"I am Andrée Laurier, and I stayed nearly a month at Hub Feenix as part of its Artist Residency Program in June 2023. I left Québec, Canada, headed for Finland, hoping to find the quiet and inspiration I needed to start writing of my tenth book of fiction. (I write poetic prose in French.)

I have come to call the Hub “the magic hill of Meltola,” for it sits on a slight incline, surrounded by woods that harbour a unique variety of trees. And where birds seem more numerous than people. It is near a large lake called “Long-Legs” (Högbensjön) since it is shallow enough to be crossed by long-legged people, according to the local legend.

The lake, the trees, the numerous and vivid June flowers and the wild animals make for a unique encounter with nature and tranquility. As you walk along the forest paths, you might come across deer, fawns, hares and the occasional elk, curious to see you coming. There, silence is only broken by the sound of the wind in the high branches and the song of birds. From your room or studio, you see the very top of the trees moving against endless, pure blue sky.

I am sensitive to the atmosphere of places, as an artist, and was immediately convinced that this soft hill and the huge building on its clearing were like no other location I had seen in my travels across the world. You might feel the same, as you arrive. The space is immense, the colours alive and invigorating. It has to do with the natural location, and the creativity deployed by Raisa and Torsten, the founders, to renovate and decorate an immense sunlit building that was once a sanatorium, then an immigration centre, an important crossroads for people seeking strength, respite, peace, and renewal. It is a transformative place. And transformation breeds creativity.

If you wish for tranquility, you can find a quiet space in the vast building or choose to work in a silent studio. If you wish to be with people, you head for the common rooms, kitchens and terraces. Events happen in summer and get-togethers are easily organized.

The Hub works on you in subtle ways. You might arrive tense, city-ridden, and when you leave, you have become so quiet and mindful that you can no longer understand what could have stressed you or burdened you so much before. You cannot fully understand who you were, exactly. Because you have somewhat changed. And you wish to remain with the quietness and fulfilment you have experienced there.

As you can imagine, I have found the life source and inspiration to write. I have set down about a third of my novel manuscript, which is more than I had hoped for. Everybody cared about my work, and how it was enfolding, and I met a brilliant visual artist that became my neighbour and friend. Look for Melinda Cross’s work and you will see how she was inspired by the Hub. I arrived with a somewhat sombre project dealing with metempsychosis and transformative migration, and ended up with a manuscript teaming with trees, birds, nature, song and life. The forest is everywhere you look at from the room and studios. Melinda was also creating green spaces in her marbling work. The Hub Feenix effect.

There are names to the kindness and respect that people show the artists at Hub Feenix: the unforgettable Hanna, and Mari (the artists who coordinate the residencies), along with Maija, Dave, Markus, Pape, those I have known best. These are people you might already miss the very day you leave. The program is recent, and the coordinators and owners are giving it all their dedication. This, you can feel strongly.

Hub Feenix is Torsten Ruger and Raisa Kaipainen’s dream of a better, fairer, more sustainable and respectful place for life to thrive and for joy to happen. They are furthering the century-old tradition of sheltering and nurturing freedom, peace, health, renewal and creativity on the “magic hill.” The people who work and live full time at the Hub believe in the best they can give to those they cross paths with, or those that visit for a time. More artists will no doubt be amazed by this as I was, and as I remain, now that I have left the residency. And, mostly, I cannot remember having been this relaxed. Ever.

As I wait in Helsinki for my flight to leave Finland and return to Canada, I know I have lived something quite extraordinary in my life, this June, at Hub Feenix. An experience that will inspire me for the months to come… And no doubt longer."

Andrée Laurier, June 2023