On Friday, 13 February at 5:00 PM, the artist Erki Kannus will open his exhibition “firewatercolor”at the Vabaduse Gallery. The exhibition will remain open until 11 March 2026.

Erki Kannus has released three forces on paper: fire, water and paint. He then tries to tame them according to his abilities, perhaps even to reach some sort of harmony. However chaotic the process may seem, or however abstract the result, there is always a Woman at its beginning and end. In the maelstrom of this nameless Woman’s moods, in the interplay of her fervency and fluidity, the author gets burnt and soaked in equal measures.
The fire is conveyed on paper via the medium of molten glass, which embodies the two extremes simultaneously. Water works in classical watercolour style, allowed to flow and roam more or less as it pleases. The relation with colour is more playful and coquettish, smoothing out the sharpest edges.
Seeking contact with the Woman within himself and in others, the author tests the limits of his vulnerability and safety.

ERKI KANNUS (b. 1958, Tallinn) graduated from the State Art Institute of the Estonian SSR (ERKI), Department of Glass Art in 1981. He has participated in exhibitions since 1976, having exhibited his art in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, France, Ukraine and America. He mainly works with watercolours, oil paintings and glass objects. Over the years, Kannus has worked on a project called “Tilinatoorium”, creating interactive objects using sound art and multimedia. In recent years, he has focused on glass art and painting, and he has had solo exhibitions in Tallinn, Rapla, Kärdla and Pärnu. Kannus is a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association, Estonian Watercolour Society and Estonian Glass Artists’ Union.

Thanks to: Merle Kannus, PUHU Stuudio, Olustvere Klaasikoda, Eili Soon, Kaie Vakepea, Helen Maasik and Aivar Jalandi.
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
The gallery is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Liviko Ltd.
The Vabaduse Gallery is managed by the Estonian Artists’ Association.
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VABADUSE GALLERY
Vabaduse väljak 6, Tallinn
Wed, Fri–Sun 12:00–18:00, Thu 12:00–19:00
vabaduse [at] eaa [dot] ee, +372 5805 0009
galerii.eaa.ee/vabaduse/

Kairi Orgusaar
TUNING. THE FORMULA OF HARMONY
HOP Gallery
19.12.2025 -11.01.2026

In the exhibition the artist is trying to find the recipe for harmony. For this purpose, she developed a world made up of fantastic creatures, swinging in beams of light, casting shadows and reflections.

Orgusaar is working primarily with glass in this exhibion. Her powerful sculptural glass forms and installations take on a poetic, delicate appearance with the addition of light. She is mostly intrigued by topics both intimate and timeless, but won’t turn her back on simple play and fantasy. She keeps returning to the theme of environment, and its interaction with the subject; harmony and dissonance, connections and influences.

“These entities in the exhibition, have but one language to express their emotions – that of colours. Joy, pain or arousal get projected as hues and shades of their skin. Since glass is the medium giving them form, they’re partially transparent, seemingly immaterial, submerged in water – as if they’ve been transported from some lost continent, like Lemuria,” the artist explains.

“Art would be useless if the world were perfect, as man wouldn’t look for harmony but would simply live in it.”
/ Andrei Tarkovsky /

Kairi Orgusaar (b. 1969) is a graduate of the Estonian Academy of Arts, specialising in painting and has a master’s degree in glass art. She’s been participating in exhibitions home and abroad since 1996. She’s a triple laureate of the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s regional award. Her works can be found in the Ernsting Stiftung Alter of Herdingi collection, Germany, in the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, and in private collections. In 2004, she founded her studio OÜ Kunivorm, and is the founder and board member of the Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art since 2010.

Rait Lõhmus
DECRYSTALLIZATION
HOP Gallery
12-26.02.2026

Rait Lõhmus’ solo exhibition Decrystallization at Hop gallery is a continuation of the author’s material approach that he has developed during his MA studies. As part of his master’s thesis, Lõhmus researched the use of ready-made glass molds in glassblowing studios and proposed an alternative approach to studio glass – a treatment of materials that has remained unchanged for nearly 70 years. Decades of stagnation motivated Lõhmus as a designer to explore and describe the reasons for and consequences of the changing value of the consumer products made of glass.
Lõhmus has been focused on reblowing packaging glass, everyday consumer items, and glass objects that are part of the local industrial heritage. Through the author’s technique developed during his studies, the artist proposes a possible continuation to glass objects that have lost their value, thus opening up the life cycle of the objects to a wider audience. In light of constant technological development and endless consumption, countless glass objects have been created in today’s time and space, with the value diminishing over time. Each object embodies a layer of cultural, social, and economic meaning, which, when placed in a new context, reveals the hidden values of glass objects and opportunities to reinterpret their current role.
Decrystallization is a hierarchical continuation of research on the value of glass materials. In the course of research that grew out of Rait Lõhmus’s master’s thesis project “Reblow Toolset: Infinite,” the author has thoroughly studied the properties of glass by experimenting with different finished forms. The technological factors that influence the physical properties of different glass materials have been identified by now. While the processing of packaging glass is fast and hectic and the finished form is anonymous in nature, crystal objects embody a material in which the work and presence of previous authors and masters can be perceived in the form of cuts and engravings. Lõhmus has collaborated namely with these former authors in order to transfer these details into a new form. Crystal, semi-crystal, and crystal-like vases, once considered luxury items and kept in display cabinets for only the most important occasions, have now been left in endless anticipation. Through the changes in form, status, and function, the hidden layers and timelessness of the material are revealed to the viewer.

