Bay College Presents Sanna Vihanto, Invisible Play Reception and Artist Talk
Trending
ESCANABA - Bay College has announced the opening of an exhibition, which includes an artist talk and reception on Aug. 27 at 2 p.m. in the Besse Gallery on the Bay College Escanaba campus.
The exhibit, titled Invisible play, features work from Finnish artist Sanna Vihanto. The exhibit will be on display from Aug. 27 to Oct. 1, 2026. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Sanna Vihanto is a visual artist working in the fields of visual and environmental art. She holds an MA in Arts Education from Aalto University (2012) and a BFA from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (2009) and has supplemented her studies at international art schools.
Vihanto has realized several large-scale environmental art projects and public commissions, including numerous works for various departments of the Kainuu hospital. She has received working and mobility grants as well as regional recognitions, such as the Kainuu Cultural Wellbeing Award (2025) and the Sotkamo Cultural Award (2023). Vihanto also works as an art educator and actively participates in community art projects in Northern Finland.
The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) has awarded a working grant that made the paintings being displayed in the exhibit possible. The Finnish Cultural Foundation's mobility grant has funded the travel and transport costs related to the exhibition.
On the exhibit, Vihanto has released the following statement:
"Play, time, memories This exhibition of acrylic paintings opens up the invisible world of a child's play: moments when a child becomes a bird, a dancer or an explorer rise to the surface through colour, movement and layered surfaces. The works move on the threshold -- by the shore, in the meadow, swinging in the air -- and connect the child's freedom and imagination to broader themes: time, simultaneous presence and absence, bridges to another reality, layers of memory and the fleeting moments that pass through childhood."
"Bird and butterfly motifs recur in many paintings, as do the light of water and shore, the play of shadows and dreamlike, translucent figures. Through these images the works also build a personal bridge: some paintings conceal my own childhood experiences and sensory memories. The process has been as much a journey into motherhood -- following my child's development and admiring play and imagination -- as a return to my own childhood memories and games."
"The works also take part in the public conversation about the value of childhood and play -- an important stance at a time when their worth cannot be taken for granted."