ILO!karhu (JOY!bear) in Ilomantsi

Sitting next to the Ilomantsi market square, the five-metre-tall ILO!karhu statue was created in the spirit of recycling from surplus building materials and timber. It serves as a symbol and landmark of the municipality of Ilomantsi all year round.

ILO!karhu is like a mother figure for the hundreds of wooden bear sculptures created in the chainsaw carving competitions of the Ilomantsi Bear Festival. You can sit on the lap of the large statue on the bench and you can also get inside it from the back.  

The strong frame of the Bear Statue consists of discarded impregnated and non-toxic telephone poles, which were driven to a depth of about one metre, and concrete footings were cast in the pits. The bear’s fur is made of pieces of surface boards attached to each other. About 14,000 nails sank into the bear.

ILO!karhu statue was designed by chainsaw artist Juha Käkelä, and he also built it together with another chainsaw sculptor, Raimo Hautaluoma, on 14–21 July 2023. They were assisted by two workers from the Vaara-Karelia Cultural Association of the Association for Rural Education, as well as a group of the association’s assistants and local machine entrepreneurs. The public was also given the opportunity to participate in the making of the statue on two days.

The construction of the bear statue was part of the Vaara-Karelia Cultural Association’s Bear Festival Future project. The funding was obtained from special grants awarded by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, for cultural activities in sparsely populated areas.

The local STC Production filmed the construction of the bear statue and made videos of it, which can be seen on the Bear Festival’s YouTube channel. Watch the time-lapse video compilation on the construction of the ILO!karhu statue.

Also stop by the sculpture park Bear Forest in Ilomantsi!