Bay College announces an exhibition, Sanna Vihanto, Invisible Play… Join us for an artist talk and reception Thursday, August 27, 2026 at 2 p.m. Eastern in the Besse Gallery on the Bay College Escanaba campus. The exhibition will be on display from August 27- October 1, 2026. This event is free and open to the public.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sanna Vihanto (b. 1979, Sotkamo) is a Finnish 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.
ARTIST 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.
Funding and production: The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) has awarded a working grant that made the paintings possible. The Finnish Cultural Foundation’s mobility grant has funded the travel and transport costs related to the exhibition.
Invitation: Welcome to slow down and step for a moment into children’s play and the invisible world — let imagination lead you and discover the layers of time on the surfaces of the works. The artist talk and reception will be Thursday, August 27, 2026 at 2 p.m. Eastern in the Besse Gallery on the Bay College Escanaba campus, and the exhibition will be on display from August 27- October 1, 2026. This event is free and open to the public.
Questions about the artist or exhibition may be directed to Bay College Art Faculty and Fine Arts Coordinator Kristine Hunter at (906) 217-4252 or kristine.hunter@baycollege.edu.
About the Bay College Art and Design Program and Gallery Spaces
The Art and Design program at Bay College is designed to provide students with a strong general education background
as well as concentration in art and design. This program is designed for students
who wish to transfer to a four-year college or university. The school, through the
Besse Gallery and Hartwig Gallery, also provides students with exposure to exhibitions,
visiting artists, and artist talk’s exemplifying the cultural breadth of the visual
arts from national, regional, and local sources, including the College's permanent
art collection. Studios include professional facilities and equipment in Photography,
Digital Cinema, Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Performance Art, and Installation Art.
About Bay College
Bay College is the community’s college with a mission of: Student Success, Community
Success, and Culture of Success. Bay is devoted to each individual’s achievement in
the classroom, on-campus, online, in the community and into the workforce by providing career certificates, associate degrees, transferable university credits, industry certifications, trainings, and professional development programs which develop skillsets, enrich individuals, and advance careers. #BayIsTheWay