Tuuli Autio :
FEEL – Wooden Sculptures

How does wood feel? Does wood touch you when you touch it? In this exhibition, all the works can be explored by touching. The exhibition, which nourishes the senses, suggests surrendering to bodily presence and connection with oneself. Some have a personal relationship with wood, and the natural material speaks to emotions and memories. 

Tuntu sculptures are like asemic poetry that can be read through the touch of the body. Hands can feel organic shapes, carved marks, the smoothness of wood and the roughness carved with an axe. You can explore patterns of the Tuntuma with the fingertips and feel the marks of various tools. It can also be hugged, held in the lap and felt for its grounding weight. 

What would it be like to sit on a work of art? The decorative Istuin piece offers the opportunity to be present through the sense of touch and a place to rest and contemplate. You can try to find smooth spots between the grooves, bumps and rough spots. 

I am interested in the quality of wood that invites you to touch it, the phenomenon that you can't get enough with your eyes. I think it's good for us to be in touch with wood, nature, each other and ourselves. When I carve, I listen to the nature of the wood and move in a non-verbal area. I carve because I can't speak, I can't find the right words to express my experience. 

Visual artist Tuuli Autio (born 1974) works in Humppila in southwestern Häme. She has been sculpting since she was a child and has worked with Finnish wood in a variety of ways. The artist uses a variety of hand tools in her work, of which the axe is her favorite. Some of the works are painted with self-made tempera paints. In addition to private collections, several of Autio's works are in the collections of the Finnish State and Helsinki University Hospital. In 2026, Autio's works were exhibited in addition to the Gallery Katariina in the In Touch exhibition at the Kouvola Art Museum Poikilo. There are upcoming summer exhibitions at the Art Centre Purnu and ArtMarttila. 

The works in this exhibition have been created over the past couple of years. Some of them have been exhibited previously, after which the artist has continued to modify the surfaces by sculpting and painting. Thanks to the Finnish Cultural Foundation's Häme Fund and Taike for supporting the work! 

https://www.tuuliautio.fi/

https://www.instagram.com/tuuli_autio/ 

Artist meetings at the gallery on Saturday 6/13 and Sunday 7/5, from 2 to 4 PM. 

NB! Gallery Katariina is closed June 19–21.