listening

WELL – international drawing residency 2026

| Emma Fält


July 24–29, 2026 | Niemelä House, Nerohvirta Village, Iisalmi, Finland

Applications are now open for WELL 2026, the 4th International Drawing Residency, hosted by artists Angie Brew and Emma Fält in the Finnish lakeside countryside. WELL offers a focused and supportive environment for artists, researchers, and creative practitioners interested in drawing and expanded drawing practices. The residency creates time and space for deep reflection, listening, and grounding, while encouraging dialogue, experimentation, and collective exchange. Each summer, the Fält family opens their land and studios in Nerohvirta Village near Iisalmi to a small group of international and local artists. Surrounded by forests and lakes, participants are invited to engage with their own creative practice while becoming part of a temporary community of drawing practitioners.

Residency Focus
The residency is centred around drawing as a practice that can expand into multiple disciplines and approaches. Participants are encouraged to explore both individual work and shared creative processes.

What we offer

  • Drawing and sound art workshops led by Anna & Emma Fält and Angela Brew
(Further workshop details will be announced during the spring.)
  • Opportunities to share and develop your artistic practice with fellow artists, researchers, and practitioners
  • Time and space for independent creative work
  • A small, supportive community of practitioners
  • Simple shared vegetarian meals
  • Daily access to nature: lake swimming, forest walks, and harvesting
  • A peaceful working environment in the Finnish countryside-


Participation Fee


The residency fee is 451.5 € (£390).
The fee covers the programme and shared meals and is kept as low as possible to cover basic costs.
Accommodation is not included in the residency fee. Participants may choose from:

  • A low-cost bedroom in the studio house
  • Local accommodation nearby
  • Camping in the surrounding area.

Who Can Apply

  • Applications are welcome from artists, creative practitioners, researchers, and makers whose work relates to drawing or expanded drawing practices.
  • The residency hosts a maximum of 7 participants, allowing for an intimate and focused working environment.

To apply,/register please send an email including:

  • A short introduction to your practice
  • A brief description of what you are currently working on
  • A few sentences on why participation in the WELL residency would be meaningful for you
  • Application deadline: April 20, 2026

Contact
For applications and questions regarding accommodation or the residency programme, please contact the organisers by email. We warmly welcome applications from practitioners interested in exploring drawing, nature, and shared creative practice in the Finnish landscape.



WELL International Drawing Residency


Hosted by Emma Fält & Angie Brew
brewdrawing@gmail.com
emmavilina@gmail.com

celebrating distance and proximity in oulu

| Emma Fält

I am travelling today to one of my favourite cities from my childhood, Oulu to celebrate arts in the opening winter city festival of European Capital of Culture Oulu2026!

You will find me sharing one of my newest pieces from last year Celebrating distance and proximity, is published in collaboration with Reality Research Center https://todellisuus.fi/in-english/ & ILME ry / Kehä Festival https://www.kulttuuriosuuskuntailme.fi/ilmeinenglish

Celebrating D i st a n c e and proximity

This work is online and always open to experience wherever you are in the world. You just need your headphones and a piece of paper + black marker of some kind.

Come to visit, say hi and experience the piece at Cultural Centre Valve tomorrow 16.1.2026 between 16-18:30 ( Lobby of the Valvesali hall )

Queer Lines, everyone welcome <3

| Emma Fält

(read in English below)

PIIRROS ❤ RUNO

Työpaja

7.6. 11:00 – 13:30

Queer* Drawing -työryhmä kutsuu piirustus- ja runotyöpajaan, joka pohjaa jo yli vuoden yhdessä kokoontuneen, seksuaali- ja sukupuolivähemmistöille suunnatun taideryhmän yhteiseen toimintaan. Tapahtumaan voi osallistua KUMMAn pääsymaksun hinnalla 10/5€, alle 18-vuotiaat ilmaiseksi ja Museokortti käy maksuvälineeksi.

