Today, the Estonian Academy of Arts celebrates its 109th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of ceramics studies with a gathering to which all friends, students and alumni of the Academy of Arts are welcome. Speeches, performance, auction, house tours, painting lesson, EKA music special, exhibitions and cake await the celebrants.
At the EKA meeting, you can see Keithy Kuuspu‘s performance dedicated to the 100th anniversary of ceramics, an exhibition curated in cooperation with the EKA museum, and an exhibition on ceramics by the painter Mihkel Ilusa. At the height of the festivities, a cake baked and designed by Maria Ader Bailey, an alumna of the painting specialty of EKA, is offered. Party music will be provided by EKA alumni and student musicians and DJs: Eesti Pops aka Janek Murd and Erkki Tero will make a special with EKA/ERKI music, Inga Tislar will play house music, Helina Risti will do karaoke and Andres Lõo will take the party past the midnight line.
For the second year already, a charity auction of the creations of EKA alumni and students will take place, half of the proceeds of which will be collected for the prize fund for young artists and designers, the support fund for ceramic students of professor emeritus Leo Rohlin, and half of the proceeds will go to the authors of the works. You can familiarize yourself with the auction works HERE.
EKA Ceramics 100
“The Estonian Academy of Arts is particularly happy for ceramicists this year, because the EKA ceramics specialty will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. The basic material of ceramics – clay – has been created over millions of years, and compared to that, 100 years is only an indefinite number, but Estonia’s cultural heritage has already undergone several layers during this time and ceramics has its own place in it,” says Kaja Altvee, an alumnus of the ceramics department and the new manager.
In the anniversary year of the EKA Ceramics Department, ceramics as a medium has been on the crest of a wave of popularity for a long time, having become an integral part of the interdisciplinary art field. Excellent examples of this are the artists Kris Lemsalu and Laura Põld, who have gained international attention and recognition in this field.
Through different regimes, the teaching of ceramics in today’s art academy has not only remained, but has also become increasingly stronger. During the Soviet era, when several ceramic factories also operated in Estonia, among others, ceramicists Leo Rohlin and Anu Rank Soans, who graduated from ERKI at the time, gained national fame. From the later generation, Karin Kalman, Annika Teder, Anne Türn, Ene Raud Mägi, Raili Keiv, Mariana Laan etc. have collected many awards at international exhibitions.
In 1923, at the then State School of Arts and Crafts under the Hungarian Géza Jakó, the ceramics department initially trained ceramic masters, and later the opportunity to obtain an applied artist’s diploma was added. Already at that time, prominent personalities and artists-designers emerged from the ceramics department, many of whom also found international recognition – Mari Simulson, who emigrated to Sweden and successfully worked as a designer in large ceramic factories there, Valli Talvik-Eller and Linda Liiv-Hermann, who collected awards at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris.
EKA Auction
An auction will be held at the EKA meeting, which will be conducted by EKA master’s student and gallerist and art collector Reigo Kuivjõgi. The works of both alumni and students will be sold at the auction. The income is collected for the Leo Rohlin Foundation, created to support young artists, designers and, separately, ceramicists.
Additional information about the auction
More information about the celebrations and the schedule
Event on Facebook
Register to the auction