Space Contours

2020 03 18 – 2020 06 13

The exhibition features drawings by Birutė Stulgaitė, one of the leading Lithuanian metal artists. The well-acclaimed female artist has remained loyal to her medium throughout her career, producing metal jewellery and small size metal objects. The drawings accumulated over her long creative years represent an intermediate stage in the process. According to Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Aleksandravičiūtė, it helps “to translate an idea inspired by a particular impulse from nature into a finished piece. It is an image that serves as a vehicle that transports the idea from one material into a different one”. These drawings are not preparatory sketches, but they pave the way for the appearance of an object of metal art. They do not carry a fixed date and are seldom signed by the artist. “Mist, cirrus clouds, a gust of wind travelling over the tops of bent grass – these things are always the same. The fastest way to “capture” them is in pencil drawings on paper”, says the artist. 

Stulgaitė‘s drawings capture all kinds of movement: sometimes it is like a strong „metal“ incision by hard graphite, sometimes the line is tender, drawn from the wrist, other times it is a violet lash, but there are cases when the pencil hardly drags along the surface. Alongside drawings, the artist shows crushed paper objects. They were produced in 2005 from paper with acrylic. It was a test of Japanese paper crushed, soaked, stretched and fixed with silver acrylic for that purpose. 

Exhibition architect is Audronė Kondratienė.

Birutė Stulgaitė graduated from the Estonian State Art Institute in 1977 specializing in metal art. She exhibits in solo and group shows since 1976 and is a member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association since 1981. In 2012, she received the Lithuanian Government Award for Culture and Arts. In the year 1981, the artist won the bronze medal from the International Jablonec costume jewellery exhibition (Czech Republic). Stulgaitė gave eight solo exhibitions and took part in over 200 group events in Lithuania and abroad. Her work is held by different museums in Lithuania and abroad and in private collections. Her art was covered by numerous publications.