An exhibition combining Henna Reunanen's abstract and colorful paintings and Päivikki Puonni's aphorisms opens the summer season at Hamina Library Gallery.
Henna Reunanen: HERart – Unlimited Brush and Päivikki Puonti: BROKEN TO INTEGRAL
Hamina Main Library, Rautatienkatu 8, 49400 Hamina
Open 3.6. – 16.7.2026, Mon-Thu 12-19, Fri 12-16, Sat-Sun closed, self-service hours on weekdays 8-12. Exceptional opening hours: Thu 18.6. 10-14 and Fri 19.6. closed.
In June and July, the Library Gallery of Hamina Main Library will showcase the works of two artists connected to Hamina in a dialogue. Henna Reunanen's colorful abstract paintings will be juxtaposed with Päivikki Puonni's aphorisms.
Henna Reunanen's exhibition HERart – Unlimited Brush describes creativity that is not limited to a specific mold. Reunanen does not have one clear style of painting, but wants to try new ways of creating art on canvas and challenge her own skills. Reunanen finds it important that she has the freedom to break boundaries, try different styles and techniques. Finding a style is a continuous and multi-stage process that she is only just beginning. Reunanen is often inspired by nature and different, surprising color combinations. She especially likes the joy of splashing colors, but also strong texture and more modern art. The palette knife has proven to be Reunanen's most important tool, and its rough mark and layered texture fascinate her. Recently, she has started to paint a little more representational art.
Henna Reunanen is a self-taught artist and a member of the Finnish Artists Association. Originally from Hamina, the artist currently lives with her family in Porvoo, where she spends a lot of time painting in an art container in her own yard. Reunanen started painting in 2019 and she mainly paints abstract works using mixed media. Reunanen says that painting is an easy way for her to get into her own little bubble, where she can relax and immerse herself in the present moment.
Photo: Tropics, Henna Reunanen
The theme of Päivikki Puonni's aphorism exhibition revolves around a person's contact with others and oneself. BROKEN TO INTEGRAL The exhibition tells the story of how the broken can be made whole again. Its purpose is to ignite sparks of hope in people and bring new insights and perhaps a new perspective into their own lives through aphorisms. Even a few sentences can change something; something big can come out of something small. Puonni's hope is that the answers to the questions would not be found in the author himself, but that the reader of the aphorism would make their own interpretations of what they read.
Päivikki Puonti is a poet, aphorist, opinion writer and member of the Finnish Aphorism Society from Hamina who has published seven books of poetry. She wrote her first aphorisms in 2020, and they were published in a collection The clocks are ticking slowly. The aphorisms delve into the true nature of man; into man's courage, love, fears, sorrow, benevolence in life, the struggle that life is. And realism, without shying away from anything. One of his aphorisms was selected for the Symbiosis of Aphorisms and Photography exhibition at the Galleria West in the Cable Factory in Helsinki, which was jointly organized by the Helsinki Camera Society and the Aphorism Association.
Photo: cover illustration by Helmi Levälampi
The exhibition by Reunanen and Puonni can be experienced in the Library Gallery of Hamina Main Library from the beginning of June until 16.7 July. The exhibition space on the ground floor of the library has barrier-free access either from the back of the building or by elevator from the street level floor of the library, as advised by the library staff.