Niina Hiltunen is a Finnish textile and fiber artist working and living in Pirkanmaa region, Finland. She holds two MAs: one from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland and another in Art and Culture from Turku Arts Academy, Finland. She has also mastered a weaver’s education at Tavastia vocational school, which has a history of educating professional weavers in Finland since 1885. Hiltunen has worked as a textile artist since 2015.
Due to her background in classical music (cello), linguistics (German, English and Spanish philology) and arts, Hiltunen has developed an interest and worked in multidisciplinary art groups and in community engaged art with youngsters and dementia patients. Hiltunen is also part of a group of two artists and three researchers from Norway, Denmark and Finland, which is planning a textile- and contemporary dance-based Compositions of Care art project for elderly homes in Nordic countries. The project was funded by Nordic Culture Point with a short-term network fund in 2024.
Kädet kertovat (Talking Hands), is another multidisciplinary collaborative artwork combining textile / fiber art with contemporary dance, video and sound art. The artwork consists of three individual but united artworks, which form an entity portraying transience as a physical space.
Hiltunen has held several solo exhibitions in Finland since 2017. Her work has been seen in various group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad as well as in international textile art triennials and biennials. Her work has been acquired by private collections and by Hungarian Savaria Museum Szombathely Gallery´s textile collections.
Niina Hiltunen´s artistic work has been supported by grants by Ornamo Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland and the City of Kangasala, among others.