Jūratė Petruškevičienė is a well-known contemporary textile artist in the art world. The artist admires folk art, especially folk fabrics and embroidery. They are the artist’s inspiration. This exhibition is dedicated to the modern revival of Lithuanian folk heritage. This personal exhibition includes works from two of her latest cycles, “From the Past” and “Handicraft Therapy”.

The exhibition is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Open Air Museum of Lithuania. It features 27 photographs that capture the museum buildings in their natural environment, even before their trip to Rumšiškės. Some of them “left” their native place very quickly, while others waited for a couple of decades to be relocated. Some buildings are easy to recognize – they have only become more beautiful in the museum, while others have changed almost beyond recognition.

We hope that the exhibition will encourage visitors to appreciate the invisible side of museum workers work – the ability to see the value in a dilapidated building, find a suitable place in the museum and bring it to a second life.

The exhibition will be on display in the museum town’s Plungė house until 2026 August 30’th.

Sincere thanks to the photographer Rimgaudas Žaltauskas, who revived the negatives stored in the museum’s collections.

Curator – senior museum worker Sigita Žukauskaitė

They are between heaven and earth. In spring, they bloom in the meadows with violets, buttercups, common foamflowers, yellow and white-flowered primroses, earthen primroses, rutaceae, spring early flowers, Swiss chard, milkweed and milkweed, primroses, even yellow primroses, red clover, grasshoppers, medicinal lungworts and white roots, garden sedges, sedges and sand sedges. They are flower-wings. The first to welcome the warmth and light of the spring sun.

At the exhibition of graphics works by illustrator Laimutė Varkalaitė, there are two dozen flower-wings created with ink lines, inspired by the flowers blooming in the meadows of the Open Air museum of Lithuania in spring.

The author invites us to discover, pause and take a closer look at them, accompanying us every time we walk along the path through the meadow, the forest, the woods.

The exhibition is on display in the Pušalotas house of the museum town from May 1 to June 28.

Originally from Samogitia, E. Kniūkštaitė came to live and work in Rumšiškės almost 50 years ago, and stayed here forever. Today, we are proud of the author’s universal recognition, the museum has a solid collection of selected works by the author, and we are pleased with the bright and memorable exhibitions of the artist that have been organized in the museum. And we are especially pleased that we can present the newest, never before exhibited works of E. Kniūkštaitė to museum visitors at the Aristavėlė Manor.

The latest works are easily recognizable by the artist’s distinctive drawing style, but they are especially painterly mature, colorfully condensed, large-format landscapes that attract the eye with magical lighting.

E. Kniūkštaitė’s paintings do not need to be introduced, we can only remind that she is an author whose work was included in the World Encyclopedia of Naive Art in 1984, her paintings have been exhibited in group exhibitions in many countries of the world, and exceptional personal exhibitions were held in 2010 at the Kaunas Picture and 2011 at the Vilnius Picture Galleries, two albums of the artist’s work have been published and in 2010 she was awarded the title of “The Most Memorable Kaunas Artist 2010”.

2020 was a special year for E. Kniūkštaitė: her creative path was crowned by an anniversary exhibition held at the Aristavėlė Manor, a television show was created to reveal the artist’s personality and she was awarded the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture Prize for the Fostering and Dissemination of Traditional Culture. The artist deserved this award for her long-term hard work as a restorer at the museum and for her many years of creative work since 1974, when she made her debut as an artist at the Republican Folk Art Exhibition in Vilnius.

After a very busy year in 2020, there was a short pause in the artist’s exhibition (but not creative) activities. However, it was a very productive creative period, preparing for future exhibitions, and we can see its results now. We sincerely rejoice in Elena’s new works and wish the author an even more abundant creative harvest!

2020 m. the museum had only 2 works by the artist, one of which, “The Holy Virgin Mary with the Child”, was specially painted for the high altar of the church in the museum town in 2011, and today it is proud to have amassed an excellent collection of selected and catalogue paintings by E. Kniūkštaitė – there are 27 of them!

