Timo Jokela

8.13 Art Education in the Era of Sustainability Transformation: Initiative of New Genre Arctic Art Education (Paper)

Timo Jokela – University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland

Abstract:

This paper outlines the development of the New Genre Arctic Art Education (AAE) initiative, conceptualized as a broad approach to art education that extends beyond schools to include informal settings, organizations, and community groups engaging with art for personal and collective development. The initiative builds on Jokela et al.’s (2021) concept of New Genre Arctic Art, inspired by Lacy’s (1995) new genre public art, which engages directly with societal, social, and political issues, though often in urban settings. Arctic artists often use art to challenge natural resource exploitation, defend Indigenous rights, and address regional issues (Jokela & Hiltunen, 2023, 2024). This demonstrates a potential pedagogical shift in Arctic art education aimed at decolonisation, revitalisation, resilience, and sustainability. Given the Arctic’s colonial history, art education must now respond to social, cultural, and environmental changes (Jokela & Hiltunen, 2023, 2024). Connecting Arctic sustainability research with New Genre Arctic Art activities highlights the need for contextually relevant art education. This includes raising awareness about stereotypes and rethinking art education’s role. Emphasis on hands-on, material experiences for Arctic children and the land-based pedagogy central to Indigenous cultures is crucial. This paper explores how new genre Arctic art and education address issues such as local ecoculture, resource extraction, politics, identities, and cultural continuity, fostering resilience and sustainability. Documented practices from across the circumpolar world showcase artists’ and educators’ engagement and agency, demonstrating that AAE activities promote inclusion, cultural pride, revitalisation, decolonisation, and sustainable transformation (Jokela et al., 2024). This approach assumes an optimistic view of art education's transformative potential to create more sustainable societies.

9.7 On the Frontline of the Climate Crisis Building Young Peoples’ Climate Citizenship through Art and Co-research (Panel)

Chair:

Korinna Korsström-Magga – University of Lapland, Finland

Panellists:

Timo Jokela – University of Lapland, Finland

Mirja Hiltunen – University of Lapland, Finland

Aki Lintumäki – University of Lapland | South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Finland

Jarmo Rinne – South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Finland

Abstract:

This panel addresses the potential of art education and art-based action research to positively impact young people’s climate anxiety. The discussion raises questions about northern knowledge and new materialism in community-based art education and how the new genre Arctic art education can enhance co-research and active citizenship. Can art and art education propose new means of participating and acting in the creation of the future? Climate change threatens people’s cultures and traditional livelihoods in northernmost Europe and circumpolar areas. The surrounding nature will change because of exploitation caused by the green transition. Often, people have anxiety and feel desolated in the hands of distant policymakers. The phenomenon is causing despair and anxiety, especially among young people. The panel discusses the topic through workshops and artwork examples performed in the project On the Front Line of the Climate Crisis. The project studies young people’s climate citizenship and activism through arts-based action research and co-research. It highlights social and societal dimensions and collaboration with art educators, researchers, and young participants who aim to influence politicians. The Youth Research and Development Centre Juvenia of South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences and the University of Lapland coordinate the research project. The Kone Foundation funds the project, which is ongoing until 2025 in Lapland, Eastern Finland, and the Tampere region.

13.8 At the River – Stepping in the Flow (Artwork)

Timo Jokela – University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland

Abstract:

For the title of my artwork, I borrow the notion of the Creek philosopher Heraclitus: “You cannot step into the same river twice.” The video was featured as part of an installation at the Korundi Art Museum in Rovaniemi, Finland, 2024. The artwork was part of the Shifting Ground exhibition, where Canadian and Finnish artists explored the theme.

The project gave me the opportunity to work briefly in the Yukon region in North-West Canada. In my artwork, two rivers flow together: the Yukon in Canada and the Ounas in Northern Finland, Lapland. The Yukon River saw a gold rush over a hundred years ago. The Indigenous Han people were forced to give way as their fishing village at the mouth of the Klondike River, a tributary of the Yukon, became a mining town. In Finnish Lapland, the Canadian-owned Kittilä Gold Mine was established in 2006 near my home village, upstream of the Ounas River. 

Chief Isaac, leader of the Han people, tried to protect his people and their way of life amid inevitable change. It was touching to see a photograph of him ice fishing for graylings, sitting in the same familiar position as my father in a photograph taken on the Ounas River in the early 1970s. Graylings were important to my village; they were part of our daily sustenance since the construction of hydropower plants in the late 1940s had already eradicated the migratory salmon from our waters. The grayling, faithful to its spawning grounds, was our spiritual connection to the river. 

In 2020, the Kittilä Gold Mine built a 16-kilometer-long wastewater discharge pipe into the Ounas River basin, at the mouth of the Sotkajoki River, known as a spawning and ice fishing area for graylings. In my artwork, I reflect on the river – It connects to the land, to previous generations, and to my culture – flowing through the meandering course of nature and life. Rivers change, and I understand Heraclitus’ message: “If you step into the river twice, the flow is no longer the same, and neither are you.”

Timo Jokela – At the River – Stepping in the Flow (Artwork)

13.9 Spectrum of Arctic Art education. Clipses of Art Projects through the Years. (Artwork)

Timo Jokela – University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland

Abstract:

The video artistically presents a review of art and design education activities conducted within University of Lapland and the circles of the Arctic Sustainable Art and Design thematic network of UArctic (ASAD). The video is based on art education examples from past years carried out in collaboration with local communities, schools, artists, industries, and cultural institutes in Northern-Scandinavia.

By showing glimpses of outdoor art projects in northern contexts, we aim to highlight how art education based on contemporary art and design can consider the unique conditions of northern and Arctic ecocultures, the opportunities provided by ecosystems, and cultural traditions. The video is structured according to the annual cycle of the year, illustrating how the eight seasons of the North, not only dominate but also enhance and improve art, design and art education practices. Such art is done by knowing and creating with eight seasons, with people of the North, their ecocultures by sustainable ways.