At the annual meeting, Maija Helasvuo, Salla Myllylä, Pilvi Ojala, and Milla Toivanen have approved as new member artists of Forum Box – welcome to Box! Below you’ll find a brief introduction to each artist.
Maija Helasvuo (b. 1968) explores the experience of life’s finitude and social relationships in her works. According to Helasvuo, in visual arts, it is precisely sculptures that allow our abstract experiences to be concretized into a tactile reality. Helasvuo uses wood, ceramics, glass, bronze, and aluminum as her materials.
Helasvuo has held exhibitions in Finland and abroad since 1990. Her works are in several collections. Helasvuo has created numerous public works from wood, bronze, ceramics, and glass.
Helasvuo studied sculpture at Lahti Art Institute from 1990-1994 and later completed her Master of Fine Arts degree at the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts Helsinki. From 2009-2011, Helasvuo served as chairperson of the Association of Finnish Sculptors and vice-chairperson of the Artists’ Association of Finland. Currently, Helasvuo serves as chairperson of the Toolbox Cooperative. She is also a member of the Board of the Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation, vice-chairperson of the Parliament’s Arkadia Society, and on the public art committee of the Association of Finnish Sculptors.
In 1999, Helasvuo received the Finnish Art Association’s Dukaatti Prize, the William Thuring Main Award in 2011, and the Hyvinkää City Art Prize in 2014. In 2022, she was elected an honorary member of the Association of Finnish Sculptors. In 2023, she was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland. In the autumn of 2020, Maija Helasvuo won the invited competition for Ylisoutaja Square in the city of Joensuu. The bronze work was completed in the square in 2021.
Helasvuo’s solo exhibition was at Forum Box from July 27 to August 11, 2024.
Salla Myllylä is a Helsinki-based visual artist who works site-specifically with moving images. She graduated from the Free Art School and the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts Helsinki. She is also a doctoral researcher at the University of the Arts Helsinki.
In her video works, which are based on timed filming, Myllylä follows changes caused by weather, seasons, and human activity in a chosen location. Her installation-based works, often multi-channel, are first presented at their filming location. Myllylä is interested in how a site-specific work is defined within the experience of both the artist and the viewer. The framing produced by architectural openings has inspired many of her recent works. Currently, Myllylä has ongoing filming projects in Kemi and a 1960s suburb of Paris.
Salla Myllylä’s solo exhibition “Tuhkimontie 10” was on display at Forum Box from December 13, 2024, to January 12, 2025.
Pilvi Ojala (b. 1973, Helsinki) graduated from the Department of Printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts in 2001. She has held solo exhibitions since 2000 and participated in group and joint exhibitions since 1996. Her works are in public collections including the Amos Anderson Art Museum, HAM, Hämeenlinna Art Museum, Jyväskylä Art Museum, the State Art Collection, and the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation collection. In recent years, Pilvi Ojala has primarily created painted three-dimensional works constructed from paper and cardboard. However, she now feels it’s a good idea to return to printmaking as well. In the future, she plans to utilize printmaking methods in her three-dimensional works and also create traditional prints on paper.
Pilvi Ojala’s artistic practice is a kind of study: she observes, states, collects material, edits, references, and compiles things. Her works generally do not depict real places, people, or things, although they do contain elements of the aforementioned. The works are a visual play and an immersion in the moment of creation.
Pilvi Ojala’s most recent solo exhibition “Hahmotelmia” was on display at Forum Box from August 11 to September 3, 2023.
MILLA TOIVANEN
I paint with oils figures in which you might see a gorilla, a dog, a saint, altered faces, or some kind of presence. The brushwork is sometimes swirling and labyrinthine, at other times sharp and angular, but the aim is always to create a unique universe in each painting. Painting is about taking possession of and reconciling worlds. Love and despair, light and darkness often go hand in hand. Through brushwork and use of space, I want to reinforce these meanings.
Milla Toivanen’s latest solo exhibition “Everything Begins with Touch – Emotional Portraits” was on display at Forum Box from May 9 to June 1, 2025.