Kunstniku Nimi
13 from Estonia
Kunstniku Nimi
ESTONISHING ! Exhibition of 13 Estonian jewellers Thomas Cohn Gallery 24.02–01.03.2016 (FRAME, Internationale Handwerksmesse) Munich, Germany 26.05–30.06.2016 São Paulo, Brazil Curators Thomas Cohn, Tanel Veenre Concept ESTONISHING ! artists
CATALOGUE Texts Thomas Cohn, Kadri Mälk, Tanel Veenre Translation Adam Cullen, Mati Sirkel (poem by Juhan Viiding) Design Asko Künnap, Julia Maria Künnap (binding) Photos Jaan Heinmaa, Julia Maria Künnap, Maarja Niinemägi, Tiit Rammul, Tanel Veenre, Tiina Niinemägi, Jun Ishikura, Katrin Kosenkranius (cover), Lui Ruut Plink (inside cover) & artists
Supported by Galeria Thomas Cohn, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Susan Cummins, Helena Pahlman, Mart Kalm, Law Office Ehasoo & Partners, Emil Urbel, Foundation Young Estonian Jewellery Gratitude Sofia Björkman, Ulvi Haagensen, Dénes Farkas, Helve Hennoste, Elo and Riina Viiding, Cultural Attaché of Estonian Embassy in Berlin Harry Liivrand Galeria Thomas Cohn Rua Joaquim Antunes 187, São Paulo Tel (55 11) 3167-5001, (55 11) 98877-2532 www.galeriathomascohn.com.br thomcohn@gmail.com Print Printon AS Publisher © ESTONISHING ! tanel.veenre@gmail.com Tallinn 2016 ISBN 978-9949-38-881-3
13 from Estonia
THE COLOUR OF DARKNESS
No more mountains, no more sea. No woods, no trees. No flowers, no fruits. No red lips, no green leaves, blue skies, shining gold. Far from tropics, long nights and short days, Moon reigns over Sun, snow hides the trees, wood and bones, metal and stones become the structure of people’s identities. Estonian jewellery has essence prevailing on surface, soul on flesh. The colour of darkness looms in the inner landscape, deep in the mind.
Thomas Cohn gallerist Brazil
The first letters sent from a Brazilian gallerist named Thomas Cohn to Estonian jewellery artists arrived in the late summer of 2013. The From the Coolest Corner exhibition catalogue stoked intense interest in the visions and ideas of jewellery art prevalent at the far end of the world. Mildly worried – Should he prepare for snow, too? – we arranged a two-day artists’ studio visitation programme for the 3rd and 4th of November of that same year. The bridge had been built. Early November was chilly in Estonia. And his passion for the jewellery was genuine. It is a kindred spirit, friendship through creative works that has brought this selection of Estonian jewellery artists together into an exhibition and a book, which would not have been possible without the enthusiasm and support of Thomas Cohn. Viewed from a distance, what might be the common thread that runs through these artists? Is there some other kind of a language apart from Estonian that we all speak? We are all alumni of the Estonian Academy of Arts Department of Jewellery and Blacksmithing, and all (with one exception) former students of Kadri Mälk.
What stems from the school, what from blood, and what from soil – who knows for certain? Yet, Estonian jewellery understands the language of idealism – that’s a definite. Estonia is just the right kind of place: peripheral enough to be free of popular trend’s clear orientation, and close enough to keep an eye on the game. We perch here like a little bird on a branch. I’ve heard people speak of a certain spiritual endeavour; an urge to peer beyond physical reality. An opaque ancient quality, which nevertheless isn’t afraid to be breakawaybeautiful. An ability to strain out the noise and the excess, leaving a clear surface. The proximity of nature, the sensitivity of fingerprint, the masterfulness of ambiguity. It’s possible. Your own ears stay out of sight, and even so – you can’t escape them, either.
Tanel Veenre jeweller Estonia
13 jewellers 13 worlds in jewellery 13 Estonian words that open personal worlds
EHE [´ehe] Ornament, adornment; solid, pure, genuine. Estonian is probably the only language in the world where a single word - ehe - means both
jewellery and sincerity.
Sofia Hallik
Nils Hint
Piret Hirv
Julia Maria Künnap
Kristiina Laurits
Eve Margus-Villems
Kadri Mälk
Maarja Niinemägi
Villu Plink
Darja Popolitova
Ketli Tiitsar
Maria Valdma
Tanel Veenre
Sofia Hallik
TAJU * [t´aju]
The quality of being able to appreciate and respond to complex emotional or aesthetic influences. A theory of sensation, perception, and understanding; or a theory of creation and appreciation of beauty.
*sense, perception
Sofia Hallik
Sofia Hallik
HOMEOSIS_V neckpiece marble, polyurethane plastic, silver, rubber cord 130 x 37 x 37 mm 2015
Sofia Hallik
Nils Hint
ÖÖSORR [´ø:+s´orr] A word with dual definitions: a bird known as the European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) and an activity – going to pee at night. The nightjar sleeps in the daytime and sings at night. Man sings in the daytime and sleeps at night. Two sorri may encounter one another when you go outside to take a leak on a summer night.
