Jaana Tanskanen is the visual arts teacher at the University of Eastern Finland Teacher Training School, where she teaches students aged from thirteen to eighteen. She gained her Master of Visual Arts degree from the University of Lapland in 1998.
In her everyday work as an art teacher Jaana finds that her students challenge her own conception of art and give her an entry to the wide range of visual expression used and experienced by young people today. She has become familiar with digital tools such as TikTok, Instagram and memes. Jaana believes that, as well as teaching, it is important to continue making pictures herself. All through her busy working years her main medium of expression has been photography, but now graphics have come back into her life. In the early 1990s when she was studying at the Nordic Art School, she was excited by the techniques of graphic art and it became her closest way of expression.
What is it about the arduous process of making graphic art that is so attractive? It involves multiple stages, physicality and craftsmanship. Each phase of its creation is reflected in the end result. As with other arts, it calls for continual decision-making: you have to give thought to such matters as theme, technique(s), starting-point, what you want to say and emphasize in your work, and how you will meet the challenges that arise as you proceed. Your role as creator and experiencer of the piece of art is ever-present, because you cannot advance in the process if you don’t scrutinize your work from time to time before continuing in your chosen direction.
Jaana sees herself more as a maker rather than a reader, but her interest in backgrounds, theories and cultural history has led her to begin doctoral studies at the University of Eastern Finland. Her research topic concerns the artwork of her high school students and their insights into and interpretations of pictures of art in museums. In 2022 DKG awarded her the J. Maria Pierce Scholarship, which she greatly appreciates.
Jaana became a member of DKG Epsilon Chapter in Joensuu in 2016. She recalls as a particularly enjoyable experience her joint workshop with Eija Liisa on the Golden Age of Finnish Art at the Europe Regional Conference in Tallinn in 2017 and she looks forward to seeing you at the International Conference in Tampere, Finland in summer 2023.
In her everyday work as an art teacher Jaana finds that her students challenge her own conception of art and give her an entry to the wide range of visual expression used and experienced by young people today. She has become familiar with digital tools such as TikTok, Instagram and memes. Jaana believes that, as well as teaching, it is important to continue making pictures herself. All through her busy working years her main medium of expression has been photography, but now graphics have come back into her life. In the early 1990s when she was studying at the Nordic Art School, she was excited by the techniques of graphic art and it became her closest way of expression.
What is it about the arduous process of making graphic art that is so attractive? It involves multiple stages, physicality and craftsmanship. Each phase of its creation is reflected in the end result. As with other arts, it calls for continual decision-making: you have to give thought to such matters as theme, technique(s), starting-point, what you want to say and emphasize in your work, and how you will meet the challenges that arise as you proceed. Your role as creator and experiencer of the piece of art is ever-present, because you cannot advance in the process if you don’t scrutinize your work from time to time before continuing in your chosen direction.
Jaana sees herself more as a maker rather than a reader, but her interest in backgrounds, theories and cultural history has led her to begin doctoral studies at the University of Eastern Finland. Her research topic concerns the artwork of her high school students and their insights into and interpretations of pictures of art in museums. In 2022 DKG awarded her the J. Maria Pierce Scholarship, which she greatly appreciates.
Jaana became a member of DKG Epsilon Chapter in Joensuu in 2016. She recalls as a particularly enjoyable experience her joint workshop with Eija Liisa on the Golden Age of Finnish Art at the Europe Regional Conference in Tallinn in 2017 and she looks forward to seeing you at the International Conference in Tampere, Finland in summer 2023.
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