Northern Forest Memories: Sensing Arctic Nature Through Creative Practice with Clay

It is September 2020, the first day of autumn. With anticipation, I am heading to Ounasvaara forest. My backpack is filled with clay, wooden boards, rolling pins, matches, and a vision of today’s art-based experiment of creating and re-connecting with the forest. (Extract from Kravtsov’s field diary, 2020)

For generations, people living in the Arctic have developed strong bonds with their natural environment. Nevertheless, an urbanised, indoor lifestyle has eroded our relationship with non-human nature and weakened our ability to sense and communicate with our surroundings the way that our ancestors did (Ives et al., 2018; Landy & Shaler, 2021). This chapter’s purpose is to discuss the Northern Forest Memories pilot workshop that focused on encouraging communication with nature through an art-based experience with clay and natural materials in forest settings. This small-scale intervention was planned and guided by Kravtsov in Rovaniemi, in Finnish Lapland, as one of several pilot workshops carried out within the framework of the Art-based Services for Tourism Project 2019–2021 (see endnote). The project focused on developing new types of art and craft-based activities and products by artists, crafters and designers in Finnish Lapland, supporting collaboration between creative industries and the tourism sector (Jokela et al., 2021).