Työpajassa toteutetaan yhdessä suurta, liikelähtöistä piirrosta, johon kaikki voivat osallistua. Työssä keskeistä on vuorovaikutus: aktiivinen kuunteleminen ja hyväksyvä katse, sekä tilan antaminen ja yhdessä tekeminen. Tilassa koetaan yhteisen piirtämisen lisäksi myös ryhmän aiemmin tekemiä piirroksia, runoillaan tehtävien pohjalta vieraskirjaan ja kuullaan eri aikakausien queer – runoutta näyttelijä, Sari Harjun lukemana. Kokoelmassa kuullaan myös paikallisen Jupinaa – queer lavarunous – ryhmän runoja.

Kutsumme kaikki Kuopio Priden ja KUMMAn kävijät mukaan jättämään jälkensä yhteiseen piirrokseen, kuuntelemaan, kirjoittamaan sekä tunnelmoimaan ja levähtämään yhdessä ennen Pride -kulkuetta (klo 14) ja puistojuhlaa. Voit vierailla pajassa haluamasi ajan; viipyä vain hetken tai jäädä tilaan koko ajaksi.

Työpaja on suunnattu erityisesti nuorille ja aikuisille.
Toteutettu teos ja tapahtuma dokumentoidaan.

Mukana: Queer Drawing Group ja Jupinaa-lavarunoutta ryhmä
Koollekutsuja: Queer Drawing työpajojen ohjaaja, Emma Fält
Runot esittää ja on koonnut: Näyttelijä, Sari Harju yhdessä kirjoittaja, Emma Kontiokorven kanssa

Tapahtuma on osa Kuopio250-juhlavuoden ohjelmistoa.

QueerLines

DRAWING ❤ POETRY

Workshop

Kuopio Art Museum

Sat, 11-13.30

The *Queer Drawing – group invites everyone to a drawing and poetry workshop, which builds on the joint activities of the art group aimed at sexual and gender minorities. The group  
has gathered together for over a year at Kuopio Museum to meet and draw.

The workshop will invite participants to do movement-based drawing prompts. The core of this workshop is interaction: active listening and an accepting gaze, giving space and concentrating on togetherness. In the space, visitors will also experience drawings created by the group, listen to queer poetry and short prose from different eras, read by actress Sari Harju. The collection also includes poems by the local Jupinaa—Queer stage poetry group.

We invite all visitors to Pride and the Art Museum to leave their mark on a joint drawing, listen, write, and get in the mood together before the Kuopio Pride parade and park festival. The workshop is specifically designed for young people and adults.


The completed work and event will be documented.

Hosts: Queer Drawing Group and Queer Stage poetry group
Invitation to collaborate by Queer drawing workshop guide, Emma Fält
Poems compiled and performed by Sari Harju together with the writer Emma Kontiokorpi

The event is part of the Kuopio 250th anniversary program

*Queer – an umbrella term used to describe both sexual and gender minorities. Queer was originally a derogatory and insulting word for rainbow minorities, but over the years it has been appropriated for use by rainbow communities. Source: https://kehraaja.com/opas-sateenkaarisanastoon/

Drawing out loud – collaborative drawing workshops for Queer people starts in February

| Emma Fält
Detail of a large-scale collaborative drawing made with the group in 2024

In the workshops aimed at adults, we explore the world by drawing and through various listening and sensing exercises. We reflect on physicality, diversity, being in different spaces and how we perceive ourselves in them. This spring, we will work on various listening exercises and think about the interaction between humans and non-humans. Let’s start the year by going through together what kind of workshops are coming up.

The key to working is interaction and the opportunity to create a space where those who perceive themselves as queer* can express themselves and get to know each other through making, as well as searching and finding suitable forms of artistic expression. Come along and bring your friends!

The workshops are free of charge for the participants. Previous knowledge or experience in artistic work, neither tools arent required. The age limit for the workshops is 18 years.

