In 2020, to commemorate the Year of Folk Art, five folk artists from Druskininkai implemented their creative ideas, which were funded by the Lithuanian Culture Council in the form of an individual scholarship. We present virtual exhibitions of these developers.
JUOZAS KAVALIAUSKAS – BLACKSMITH
Exhibition of the tops of blacksmith memorial monuments „THE IRON PEAKS LEAN AGAINST THE SKY“
In the living tradition of Lithuanian cross-stitching, the iron tops of small architecture occupy an important place. Chapel pillars, roof pillars, chapels and crosses were decorated with iron tops in Lithuania. Chapels, belfries and churches are decorated with crosses forged by blacksmiths. Cross-stitching, a unique branch of Lithuanian folk art, was added to the UNESCO list of masterpieces of intangible culture in 2001. In recent years, artistic blacksmithing has been widely used in everyday life, in the exterior and interior of houses, but the traditional technique and technology of blacksmithing based on ornamentation, which is characteristic of ethnographic lands, is becoming less common. Thus, the idea arose to create an exhibition of the tops of blacksmith memorial monuments, typical of five different ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The forged peaks reflect the traditions and peculiarity of blacksmithing in the regions of Aukštaitija, Dzūkija, Suvalkija, Žemaitija and Lithuania Minor. During the implementation of the scholarship, 6 tops of memorial monuments were created and minted: “Morning”, “Hope”, “Jotva”, “Dainava”, “Santaka” and “Flowering”.
Category: virtual exhibition