Summer hymn. Growth period. Vacation, song birds, midnight sun. Lawn, dandelion, trampoline, grill, sausage, ies. Cottage, pier, boat, swimsuit. Strawberry, pea, detective novel. Grandma’s house, cousins. Sunscreen, air mattress, tan lines. Festival, tent, outhouse, camp re. Summer hit and summer car. Ice brick, summer bachelor. Beer. Summer night’s dream, irting, condom. Wedding. Midsummer dance, bon re, lake. Midsummer spell, meadow, butter ies, clover, cow. Birdhouse, hammock, bilberry, bee, cumulus. Lawn mower, vegetable patch, summer job. Con rmation camp, new potatoes, heat. Summer dress, bikinis, shorts, ip- ops. Carpet washing pier, sea, seagull. Ball, water- wings, shade, cliff. Ice cream. Lido. Sun, sunglasses, terrace. Market square. Theme park and cotton candy. Sauna, steam, bucket, water dipper, scoop. Rag rug, rain, attic. Frog, shing pole, cork, perch. Sports events. Blue.Rain. Wind. Rubber boots, lizard and snake. Bike, gravel road, scratch. Backseat, sweat, Little Tree, roadworks. Attic. Baseball cap and tank top. Beer, beer, beer. Booze, intoxication and mosquitoes. Horse y. Deer y. Fracture. Band-Aid, cast, popsicle, cotton candy. Burn, sausage. Hay. Fever. Weeds and mosquito repellent. Death. Drownings. Ants.

The Finnish summer is full of hopes and expectations. It is a fantasy that sustains us throughout the long winter.

The theme of the XXII Mänttä Art Festival is Summer – in all its glory and gruesomeness.

Curator Pirjetta Brander