Kristiina Uusitalo (b. 1959) attended the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts from 1978 to 1982 after which she studied in Tyler School of Art in Temple University, Philadelphia USA , from where she received her MA diploma in 1988. She says that many of her works are "illustrations of an epiphany-type moment of awareness. They are more like portrait of an experience than of a place, like stages that enable me to tell what I have experienced, discovered, anticipated. They witness the radiating intensity of a moment experienced and are simultaneously quiet and expressive." In 2005 she had an extensive solo exhibition in Oulu City Art Museum and in 2008 she received the State Prize for Visual Arts. She has an upcoming exhibition in Galleria Heino in spring 2010. Her works are included in every significant public collection in Finland.