Wednesday evenings at the Kuopio Museum, the following days:
12.2. / 25.2. / 12.3. / 26.3. / 9.4. / 23.4. / 7.5 and 14.5
at 5 -7 PM (we start cleaning up the space at 6:30)


Register on 12.2. by at: emmavilina@gmail.com

Kind regards, Artist and teacher, Emma Fält (They / Them)

listening workshop for kids and their close ones

| Emma Fält

(in English – please scroll down)

Tervetuloa kuuntelemaan ja piirtämään lapsille ja lapsenmielisille tarkoitettuun työpajaan Annantalolla Helsingissä.

Koskettavia keskusteluja

Koskettavia keskusteluja on tila, jossa perheet ja ystävät voivat kohdata ja luoda yhdessä äänimaiseman ja piirroksen. Teoksen äänimaisema syntyy piirtäen erilaisilla arkisilla materiaaleilla/esineillä, jotka ovat tuttuja kotiympäristöstä ja puistoista. Materiaaleista jää jälki paperiin ja mikrofoni tallentaa äänimaiseman, jota voi kuunnella kuulokkeiden kautta.

Teokseen voi osallistua 15–20 minuutin ajan. Kerralla mukaan mahtuu 1–4 osallistujaa. Tilassa toimintaa on ohjaamassa taiteilija Emma Fält.

https://www.annantalo.fi/fi/tapahtumat/event/40505A3B61C17FEB200D50D21EDB4A49/Annantalon_taidelauantai____nen___rell_

As part of Äänen äärellä – exhibition there is one more workshop for kids and their close ones:

Touchscapes

Touchscapes is a space where families and friends can collaborate to create soundscapes and drawings. The soundscape is created by drawing with various everyday materials/objects familiar from homes and parks. The materials leave a mark on the paper, and a microphone records the soundscape, which you can listen to through headphones. The simple tools are suitable for everyone.


You can participate in the artwork for 15–20 minutes. Each session can accommodate 1–4 participants. The activities in the space will be guided by artist Emma Fält.

Welcome to listen and draw together!

Shared Futures workshop at tieteen päivät, Helsinki

| Emma Fält

Welcome to the free workshop at Tieteen päivät, the University of Helsinki.

https://tieteenpaivat.fi/fi

Shared Futures – Listening exercises to imagine the impossible

Studium 1, Helsingin yliopiston päärakennus, Fabianinkatu 33

Saturday 11.1. // 15.45 – 17.00

Description:

How do you imagine the impossible and share it with others? In this workshop, participants will work on multisensory listening exercises to delve deeper into thinking about radical imagination. We will listen, draw and walk together.

You can participate in English or Finnish. The exercises are done independently and in groups, and no experience in the arts is necessary.

The workshop is based on a long-term art project Shared Futures that was initiated by Fält, implemented by artists Fält, Anna Maria Väisänen and Roberto Fusco and supported by ANTI Contemporary Art Festival, Kuopio City and Arts Promotion Center Finland as a Project for cultural well-being for the elderly people. The project was invited to be presented as part of POLIMA seminars and workshops at Turku University between 2022-23. POLIMA is an ethnographic research project that addresses the timely question of political alienation and the dissipation of political imagination, as well as the need for fundamental social change. Last year, I wrote an article that collects and suggests alternative thinking tools for sociologists and other scientists who work on the topic of future research.

https://tieteenpaivat.fi/fi/ohjelma-2025/helsinki/lauantai-11-1/jaettu-tulevaisuus-mahdottoman-mielikuvittelua-ja-yhteisia

https://emmafalt.net/portfolio/imagining-future-bodies-tuning-in-to-the-future/

https://polima.fi/in-english/

Tulevaisuuskävelyt – future walks in kuopio

| Emma Fält

25 elokuun @ 10:00 – 17:00

Kaksi henkilöä puistossa, toinen koskettelee puun lehtiä ja toinen äänittää tilannetta mikrofonilla.

Millaisia asioita sinä toivoisit ihmisten jakavan tulevaisuudessa? Millaisena haluaisit nähdä kotikaupunkisi tuolloin? Mitä jakaminen tarkoittaa sinulle?

