Biography
Exploring humanity with art, seeking what is sustainable. As an artist/scientist Pirjo Virtanen reveals the flow of time and urges the audience to reflect their position as a human being in the context of built environment and nature.
She has a background in science and technology, which has made it natural to extend her artistic expression from pure watercolor to printmaking, installation and digital art, always considering the least harmful ways of making visual art.
Besides her artistic practice, she is passionate about the sustainability impacts of the art world. She aims at enabling artists to make conscious choices while making the social and environmental sustainability impacts of art measurable.
Pirjo’s recent Bachelor thesis is in Finnish and available here: sustainable art (link to Theseus). Before art studies she has gained a doctoral degree on materials science, acted as a visiting scientist at Oxford University, and held various positions in Metso Oyj, including Vice President, Sustainability. She continues to be a part time Sustainability Advisor at Greenstep Oy during her full time role as a visual artist.
I explore what is sustainable in art. Presenting the flow of time on paper, making paintings three-dimensional, developing art paper from local ingredients such as nettles and reed or studying the interdependency of species by art photography, all these challenges are difficult enough to captivate me.