First of June was a special Wednesday, I left work excited to be able to bring my paintings and drawings to a public exhibition for the first time. I had packed the paintings well in bubble wrap and large bags the night before.

The exhibition set up on the floor felt right. In addition, I had finished the exhibition brochures the night before and printed them out at work. Thanks to my employer for this support.

We arrived at the Malmi Library, where a friendly librarian came to open the display case. Luckily, I had my own a dust cloth and tape with me.

The reason for the dust cloth was that in the bright lights the frames and glasses suddenly seemed very dusty. The glass surfaces of the showcase also needed cleaning.

The final display layout followed my plan, but I hadn’t planned the depth of the display case beforehand. However, the printed blog posts related to the exhibition found a very natural place in the doors of the display case.

Finally, the exhibition catalogues were on the table and the guest book was open. Except I didn’t have a guest book. I taped big, yellow cards directly to the table – modern guest book was ready. The first entries were made very quickly.

It felt both wonderful and a little scary to leave a very personal collection of my own art in the care of others and for all to experience. I don’t know what to expect.

At least I will be making visits to the showcase with the dustbin throughout June. Come and see me, and maybe we’ll bump into each other!

My exhibition will be on display at the Malmi Library throughout June 2022.