Rait Lõhmus (b. 1993) is a designer and artist/craftsman who primarily uses glass as his material. In his practice, the artist focuses on reblowing various ready-made glass forms. This approach to materials allows him to create a bridge and exchange ideas with earlier productions and creators. Lõhmus has acquired a bachelor’s degree in the department of glass art and a master’s degree in Craft Studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In addition to running the Kollektiir Studio, Lõhmus works as the head of the glass workshop and a lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2025, the artist received the Young Applied Artist Award of the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Academy of Arts, ANORA

Exhibitions in HOP gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.

Flash show
The Longest Night of the Year
Curator: Stella Mõttus
29.11.2025 – 7.2.2026

From 29 November, our winter flash show The Longest Night of the Year is open at Kogo Gallery, presenting works by seven artists from Estonia, Latvia and the United Kingdom. The participating artists are Agate Tūna, Anna Mari Liivrand, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Ellen Vene, Madlen Hirtentreu, Tanja Muravskaja and Tiina Sarapu. The exhibition is curated by Stella Mõttus.
Check out the artworks: https://www.kogogallery.ee/…/flash-show-the-longest…/
When we think of Christmas, the first things that may come to mind are bright and warm living rooms, carefully decorated Christmas trees and tree skirts, and LED lights illuminating your own windows as well as those of every neighbour. Yet in nature, pitch-black darkness prevails. The days draw in, the light disappears incredibly quickly, and from morning to evening, there is a single stretch of dimness. It feels as though it never gets light at all. It is hard to imagine now that soon the sun will set only late in the evening.
Before the solstice, it can feel as though we are in another timespace – a space that is dark, but not empty. As we grow accustomed to the darkness, it becomes clear that the shadows do not conceal but reveal new layers: sounds become clearer, scents sharper and time seems to slow down. Our senses shift into a different tuning that allows us to perceive nuances hidden by daylight or noise. Darkness also makes room for imagination, creating the possibility of seeing what is not actually there.
Around the time of the solstice, it has been believed that the boundary between the realm of spirits and the earthly world becomes thinner, and that silence was necessary in order to stay awake, attentive and ready to listen to how different spirits and beings move around. Candles and bonfires helped, as they warded off the bad and kept one’s direction – light – in sight. Rooms were cleansed with smoke, the crackling of fire was used for divination and the sounds of the night were listened to. In this deep darkness, home becomes a kind of sanctuary – a place to retreat to during the season of spirits and sink into a winter’s rest.
This kind of timespace allows the warmth, presence and sense of anticipation we recognise as the feeling of Christmas to surface. Perhaps it does not lie in the nervous flicker of neon light in a neighbour’s window, but rather in the darkness, silence and smoke haze from the chimneys drifting across the land.
The works of the artists selected for this winter flash show radiate mystery and magic. Their pieces carry within them the transience of time, meditation, quietness, but also strength. Some works act as bright candles guiding one through the darkness; others allow what lies within the darkness to grow.

Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=tiina.sarapu&set=a.10236632166876859

Kogo Gallery
Kastani 42, Tartu
Wed–Fri 12–18, Sat 12–16
www.kogogallery.ee/en/

Kateriin Rikken’s solo exhibition “A Breath” opened in Konteiner Gallery in Telliskivi Creative City on the second Sunday of December.

The starting point for glass artist Kateriin Rikken’s solo exhibition “Sõõm” was the desire to take a break, look at what has been done and reflect on where to move forward. The artist’s soul had been filled with conflicting feelings and the joy of creation began to fade. “Shoshin” is a Japanese Zen Buddhist concept of approaching things with a beginner’s/beginner’s mindset. Shunryu Suzuki has said “If your head is empty, it is open to everything”. So the artist put aside his previous practice for a moment and pressed the “restart” button to experience the will to create for the sake of the will to create.

The exhibition features an installation using 63 green glass bottles collected from landfills, the Klubi Hall trash can, Frenchy Bistro and acquaintances. The bottles have been broken using a special method so that the fragments are not too sharp and are as similar in size and shape as possible. Found materials such as cardboard boxes and tubes, broken footballs and so on have been used as the main forms. The technique is gluing.