Taitelijat Anna-Maria Väisänen ja Emma Fält kutsuvat sinut osallistumaan taide-esitykseen. Teoksessa kävelemme kaupungin keskustassa noin 20 minuutin ajan ja teemme havaintoja ympäristöstä. Lopuksi piirrämme yhdessä unelmien kaupunkia ja keskustelemme siitä. Aiempaa kokemusta tai tietoa ei tarvita.

Mukaan mahtuu neljä ensimmäiseksi  ilmoittautunutta, 4 osallistujaa/tulevaisuuskävely.

Ilmoittautuminen: https://forms.office.com/e/KUp

Teos on osa Meidän Kuopio -festivaalin 60+ vuotiaille suunnattua ohjelmistoa.

(Huom. Kuopion museon aukioloaika on poikkeuksellisesti klo 12-21 Taiteiden Yönä 25.8.)

Workshops in Karakallio last week

| Emma Fält
Our feet were listening to Karakallio in pleasant spring weather with students from the local secondary school.

Thank you to everyone who participated last week in the Listening Positions – workshops. Now I am much wiser about the area and its specialities. Many of the public spaces around here are important to the people of the area. The common wish seems to be that much of what is now understood as Karakallio would stay the same at least when it comes to suburban forests. Also, it was decided together that pizza, heavy metal and suburban forests as well as friends will not disappear from here for at least 100 years! People will say goodbye soon to their shopping mall, but the memories seem to be vivid!

A student created a pain curve about how it is to be without their mobile phone during the workshops.

The participants were listening in many different ways and together we shared thoughts on what is it that we hear and how that affects us. We also did some drawn sketches about our feelings and tried to map what we pay attention to. In the end, everyone did a little imagining exercise about what Karakallio will become 100 years from now in their personal utopia.

Now I am working towards a new sound art piece, the third and final part of the project. Stay tuned!

Blindwalks with friends and the listening drawings looking at the environment. Photos: Hanna Häkkä 2023

Sunny hi from Kuopio, Finland!

Emma

Happening in September: Creating Space for Listening will visit KEHÄ – festival

| Emma Fält
photo: Anniina Holappa, KEHÄ 2020

Creating space for listening is going to visit Kehä – festival in Northern Finland, Oulu this month. I feel so happy to be part of it and it feels good to perform live after a long brake.

My piece is a drawing dialogue with the audience. It is very special chance to draw together with one person at a time. This is an updated version of the drawing installation at Third Space gallery in Helsinki in 2019. In the piece I am inviting people to a nonverbal dialogue. We will create a soundscape by drawing. If desired, everyone can share their thoughts on the encounter after the drawing session. I hope you are able to come and experience some of the works on Saturday 26.9. that is the day for the audience.

Kehä is a Multidisciplinary Artfestival for two. This year there are works from 11 artists, all one-to-one performances. I am really looking forward experiencing it because it is not only a day of performing but 5 days of sharing and working with other artists, with local communities, a symposium and workshops. I am sharing a link and some information about the festival here (unfortunately in finnish).

Kehä-festivaali 2020


 https://www.kulttuuriosuuskuntailme.fi/keha2020

Monitaiteellinen Kehä-festivaali kahdelle järjestetään 25.-26.9.2020 Kulttuuritalo Valveella Oulussa. Kulttuuriosuuskunta ILMEen järjestämän festivaalin teemana on tänä vuonna raja. Aihetta lähestytään kahdenkeskisissä kohtaamisissa muun muassa vuorovaikutuksellisen esitystaiteen, paperiteatterin, improvisaatiovideotaiteen ja holistisen säveltaiteen keinoin.

​Kaikille avoin ja maksuton festivaalipäivä on lauantai 26.9. Teokset toteutetaan yhdelle kokijalle kerrallaan. Osaa teoksia voi katsoa kaikessa rauhassa, osa kutsuu festivaalivierasta osallistumaan. Ohjelmassa on teoksia yhdeltätoista taiteilijalta.