He was born in
Rovaniemi, Finland. He studied at the School of Industrial Art and the School of the Finnish Art Academy 1961–1964 and lived and worked in
Helsinki since 1961. Although his main activity was making sculpture, Kari Huhtamo also made
lithographs,
silk screens and textile works, medals and
portraits. In the early years of his career he used wood, light concrete and second-hand materials for his sculptures, and later aluminium, plastic and
bronze. From the 1970s onwards his primary material had nevertheless been acid-proof
stainless steel. One of the first
public sculptures by Kari Huhtamo is the Monument to the Reconstruction of
Lapland in 1945–1955 in
Rovaniemi, for which he received a commission in 1969. Since the mid- 1970s he has designed many public sculptures, received numerous commissions and has won prizes and awards in sculpture competitions. Besides having been exhibited in Finland, his sculpture has been shown in
Estonia,
South Korea and in the
Netherlands. In 2009 he was the first
Finnish sculptor to have a one-man exhibition in the
Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Russia. In 2010 he was the first sculptor to exhibit on the grounds of
Kultaranta, the summer residence of the Finnish
President in
Naantali, Finland. ==References==