9000 Solar Circles was a project organized by Hämeenlinna School of Fine
Arts where history together with art environmental education provided the
camps with a rich source for various activities.
A number of craftsman, artists and teachers studied with the children
humankind's relationship with nature and time. The frame for activities
was a prehistoric village community, its cultural life, industries, tools
and items.
An experience based on participation is the bridge across the layers of
time. Ancient techniques and work processes were a concrete tool used by
the children to discover the significance of the cultural heritage and
for fomring themselves an understanding of the development of culture. People of the
old times looked
for materials in nature and they lived in accordance with the seasonal changes
of climate. Imagining their lives and identifying with it helped the modern
children to see themselves as a link in the circle of nature, and hence,
gave them skills and prepared them for a life and actions of sustainable
development where nature is respected and valued.
In the summer camps, held each year since 1990, nearly one thousand
children have lived in the village community of 9000 Solar Circles. The
village was situated by the Lake Vanaja and included an Iron Age house,
huts made of sods, some other ancient dwellings hidden in the woods, a
field, a pasture for sheep, paths, a poultry yard, ovens making pottery
and ovens for baking bread and other fireplaces and open hearths. The
children have studied the prehistoric hunting culture, they have hunted
and fished, they have made bows and nets. The villagers have burn-beaten
woodland for cultivation and then sown rye and seeds of turnip in the
burnt-land clearings, and harvested the croup in the autumn. They have
looked after the sheep and felted the wool of domestic animals and made the
felt into clothes and blankets. To be able to move on waters they have cut
and carved with their axes a boat out of one single trunk of a tree. Life
in the village of the Solar Circles was a drama and a game which adults and
children played together; it was about creating visions of the prehistoric times in
Finland. The roles and incidents that took form along with the games created
for
the village a story of its own.
The affective experiences and sensations typical of artistic activity
which are produced in an interactive communication between children and
adults deepen the knowledge of the change in humans and in nature during
the history. What can a swan painted in the rock tell about its creator's
beliefs and conception of the world?
A girl with a fern hat on her head:
I am a Fern. A girl lost in a wood. The play of the identification with
nature: children are looking for their own place in the woods.
Large group of children, drums and
an adult with a staff in his hand:
The story staff carries the tale of the community. The tale grows and
changes every year. Children are performing the mythical story.
Boys sitting in brown robes: A group
of wanderers, who are searching for voices, messages and signs from nature to direct the community. The boys in brown robes are wanderers and
adventurers, who dare to go outside from the inner circle.
Children in a Stone-laid labyrinth:
The Stone-laid labyrinth is the place for the members of the community to
play and gather. The place is a centre for sharing duties and tales.
