Artist Laura Merz and a group of local children from Espoo have created animal-themed illustrations to decorate the construction hoarding around the new Metsola day-care centre in Tapiola. Upon the building’s completion, a selection of other works by

The decorative hoarding will be unveiled on Wednesday, September 8 at 4.30 pm (Address Kelohongantie 6), with inaugural speeches to be held by EMMA’s Executive Director Pilvi Kalhama and Innovarch CEO Vepe Erikkilä.

The young artists who took part in the workshops were from Silkkiniitty day-care centre and the All Our Children club promoting the integration of immigrant and multicultural families. In the workshops, Merz encouraged the kids to discover new approaches to drawing through experimentation and creative play, using materials such as sticks, twigs, sponges, pieces of cardboard and plastic, cleaning implements and work tools. The children created a vast menagerie of imaginative creatures executed in ink. 

Laura Merz is an artist, illustrator and designer who has previously completed public commissions for notable buildings such as Helsinki’s Central Library Oodi and the Finnish Institute in Paris. She is known for her animal-themed ink compositions which often deal with environmental themes and strive to raise people’s awareness of their bond with nature. “My drawing process is spontaneous, intuitive and experimental. I dive into the recesses of my mind and dig up special memories of nature that I have experienced during my lifetime,” states Merz. 

The project is a collaboration between the City of Espoo, the architectural design agency Innovarch Oy, and EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, their goal being to involve the local community in the construction project, brighten up the streetscape, and delight passers-by with the illustrated hoarding. 

The now-demolished Metsola day-care centre in the Espoo district of Tapiola will be replaced with a new wooden building. The surrounding garden-like setting of Länsikorkee is an architecturally significant heritage site. The surrounding buildings were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s and they are protected as a heritage site with special architectural and cultural value. The streets and parks around the day-care centre are highly emblematic of Tapiola’s identity as a garden city. 

The Espoo Museum of Modern Art is located in the WeeGee Exhibition Centre, which is also located in Tapiola. EMMA exhibits actively not only on its own premises, but all around the city of Espoo. Most of the art in the EMMA Collection is accessible to everyone as public monuments and other artworks in outdoor locations and in schools, hospitals, day-care centres, assisted living facilities and public swimming centres around Espoo. EMMA also commissions major public art projects around the city. 

Requests for interviews and further details:  
Iris Suomi, Marketing Communications Designer 
iris.suomi@emmamuseum.fi