Nils Hint
Nils Hint
MEHINE I [m´ehine] MANFUL I brooch forged iron 140 x 100 x 50 mm 2015
Nils Hint
Piret Hirv
MAA*ILM ** [m´a:] [´ilm] A word-pair that joins us into a single whole of the surrounding horizontal and vertical bounds, tactile and impalpable. That joins us into the world.
Maa is the planet Earth – soil, land, solid ground. It is a trustworthy surface that feeds, in the loins of which lies strength, and upon which one can lean. One gets a sense for range and distances by measuring ground. Only a yearning for far-away lands is unmeasurable.
Ilm is the measure of breadth. It signifies both the known and the unknown, the near and the far, the visible and the invisible. Both *maa - Earth, ground, distance, country, land **ilm - weather, state of atmosphere, world, earth + humankind, much, many, oftentimes ***maailm - universe, globe, world, surroundings, society, very large, spiritual space
worldliness and otherworldliness. Ilm is an expression of the unmeasurable and the transient, the changing and the fleeting. It is the opposite of Earth and everything earthly. Everything human should fit precisely between the two.
Piret Hirv
Piret Hirv
ÜKS KÕRS [´yks k´ərs] ONE STRAW brooch silver 120 x 70 x 10 mm 2015
Piret Hirv
Julia Maria Künnap
UDU * [´udu]
Just read me from front or behind, I’ll still rise from field and from forest, a web I will weave to your eyes deceive and my trickery’ll take all before us. Thick I may be when I settle, spurring hopes to clear hay from the nettle, but when I do rise up higher towards skies
*fog, mist **Estonian riddle in verse, collected by folklorist Fr. R. Kreutzwald in 1865
’twill be to bring rain to the kettle.**
Julia Maria KĂźnnap
Julia Maria Künnap
EMA JA TÜTAR I [´ema ja t´ytar] MOTHER AND DAUGHTER I brooch obsidian, gold 57 x 36 x 10 mm 2015
EMA JA TÜTAR II [´ema ja t´ytar] MOTHER AND DAUGHTER II brooch obsidian, gold 53 x 38 x 10 mm 2015
Julia Maria KĂźnnap
Kristiina Laurits
HALL* [h´allj] It is a hue that ranges from white to black or is frozen dew on morning grass or a large auditorium in a stately building or substantia grisea i.e. grey matter.
Hall can also be bleak Estonian weather, a boring day, or simply pointless existence. *grey, frost, hall, characterless, mousy
Kristiina Laurits
Kristiina Laurits
PUNAVERELINE [p´una+v´ereline] RED-BLOODED neckpiece coloured curly birch, eggshell, enamel, silver, corals 300 x 300 x 7 mm 2015
Kristiina Laurits
Eve Margus-Villems
HERMES ring gabbro, white gold 100 x 19 x 5 mm 2015
HERA ring marble, oxidized silver 85 x 18 x 6 mm 2015
Eve Margus-Villems Kunstniku Nimi
Eve Margus-Villems
NÜRI* [n´yri]
Eve Margus-Villems
Southern Estonian nĂźhr. Both a mind and a blade can be nĂźri. *blunt, bootless, dull, obtuse, torpid
Kadri Mälk
Kadri Mälk
Tume is a shade of darkness – not quite black, but almost. Psychologically, metaphorically: black dog, twilight, in-between, suspicious, dusk, dim, gloomy. Dark matters.
TUME* [t´ume] *dark
Won’t ever stop, I am unclottable and flowing down – so hot and dark. Confessing time for every sin’s predictable. This winter’s snow I do now mark, its colour I can’t bear: this is too dark. Juhan Viiding
Kadri Mälk
Kadri Mälk
DUENDE 1 brooch painted cibatool, silver, pleonast 89 x 75 x 17 mm 2015
DUENDE 2 brooch painted cibatool, silver, gold, aquamarines 56 x 75 x 17 mm 2015
Maarja Niinemägi
Maarja Niinemägi
PARV * [p´arv] A parv as a float. A parv as a group, a herd, a pack. Certain species of birds, insects, and fish live parvedes (in flocks). A parv is communality, the existence which does not function alone. Just as how singular thoughts form a whole in relation to one another, so do they gather into a parv, allowing themselves to go with the flow in the necessary direction.
*covey, flock, swarm, bevy, raft
Maarja Niinemägi
Maarja Niinemägi
ÖÖPARVED [´ø:+p´arved] NIGHT FLOATS brooch milky opal, buffalo horn, mother of pearl, silver, gold 160 x 150 x 40 mm 2013
Villu Plink
Villu Plink
UMBLUU * [umbl´u:] A statement that is unclear or dubious. *mumbo-jumbo
It’s Greek to me.
