Here is a short biography of Mrs Terttu Seule, in her own words.
"I started to work at the age of thirteen, helping in big farms. My passion for learning drove me to Helsinki, where I knew absolutely nobody. I started to work as a maid for a family who gave me food and shelter. I often changed working places and occupation.
Beside my work, I studied at home, first to get my A-level, then I went on and studied many other subjects, for example French at the Open University*.
The desire to paint had been burning inside me for a long time. I first started to paint at the Workers Education Center*. My artwork has been exposed in many places, featuring both in individual and collective exhibitions, one of them in Spain.
Words are just as important to me as pictures. I wrote "The left Boot" in 2000, "Dance with the Death" in 2001 and "It was a long Way" in 2003. The last mentioned book features 40 of my oil paintings, the illustrations and the text dealing about the same issue as my last book, "Ada's rocky Path".
I have many projects still waiting in my drawers, including oil paintings I made about my dream fairy tale with cats. Cats have always been a part of my life. In Helsinki, now my hometown, I have had cats for the last 35 years."
* Open University, Workers Education Center: are institutions who offer classes and conferences to adults, mostly in the evenings sometimes in the weekend, at very low cost. Every city has at least one of this kind of schools where adults can learn languages, art, handicrafts, practical skills (internet classes for older people, Excel, PowerPoint, digital photography, how to buy a cheap car from Germany and bring it back to Finland etc. NO KIDDING). Adult students can also join Tai Chi, Yoga or Pilates classes, learn ball dances, study for A-level or further education at low cost. The language teachers are very often native speakers.
