Potter Romas Galiauskas shares the secrets of his craft in an authentic workshop in his grandfather’s farmhouse. When you mould clay in a place surrounded by forests, you feel relaxed and happy, and the fear of making mistakes disappears. It is not only art, but also a great therapy; clay brings you back to your childhood, gives you the opportunity to create, to change, to transform and destroy, and then, to try it once again. Ceramics is one of the oldest art forms, connecting many arts: painting, printmaking, sculpture and even scenography. The whole process is completed by firing in the kiln, so ceramics combines not only the arts but also the four elements: fire, water, earth and air.
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Upytė Traditional Crafts Centre is housed in a newly renovated, unique eco-friendly house built of straw and clay. The main focus of the educational activities here is the promotion of flax farming and the development of related crafts. The many educational programmes will introduce visitors to textile and blacksmithing crafts, beekeeping, traditional music, pottery and toy making. The craft centre organises a series of activities to celebrate All Saints Day, Christmas, Midsummer and Easter: candle making, straw decorations, mask making and learning how to decorate Easter eggs with wax. Periodically, the centre hosts an artisan market in a stationary marketplace, and pottery kilns are used to demonstrate the firing of traditional tannery and black pottery.
UPYTĖ TRADITIONAL CRAFTS CENTRE CRAFTMEN:
– Irena Ona Vilienė is a certified weaver of national heritage and folk artisan. She runs an educational weaving programme and teaches the craft of weaving – ribbon making.
– Stanislovas Sargautas is a folk musician and leader of the Upytės Vešeta folklore ensemble. He organises educational programmes on traditional music making – dances, games and playing on traditional instruments.
– Rolandas and Vyginta Jakubonis are blacksmiths. They demonstrate the craft of blacksmithing and lead educational
blacksmithing programmes.
– Audronė Virbalienė is a knitter and a tailor. She demonstrates the craft of sewing and runs an educational programme on ragdoll making.
– Daiva Pridotkienė is a beekeeper. She demonstrates the craft of beekeeping and conducts education about bees and beekeepers.
– Romas Galiauskas, a ceramist, leads the educational programme “Clay Friendship”. He demonstrates the potter’s craft, organises potters’ training, and shows the process of firing tan pottery.
Ramygala Cultural Centre opens its doors to adults and children looking for creativity and fun. During the educational activities, visitors can get acquainted with the old ways of rope braiding, wool weaving and decoupage techniques. The centre organises several educational programmes in ceramics. During the workshops, the origin of ceramics, the peculiarities of the technique, and the technique of making bells, vessels, lanterns, angels, whistles, jewellery and
other articles are explained. All the products are fired and then go to the artist’s home. In the programme “Chamotte Classics”, participants make decorative fireclay plates and glaze them.
Savos Erdvės is a craft residency in the historic centre of Ramygala. Creative symposia, training and informal education have been taking place here for more than a decade. The residency has a very strong ceramic equipment base. During the various educational programmes, participants mould and decorate preferred products, weave textile mandalas, cast beeswax candles, tie straw decorations, make folk ribbons, paint on silk, create stained glass, make woollen needlework, and get acquainted with exotic types of handicrafts – batik and plangi (techniques of printing fabrics originating from the island of Java), and temari (a Japanese traditional handicraft).
I am an artist from Lithuania.
Creating unique things for unique people.
Small beasts, birds, four-footed creatures; winding tendrils of plants; silent fairy tales, lullabies; soft spells of dusk or dawn in a handful, in the palms, near the heart, near the ears – to whisper fairy tales…
Stories often live in my works, which I interweave while carving porcelain, ceramics, insert into drawings on wood or paper, sprinkle colored, like sand, enamels on metal.
If you insist on an apple-scented city (especially in the fall), visit the arts incubator, where you can live choose a story you like, pin it to your beloved coat lapels, or hang it on your ears to hum to endless fun.
On the outskirts of Panevėžys, in the village of Radviliškiai, farmers Albinas and Audronė Kisielius bake bread according to the old Lithuanian traditions, and organise educational activities at their homestead. Everyone who comes can not only watch the process of bread making, but also touch it, knead the dough, breathe in the flavour of the sourdough starter, shape a loaf of bread, put it in the oven and take their own bread out of the bakery. During the session, participants are introduced to the long path of bread, depicted in the sculpture ensemble built in the homestead, and talk about the belief in the magical power of bread, which determines the harvest and human and family life.
The first Angora goat farm in Lithuania is located in Panevėžys district. The goats raised by the mother and daughter are as gentle as sheep and friendly as dogs. Visitors to the farm not only enjoy the animals, during the educational workshops they learn more about Angora goats and how their hair – mohair, strong and at the same time soft fibre – is transformed into yarn. Goat breeders tell about the ancient processing of wool, from the times when there were no combing and spinning machines. Participants learn how to spin yarn with an ancient hand-held spindle or make an Aukštaitija ribbon.
The Naujamiestis Cultural Centre–Art Gallery organises educational programmes where participants get acquainted with straw, a durable material with special therapeutic properties. They are useful not only at home, but also for
creating delicate and sustainable decorations. The programmes “Straw Factory”, “Create an Interior Decoration”, “Straw Song”, “Straw’s Glowing Power” and “Christmas Decorations” reveal the unique properties and symbolism of this material in the context of major celebrations of the year. A straw sculpture park on the outskirts of Naujamiestis invites visitors to pay attention to sustainability, to think about indiscriminate consumption and the friendship between man and nature. There is also an educational programme for playing wind and percussion musical instruments, and you can get acquainted with the exhibitions of Karaite history and the chronicles of Lithuanian churches.
The Daukniūnai art workshop offers an educational programme which invites visitors to get to know the beautiful, high quality, yet capricious material – natural leather – and the craft of leatherworking up close. The programme reveals the possibilities, subtleties, processing techniques and uses of leather. Participants can make their own genuine leather item: a keyring, a brooch, a bracelet or a reflector. Leather tassels is an original idea of leather designer Romualda Galeckienė, which combines craftsmanship and high fashion, safety and beauty.
At the alpaca farm, you will not only admire these enchanting therapeutic animals, but also take part in the educational programme “The wool path from animal to thread”. You will learn about the origins and breeding of alpacas, the shearing and processing of wool – spinning, washing, and then the production of articles. Each strand is washed by the alpaca farmer herself, who prepares around 80 kg of wool a year, which is then transported to a combing station. The yarn, which is not normally dyed because alpacas are colourful animals, is used to make socks, gloves, scarves, wristbands, waistcoats, hats and blankets.