and discussed some of the differences from home that we had noticed, such as the fact that we seemed to be confusing some of our acquaintances by saying hello every time that we seen them around the campus, as opposed to just once when we first saw them. I find myself noticing less the differences of Finnish mannerisms, and more the oddities of our own. Tomorrow begins my first day of sculpture, something which I have been eagerly anticipating since our arrival. The mornings so far are difficult to adjust to, though I’m sure that we will adapt very soon, and we will have little excuse for being late to class when we return home to Galway! That’s all for now. -Broc Everyone was up at 7:30am as we were expecting one of the students to call for us and bring us to the college. We had plenty of time to make a nice breakfast and prepare for the day ahead. We were met by Ossi, one of the student tutors for the college. He took us around on a little tour of the town before we went to Lybecker, showing us all the main supermarkets, coffee shops, the atm and any other places which would be interesting for us to visit. He also told us about the history of the town.
The walk to the college was around 30 minutes and it was really enjoyable as it was our first time seeing Raahe in the sunlight, it was just as breathtaking as the night. Everywhere covered in snow, lots of trees around and beautiful wooden buildings. Once at the college we were given a tour. We were all blown away by the facilities and standard of equipment they had from state of the art tablets, apple computers and cameras. After the tour we were given free lunch and coffee as it was our first day. We ate a traditional Finnish soup along with fruit and bread. The timetable breaks is also very different in Finland. School starts at 8:00am there is a quick 9:00am coffee break for around 15 minutes then they have there meal of the day between 11:00 and 12:00 and a final coffee break at 13:00 and the school day finishes at 16:00. All the Finish students were very chatty and eager to talk to us, and I think they were excited to see the new exchange students. Everyone we met was so friendly and we all felt so welcomed and at ease. After lunch Broc and Tara went to their painting tutorial where they were doing some life drawing for the evening. All my tutorials are in graphic design as I hope to study it next year. The teacher -Aarne Härö- was very nice and he set me up with an account to access the computer and let me work on my own project. After a few hours I got talking to the other students in the class who were full of chat and in great humour. They were telling me about the funny names of places in Finland and how they translate into English, we watched some famous Finnish comedian on YouTube and just chatted for a while. Once the school day was over, Broc, Tara and myself met up and went to the Lidl. We were so happy to find a recognisable supermarket this far away from home. We bought some food shopping and walked home. Once we got home we all made diner and packed lunches, and spent the evening drawing and writing into our sketchbook until we went to bed at 9:00 as we would have to be up extra early the next morning. -Noel We all started off our journey at the Galway coach station. We all took the 5:00am bus up to Dublin Airport and had a quick nap along the way. We arrived at the terminal around 7:30am so we had loads of time to check in for our flight at 9:30am. After a few minutes of confusion, we found the right check-in desk and met up with Sarah (our teacher from GTI). Everyone dispersed so they could grab a quick snack before our flight to Helsinki and for most of us the flight was only the first step in the journey. All of us boarded the flight with ease. The flight itself was brilliant everyone was amazed by the snow covered landscapes and bursts of forestry that blanketed Helsinki from the air.
After the 3 hour flight the entire group was very tired. For the people heading to Helsinki we said our farewell and they left, then the Pori people went soon after. It was only the Raahe people left in the airport. We had a connecting flight so didn't have to worry about our bags. The flight from Helsinki to Oulu was quite busy and tiresome but it was less than an hour. Once we arrived in Oulu Airport we were met by two colleagues of the Lybecker Institute who so kindly drove us all the way to Raahe. We stopped at a supermarket to pick up some food supplies so we could have a nice dinner after the very long day of travelling. We arrived at the accommodation and we were so overwhelmed with the standard of the two student apartments, which are shared amongst the three of us. There spaces are all very large spacious, with fresh bedding and towels, television, fully stocked kitchen utensils and cleaning products and the area was also breathtaking. We all tidied up, sorted or bags made a big pot of spaghetti to share followed by some coffee and biscuits. After the meal and just before bed we put on our ski boots and clothes and went outside the accommodation to admire the snow for a few minutes until we all got cold and went to bed. -Noel |
Art & Animation 2017/18
Map of Raahe |