On Saturday, February 6 at 11 AM ET, join us for a virtual visit and workshop with award-winning author and artist Marika Maijala! In today’s program, Marika will invite us into her studio on Harakka Island to introduce us to her art-making and drawing process, which uses a distinctive oil-pastel technique. She will also discuss how the technique was used for one of her recent picture books Rosie’s Journey (Ruusun Matka), followed by a virtual reading of the book.
An illustrator of children’s books for all of the major publishers of Finland as well as worldwide, Marika Maijala has received awards including the 2020 State Award for Illustration Art, and was chosen in 2021 as one of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Awards candidates of Finland. She currently practices in the Harakka Artist’s House on Harakka Island, located in Helsinki near Kaivopuisto Park, which was previously used by Defense Forces before opening to the public in 1989 as a popular recreation area. The Harakka Artist’s House was created by the Helsinki City Cultural Centre in the island’s main building, a former chemical laboratory, and currently rents out studios to 30 professional artists and artisans.
Her book Rosie’s Journey follows a very special trip made one day by Rosie the race dog, and was released in October 2018 by Etana Editions. Illustrations from Rosie’s Journey were selected in The Bologna Illustrators Exhibition 2019, and the book was also nominated for The Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize 2019.
The studio visit and workshop will take place via Premiere on YouTube and Facebook; set reminders at the links below to be notified when it begins.
WATCH ON YOUTUBE
*Facebook Premiere link will be added the week of February 1.*
About the Artist
Marika Maijala has been awarded the Rudolf Koivu Prize for Best Finnish Children’s Book Illustration in both 2009 and 2019, and nominated for Finlandia Junior Prize in 2008 and 2012. In 2015 and 2016, her illustrations were shortlisted in The AOI World Illustration Awards, as well as in the The White Ravens List in 2015 and 2016.
In 2016 she was awarded three-year grant for artistic work by Arts Promotion Centre Finland, and in 2020, she was awarded State Award for Illustration Art. She has been chosen as one of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Candidates of Finland in 2017, 2018 and 2021.