Vellamo Ikonen

I intend to spend my time at the Saari Residence working on my live art project ‘Valma’, which I started in the spring of 2024. ‘Valma’ explores the interfaces of artisanry and dance art; I am especially interested in how artisanal traditions stemming from hands and homes fit into the performing arts and the modern world. My goal is to create more sustainable ways of making art by incorporating the practice of recycling knowledge and material, which is typical of traditional artisanry, into working with the contexts of dance and live art.

I see my time at the Saari Residence as an opportunity to work on dance, writing and artisanry alike, studying and documenting ways of working that are inspired by association, mental imagery as well as spontaneous physical and literary expression. My methods include movement improvisation, automatic writing and associative fibre arts such as free-form crocheting, knotting and knitting.

Vellamo Ikonen is a dance artist from Nurmes whose works explore multiple disciplines from dance to artisanry and writing. Her professional fascination lies in long-term processes and the exploration of intimacy and the sharing of intimacy through live art expression. Vellamo works as a freelance artist in performing arts contexts and as a dancer with the contemporary dance group Välissä. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in dance from the University of the Arts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy in 2023 and with a diploma in professional dance from the Tampere Conservatoire in 2020.