Juha Saraste
Finland
Juha Saraste (born 1975) is a landscape gardener and during long Finnish winters a self educated scrap metal sculptor. He has no schooling on neither art- nor metal branches.
He started with making steampunk-style furniture, lamps and instrument stands and is now specialised in statues of mammals, reptiles, birds and insects.
Gathering the material is the salt of the process. Going through skips and sheds of abandoned country houses is like a treasure hunt of shapes, Taking apart old typewriters, gearboxes, separators, waterpumps and tachographs is like opening a wrapped parcel, not knowing what treats are awaiting inside.
Juha has also tried to give something back to his models. In his 2019 exhibition he donated 10% from sales of sculptures of endangered animals to their protection. In 2020 he had an internet charity auction of "Howler", raising money for education to stop wolf poaching in Finland
Juha has also done a long tour of duty as a saxophonist, vocalist and lyricist in various punk rock groups.
