Tinja Ruusuvuori Practices Giving Up Control

Provincetown, MA 

Nothing in Ruusuvuori’s studio seems precious in its display or execution. In recent prints, where the registration is always a bit off, she playfully experiments with forms: she makes monoprints with the impressions of wires, splashes turps across the surfaces she prints, and etches into discarded milk cartons. She’s not sure yet what she’ll show in an upcoming showcase at FAWC, but she wants to convey the process-driven energy of the work.

“I’m trying to figure out a way to show some of these works without feeling that they are already dead in the gallery space,” she says.

Ruusuvuori, who is from Finland and describes herself as an “anti-disciplinary artist,” is in her second year as a resident at FAWC. She studied documentary filmmaking at Aalto University in Helsinki after working for eight years as a screenwriter and host for a children’s TV program — an experience that she credits with preserving her sense of childlike play and curiosity.