People make the village - part 6 of the story series

Picture: Markus Sjöberg 

Unna's art workshops bring joy, color, and community spirit to Kerkonkoski 

Unna Paananen has been creative since childhood and missed opportunities to practice her craft skills in adulthood, during the so-called peak years, until her 16-year entrepreneurial career ended in disability. That's when a new world opened up in art. In 2018, she received a space from the city of Kerava for an open art workshop. The workshop was aimed at working-age people, mainly those with substance abuse and mental health problems. She managed to run the art workshop in Kerava for a couple of years until the corona “closed everything”. The open, low-threshold art workshop proved to be meaningful to its visitors in many ways. – It strengthens, among other things, a sense of self-worth through experiences of success and belonging to a community. Visual arts also allow you to release your emotions and ease your psychological burden if speaking is difficult, says Paananen.

Unna Paananen has been creative since childhood and missed opportunities to practice her craft skills in adulthood, during the so-called Peak years, until her 16-year entrepreneurial career ended in disability. That's when a new world opened up in art. In 2018, she received a space from the city of Kerava for an open art workshop. The workshop was aimed at working-age people, mainly those with substance abuse and mental health problems. She managed to run the art workshop in Kerava for a couple of years until the corona "closed everything". The open, low-threshold art workshop proved to be meaningful to its visitors in many ways. – It strengthens, among other things, a sense of self-worth through experiences of success and belonging to a community. Visual arts also allow you to release your emotions and ease your psychological burden if speaking is difficult, says Paananen.

How did Unna find her way to Kerkonkoski? Unna, who is from Kerava, has been visiting her friend's cottage in Kerkonkoski since 2004, but one rainy autumn evening in the Kerkonkoski harbour, an encounter took place that changed the woman's life. There was a group of people sitting at the harbour's campfire site for the evening, and Unna and her friends joined them. The smoke in her eyes swirled so much that Unna had to change places and soon she found herself next to Toni. The evening lasted until the wee hours of the morning and Unna remembers thinking about her strong feelings at night: "What is this guy really like?" A love at first sight was born, which still lives on today. The engagement was soon announced and in the summer of 2022 the couple's wedding was celebrated at the Kerkonkoski Oasis.