travel

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

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/

Queer Drawing continues in collaboration with the Kuopio museum

| Emma Fält

English (scroll down for the Finnish version)

Welcome to the Queer Drawing workshops, starting next week on Wednesday 25.9. at the Kuopio Museum (Museokatu 1, 70100 Kuopio). We will meet at 17 in the museum lobby, I look forward to meeting you all there!

Events on Wednesday evenings between 17-19, Autumn 2024: 25.9., 9.10., 23.10., 6.11., 13.11., 20.11., 4.12. and 18.12.

Sign up by sending an email to me emmavilina@gmail.com


In the workshops we will do many different kinds of practices, drawing, moving in the museum space & in the city, and exploring the living environment with our senses. All the materials needed will be included in the workshops and provided by Kuopio City and myself.

I will also provide prompts that can be done at your own pace, in your own time.
The work we do is planned for everyone and you don’t need to be specialised in arts to participate. Together we want to become active listeners, curious and creative in our ways of being in the world. That will be a lot of fun!
At each workshop, we are working for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes and clean up the space together afterwards, before the museum is closed at 7 PM.
The workshops are bilingual, so don’t worry about not knowing Finnish or English (languages used ) very well or at all. We are working in ways that are often non-verbal and also, I will simultaneously translate everything that is needed for everyone to understand what is happening. You can always share in the language that you feel comfortable with.
We aim to the event in accessible spaces, You can read the information about museum accessibility here:
https://kuopionmuseo.fi/in-english/saavutettavuus/
Let’s enjoy sharing and art-making together!

Drawing Out Loud
Taidetyöpajat sukupuoli- ja seksuaalivähemmistöön kuuluville

Aikuisille suunnatuissa työpajoissa tutkimme maailmaa piirtäen, sekä erilaisten
kuuntelu- ja aistimisharjoitteiden kautta. Pohdimme kehollisuutta, monimuotoisuutta,
erilaisissa tiloissa olemista ja sitä, miten koemme itsemme niissä. Jokainen voi toteuttaa
työpajojen aikana pienen luonnoskirjan tehtävistä, joita olemme itsenäisesti ja yhdessä
tehneet.
Keskeistä työskentelyssä on vuorovaikutteisuus ja mahdollisuus luoda tila, jossa queeriksi*
itsensä kokevat, voivat tutustua toisiinsa, sekä etsiä ja löytää itselle sopivia taiteellisen
ilmaisun muotoja. Työpajat ovat osallistujille maksuttomia. Aiempaa osaamista tai kokemusta
taiteellisesta työskentelystä ei tarvita. Työpajojen ikäraja on 18 – vuotta ja voit osallistua, sekä
suomen- että englanninkielisenä. Taidetarvikkeet löytyvät paikan päältä!
Keskiviikkoiltaisin klo 17-19 syyskaudella 2024: 25.9., 9.10., 23.10., 6.11., 13.11., 20.11., 4.12. sekä 18.12.
KUOPION MUSEO, Oppimistila, Museokatu 1, 70100 Kuopio
Järjestää Kuopion kaupunki, Kansalaistoiminnan palvelut, yhteistyössä Kuopion museo.
Ilmoittaudu 31.3. mennessä osoitteessa : emmavilina@gmail.com
Ystävällisin terveisin,
Työpajojen ohjaaja, Emma Fält
Queer – kattokäsite, jolla kuvaillaan sekä seksuaali- että sukupuolivähemmistöjä. Queer on
alkuperäisesti ollut sateenkaarivähemmistöjä halveksuva ja loukkaava sana, mutta se on
vuosien saatossa omittu sateenkaariyhteisöjen käyttöön. Lähde: https://kehraaja.com/opas-
sateenkaarisanastoon/