Dear friend of Arkadia, You are heartily invited to a lively talk on graphic storytelling organised by four young and gifted graphic artists on Wednesday 20.1 at 6pm. The talk will be in English but questions will also be answered in Finnish and Swedish. Welcome! Warm regards, Ian www.arkadiabookshop.fi – Entrance is free and green tea will be served. A donation of €2 (or more!) is suggested and would be welcome. – IMPORTANT: Quite exceptionally the bookshop will be closed Friday 15.1 and Saturday 16.1. I’m very sorry. AiAi-Circle We are a group of four young aspiring graphic artists. We began our co-operation last fall and formed the AiAi-circle in order to diversify the world that is Finnish graphic storytelling. Through this circle we support each other art wise and provide critique to each other. We are working on an anthology that will delve into the Finnish pre-Christian culture. Our approaches to making graphic art vary but those viewpoints serve to enrich the whole. Storytelling forms the bedrock of our works that combines our graphic novels. As a group and also individuals we hope to bring something new and fresh to the field of Finnish comics. Miia Ahokainen has already (self-)published a booklet of graphic short stories that took place in Kallio mixing elements of magical realism into the everyday life. Teriame studied fine arts until two years ago when she decided to pursue a career in comics. Her first graphic booklet “Oletko hereillä?” (Are you awake?) is the first part of a series of short stories. She is self-taught and enjoys multidimensional stories and experimenting with the theories behind sequential art. Sari Manninen made her first steps into the world of professional graphic storytelling through her diploma work at the Hyvinkää School of visual arts last spring. Her diploma work and self-publication Pimeän polut ( The Paths of Darkness in English) is a prologue to a long fantasy story, that has been brewing in her mind for many years. She is currently working on the next part of this tale. Sari’s art blog: http://thetrueluciferal.blogspot.com/ Ina Pylkkö has studied the history of art for a year and fine arts for two years. She views the world through art. From traditional to digital and back, she enjoys finding and testing new techniques and combining them to what she already knows. Ina’s web portfolio:http://ipylkko.daportfolio.com/