storms in a tea cup: Art School in France 1990-1994

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Art School in France 1990-1994

In Nice, on my way to the entrance exams at
L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Perpignan.
I had an eight hour journey in a crowded train ahead of me.

I wasn’t going to repost these images here but oh well, why not. They are part of my history. I had studied philosophy and art history at Helsinki University, but a question was nagging me. I was good at analysing other people’s art, but was I any good as an artist, myself? Did I have any creativity to show for? I was bored and restless, and decided to uproot myself and enrol in an art school in France. I chose France because it was cheaper than the UK. In the end, when I’d moved over to Caen, I did end up as an exchange student in Portsmouth over the course of a few weeks. Thinking back, I regret not staying in Perpignan and just getting a fine arts degree. I was too concerned with the practicalities of life and thought I needed a proper profession. The truth is that I struggled greatly with my health and tried to keep up with a life I wasn’t built to cope with.

I did a foundation course in fine arts in Perpignan and then a year of graphic art in Caen before I tried to become an illustrator when a new course opened up in Caen. By then I was exhausted and not well advised by the teachers, who weren’t very good at all. In the end I failed the exams. I was too focused on academic research into primordial myths and failed to deliver on the visual side. It’s a shame I wasn’t guided, and I can now see what I should have done instead of the crap I produced at the time, but on the other hand, I did become passionately interested in myths during this time. This inspired me to return to Helsinki University where I enrolled in Psychology of Religion and made it my major. I actually found myself in these studies and was able to take my time - I managed the minimum required per year and graduated as a Master of Philosophy in Science of Religion in 1999. I then collapsed from burn out from performing wellness for so long - linked to many general problems related to my life long genetic disease hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

In the 90s, I spent the summers at my mum’s place in Hanko on the Finnish coast. Here, I started to make some symbolic art that became the counterpoint to the academic studies in the winter in Helsinki. My mum was active in the local art society and encouraged me to take part. Without her unfailing support, I doubt I could have found my way as an aspiring artist. We lived in a tiny crowded flat but the proximity to the sea relieved me of stress, and the life style offered a kind of peace. I would take some lunch along and go and sit on the rocks by the sea and write my diary, then go home and make some art. Over the years I sold most of what I made in the ‘90s. So the art schools in France did serve a purpose, albeit in a strangely skewed kind of way. Looking back, I rather miss the ‘90s, the pretence that I could still ‘make it’ and create a nice life for myself, and a certain creative flow I haven’t found since. On my blog with my CV, there are photos from this time. There’s also a whole gallery with my art from 1994-2000.

LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON (1990-1991)