The artist has said: “The idea did not arise from the desire to give new life to materials. It was a desire to play without limits, to feel free, fun and creative, to be in the moment, to enjoy, to take a breath of the feeling of freedom. The train of thought started with glass, but has developed in its own way in a completely new way than in previous practice.”

Kateriin Rikken (1983) is an Estonian glass artist. She studied glass art at the Estonian Academy of Arts (BA 2005, MA 2023) and glass design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation in Denmark, glass art department in Denmark, Bornholm Island (BA 2010). She has worked in glass studios in Sweden, Denmark and Norway and since 2010 in her own glass studio. Kateriin has also been actively involved in exhibition curation and teaches glassblowing at the Glass Art Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. She has participated in many local and international exhibitions, and her works can be found in private and museum collections in Estonia and Denmark.

Instagram: kateriinrikkenglass

Elle Kannike and G
PolYLOGUE: DAY OF CELEBRATION
Dec 4th 2025 – Jan 10th 2026

Elle Kannike and G’s duo exhibition “Polylogue: Day of Celebration” is open at the OKAPI Gallery until January 10th 2026.

The exhibition explores what the role of the artist could be in creating and working with material in the era of post-anthropocene.

Elle Kannike is fascinated by G (she gives glass the character name G), the unpredictable behavior of the material acts as a trigger and invites her to play. This game is not chess with fixed rules, this game goes beyond the regulations and routines – a material playmate pushes a human to shake perspectives and discover new horizons. G is an agentic partner.

Co-creation with the agentic material requires that the artist finds a common language with the material and is completely dependent on the material as a creative partner. Both the human artist and the material artist are together in a heated state of adrenaline waiting. Neither of them knows how exactly everything will happen and how the delicate moment of open potentials where they come together will unfold. Elle Kannikes’ creative practice is a collective creation, where the human artist and material artist G as well as several silent actors (water, air etc.) have merged their creative vitality as co-authors in a polylogue.

Photos by Temuri Hvingija.

Exhibition opening hours:
Dec 5 th to Dec 20th 2025 and Jan 7th to Jan 10 th 2026
Wed-Fri 12 – 6 p.m., Sat 12 – 4 p.m.
The artist will be in the gallery on two Saturdays, December 20th and January 10th. During this time, everyone is welcome to come and ask additional questions about the exhibition.

CV

Elle Kannike (b.1980) is Tallinn-based artist working in glass and mosaics. She is intrigued by the question of how an artist must rethink oneself in a upcoming post-anthropocentric world. In 2024 she obtained a Master’s degree (cum laude) in the Glass Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. Being fascinated by the material agency of glass, in her artistic research she is exploring ways to collaborate with matter. She is a member of the International Association of Contemporary Mosaicists and of the Estonian Glass Artists’ Union.

Tiina Sarapu recently completed her monumental work “Weather and Earth” at the Harku Weather Centre.

See more: https://rkas.ee/et/uudised/keskkonnaagentuuri-harku-ilmakeskuse-poeetiline-klaasikunstiteos-valminud

Kai Kiudsoo-Värv opened her exhibition “In the End, Everybody Wants to Know” at the Okapi Gallery, Tallinn, on Nov 6, 2025.

A new glass gallery has opened at the St Catherine’s Passage in Tallinn’s Old Town. The host, Kati Kerstna, welcomed visitors to the celebration on October 22. Among them, founders of the glass studio that previously operated at the same location – Kai Koppel and Viivi-Ann Keerdo – symbolically handed over the house keys, along with their best wishes. The Estonian Glass Artists’ Union also joins them in wishing Kati a successful future!

Kairi Orgusaar displays her installation “A Recipe for Harmony” at the Venice Glass Week HUB, Palazzo Loredan, from Sept 13 to Sept 21, 2025.

On Saturday 13 September, the ninth edition of The Venice Glass Week officially opens under the title #TheMagicOfGlass. Until 21 September, Venice, Murano and Mestre will be transformed into a stage with over 200 events in 130 venues, featuring more than 300 participants from all over the world. The programme ranges from exhibitions and installations to workshops, guided tours, conferences, open furnaces, family activities and much more. Most events are free of charge, making the festival a unique opportunity for discovery and participation.

Among the highlights are the festival’s two group exhibitions: The Venice Glass Week HUB, hosted at Palazzo Loredan, home of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, featuring works by 50 established and mid-career international artists, and The Venice Glass Week HUB Under35, hosted for the first time at the Galleria di Piazza San Marco of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, showcasing the creativity of 30 emerging young talents.

All information is available on our website www.theveniceglassweek.com. By browsing through the categories or using the filters, you can create your own tailor-made itinerary.

Photo by Mati Hiis.