Tuula Lehtinen b. 1959

Tuula Lehtinen (b. 1956) has worked as an artist for over forty years. Lehtinen’s practice is characterized by a deep respect for materials and technique, as well as by her willingness to experiment with unconventional forms and processes. Her techniques, from painting through printmaking and porcelain painting to padding, embroidery, ceramic casting, and mosaics, bring their own level to the artworks’ substance. The works subtly speak of genders and the conceptualization of aesthetics thought as feminine. Alongside her studio practice, she has created numerous large-scale public artworks in Finland and abroad, including mosaics and architectural commissions. 

Lehtinen graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki in 1980 and served as Professor at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design in Norway from 2007 to 2010. She has completed numerous public commissions across the Nordic countries and is currently working on a major mosaic for the National Museum of Finland. Her works are held in several prominent collections, including those of the Amos Anderson Fund, the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, the Sara Hildén Art Museum, and the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg. Lehtinen has held numerous solo exhibitions in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Germany. Lehtinen has received several major Finnish state scholarships, as well as the Majaoja Culture Foundation Art Prize (2018), the Cultural Prize of the Kalle Kaihari Cultural Foundation (2017), the First Class Gold Medal of the City of Tampere (2016), the Pirkanmaa Art Prize (2012), and the Finnish State Art Prize (1984). She lives and works in Tampere.