Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design
PRESS RELEASE 18 January 2007
“ESTONIAN GLASS ART 70: The decade’s best (1996-2006)”
25 January – 25 February 2007
Professional glass art in Estonia turns 70 this year. The field is considered to have started in Estonia in 1936 when a department was created at the State School of Industrial Art (now the Estonian Academy of Arts) for teaching the speciality. It’s a suitable time to cast a nostalgic glance back at the most memorable works and show them to others as well. Ten years ago at the Tallinn Art Hall, we displayed a retrospective that went well into the more distant past. This year’s selection includes works from the ten years since that exhibition.
Maie Mikof-Liivik
Of course, so much has happened in the last ten years in glass art – another generation of glass artists has risen, borders are open, new trends are taking place, opportunities have vastly diversified. New and historical techniques are in use and being experimented with. International glass events are visited and organized, and competitions and awards being won all over the world.
Thanks to all this, we can offer a different sort of exhibition compared to the last one – besides already recognized movers and shakers, new artists are taking the stage, glass artists who have now themselves earned international accolades.
Sofi Aršas
The techniques used in the different works are represented in their full historical diversity – besides the relatively contemporary optics, cold working, engraving and blowing, there are also fusing and casting, all the way back to techniques such as pâte de verre, mosaics and core technique, some of which were already ancient during the time of Christ. All of these venerated techniques now bear the personal touch of the artists – adapted, combined in different ways and in different variations.
Our common favourite material – glass – in all its rich expressiveness, is on display, looking incomparably different in each item. Colour, lustre, monumentalism, transparency, delicacy, sharpness, danger – all are represented.
The range doesn’t quite run the entire gamut from jam-jar to cathedral stained glass window, but still, there is much here that is vastly different, beautiful and conceptual, all assembled in one exhibition featuring the best work of the last decade.
Participating artists:
SOFI ARSHAS, MERLE BUKOVEC, RIHO HÜTT, LIISI JUNOLAINEN, MERLE KANNUS, VIIVI-ANN KEERDO, KATI KERSTNA, VIRVE KIIL, KAI KIUDSOO-VÄRV, EVE KOHA, KAI KOPPEL, EEVA KÄSPER, IVO LILL, MAIE MIKOF, EINO MÄELT, PILVI OJAMAA, RAIT PRÄÄTS, MAIE-ANN RAUN, TOOMAS RIISALU, PEETER RUDAS, KAIRI ORGUSAAR, MARE SAARE, KAI SAAREPUU, MARET SARAPU, TIINA SARAPU, KALLI SEIN, KRISTIINA USLAR, KERSTI VAKS, KRISTEL ÕUNAPUU
Press release compiled by Kati Kerstna
More information:
Curators and designers of the exhibition
Kati Kerstna 52 90 779
Mare Saare 56 917 079
Virve Kiil 52 85 690
Kairi Orgusaar 53 403 124
Ketli Tiitsar 627 4602, 55 28 904, ketli [at] etdm [dot] ee