Villu Plink
Villu Plink
J. T. brooch painted iron, plastic, steel 270 x 45 x 25 mm 2015
Darja Popolitova
Darja Popolitova
MÄGI * [m´ægi] *mountain, hill
Estonia is a flat country. Even so, most uplands and settlements have carried the word mägi in their names since ancient times. Take for example Sillamägi, Pirogovi mägi, or Emumägi.
Darja Popolitova
Darja Popolitova
METANOIA XIII brooch stabilized wood, resin, silver, steel 115 x 40 x 25 mm 2015
METANOIA XIV brooch stabilized wood, resin, silver, steel 120 x 35 x 25 mm 2015
Ketli Tiitsar
Ketli Tiitsar
So ordinary and important. Many trees make a forest. There’s a nice saying: “You need to see the forest for the trees.” Meaning
PUU * [p´u:]
you need to be able
to capture what’s important
behind the superficial.
*tree, wood, timber
Ketli Tiitsar
Ketli Tiitsar
TEINE OLEMUS VI TEINE OLEMUS V
[t´eine ´olemus]
[t´eine ´olemus] SECOND NATURE VI SECOND NATURE V
brooch
brooch
ash wood, silver, pigment
ash wood, silver, pigment
132 x 29 x 27 mm
156 x 57 x 14 mm
2016
2016
Maria Valdma
Maria Valdma
ÄRA* [´æra] go away don’t go away don’t do it don’t say that don’t cry figure it out don’t laugh hear me out out of place buy it up Judas gave Jesus up out and away
*do not, don’t, off, out, away
Maria Valdma
Maria Valdma
TERRITOORIUMID [t´errit´o:riumid] TERRITORIES brooch oak, gold, silver 90 x 190 x 40 mm 2016
Tanel Veenre
Tanel Veenre
ÖÖTÖÖ * [´ø:+t´ø:]
Time is still. Hands, materials, and heartbeats. Music. Dissolving into
öö (night) and *night work
töö (work).
Tanel Veenre
Tanel Veenre
VÕLUFLÖÖT III [v´əlu+fl´ø:t] MAGIC FLUTE III neckpiece wood, reconstructed lazurite, silver 250 x 170 x 20 mm 2016
The Artists
Kadri Mälk kadrimaelk@gmail.com
Ketli Tiitsar ketli@etdm.ee
Maria Valdma mariavaldma@gmail.com
Piret Hirv piret.hirv@artun.ee
Kristiina Laurits kristiina.laurits@gmail.com
Eve Margus-Villems eve.margus-villems@artun.ee
Tanel Veenre tanel.veenre@gmail.com
Julia Maria Künnap juliamaria@kynnap.ee
Villu Plink plink@live.com
Maarja Niinemägi maarjale@gmail.com
Nils Hint nils.hint@artun.ee
Darja Popolitova darja.popolitova@artun.ee
Sofia Hallik sofja.hallik@artun.ee
Years the artists studied at the Estonian Academy of Arts Department of Jewellery and Blacksmithing
1981 – 1986
1991 – 1999
1991 – 2000
1993 – 2002
1993 – 2003
1993 – 2002
1995 – 2005
1997 – 2004
1997 – 2006
1999 – 2008
2006 – 2013
2008 – 2015
2010 –
According to an Estonian proverb: you need to fertilize the cabbage that is growing. Where do children come from? Where do Urmas Lüüs SÜGISBALL / AUTUMN BALL brooch 2016 recycled enamelled pot, stainless steel 70 x 65 x 60 mm
FOUNDATION YOUNG ESTONIAN JEWELLERY
works of art come from? Where else but from under healthy, vigorous cabbage leaves. Or from the sky? Or – from love? In 2008 I perceived it was time. So many talented jewellers in the emerging Estonian jewellery scene and such miserable conditions for their growth. I made a decision. It was time to do something. Founded a grant. As well as providing support during that particular
*The charitable foundation NOOR EHE / YOUNG ESTONIAN JEWELLERY was founded with the aim of supporting the work of new, outstanding talented young jewellers in Estonia. The grant is given either as recognition for excellence in creative work or to help support professional development. Recipients of Foundation 2009-2015: Ettel Poobus, Nils Hint, Urmas Lüüs, Sofia Hallik, Darja Popolitova. The board of Foundation Young Estonian Jewellery: Kadri Mälk (founder), Tanel Veenre, Piret Hirv, Tamara Luuk
www.nef.ee
time, its aim was to provide a timeless aspect, which focused on the future. A large number of benevolent, generous friends and kindred spirits responded to the appeal, trusted me and the seed was sown – and not a small one. Tanel and his friends joined the cause. Then overseas supporters. And our own local Estonians support us as well. And this is a miracle. Where jewellery and relationships meet, there is hope. Kadri Mälk (Excerpt from the Non-explanatory Dictionary of Estonian Jewellery)
Kunstniku Nimi
Kunstniku Nimi
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