Exhibition curators Ina Dringelytė and Neringa Norvaišaitė

Exhibition poster by N. Norvaišaitė

Photos by I. Dringelytė

This EXHIBITION OF TWO is an exhibition of the works of two talented Vilnius artists – Algirdas Sakalauskas and Anatolijus Ščiogolevas – a traditional and at the same time new result of the fruitful cooperation between the Lithuanian Museum of Ethnography and the Lithuanian Folk Artists’ Union (LTS).

From July 4, a new exhibition can be viewed at the fire shelter of the museum town, where visitors will undoubtedly be captivated by the works of these two authors, who have mastered two capricious painting techniques – watercolor and pastel – extremely sensitive, delicate and somewhat romanticized ethnographic landscapes and still lifes.

Memory is our greatest asset.
                                          Memory’s fight against oblivion is freedom’s fight against tyranny.

                                                                                                                                                                Prof. Vytautas Landsbergis

The main character of our story is a young girl Aldona Smetonaitė from the village of Lėnas, Taujėnai parish, Ukmergė county (now Ukmergė district), whose handicrafts, created in exile, testifies to us the memories and longing for her former life in her homeland, her ability to enjoy everyday details and her desire to create beauty even in the poor life of exile. Looking back at the episodes of Aldona’s life, we reflect on the painful fates of not only her family, but also of many other Lithuanian families who lost their previously full lives in the Homeland and suddenly became homeless. Aldona was only twelve years old when her childhood was shaken and changed by tragic events – her relatives – her brother and sister’s husband – were killed in the partisan fight, another brother who had joined the partisans was sentenced by a military tribunal and taken to a labour camp. When she was fifteen, she lost other family members as well – her mother, father and sister with little son were deported beyond the Arctic Circle. The teenage Aldona was left all alone. Having reached adulthood and being sought by the NKVD, in June 1953 she chose voluntary exile – to be closer to her family…

We cannot stop talking about what happened in Lithuania in 1940–1953. Because all this is happening again, Ukrainians are now facing a similar situation, primitive propaganda is being spread in Russia again, distorting the essential facts of Lithuanian history, even the statehood of Lithuania is being challenged, lies about the “Nazism” of the Baltic countries are being spread, so reminding us of the events of that time is more important than ever. This is exactly what we are doing, telling the story about people whose lives, like those of many other Lithuanians, began to collapse eight decades ago – in the brutal post-war years. The story of a simple and hardworking Lithuanian family that raised and patriotically educated four children, is a story of painful losses while defending Lithuania’s freedom, of long years in prisons, labour camps and exile.

The exhibition “Textiles of Exile – with Longing and Hope” tells fragments of the lives of the older and younger members of the Smetona’s family, exiles and political prisoners, supplemented by authentic exhibits. Family photos, along with the handicrafts of her mother Aldona Smetonaitė-Kontrimienė (1932–2024), created in exile, was donated to the museum in 2024 by her daughter Nijolė McClusky, who lives in the USA.

The exhibition uses materials from the Lithuanian Special Archives (KGB Archival Fund and Exile Cases Archival Fund), memories of partisans, exiles and political prisoners.

Exhibition authors Ina Dringelytė and Neringa Norvaišaitė

Pictures by I. Dringelytė

A new exhibition has opened in the residential-commercial house from Pušalotas, which displays drawings by artist Kazė Zimblytė from ethnographic expeditions. K. Zimblytė (1933–1999) is a Lithuanian painter, textile artist, and one of the pioneers of abstractionism in Lithuania.

In the second half of the 20th century, students of humanities and art studies actively collected ethnographic material in all regions of Lithuania. K. Zimblytė, while studying at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 1954–1959, studied national costume. While traveling through rural areas, she sketched the clothing of people from various regions of Lithuania, individual clothes, and described their purpose, dialect names, and technological features.

The exhibition features 25 previously unexhibited drawings of old village clothing, donated by collector Ramutis Petniūnas to the Ukmergė Vladas Šlaitas Public Library in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the birth of artist K. Zimblytė.

The exhibition will be open until September 30.

Inter-war Lithuania is often depicted as a state with deep Catholic traditions and high moral standards. Harsh censorship was in effect here and sales of obscene books were prohibited. Yet, were Lithuanians really afraid of nudity, had only marital sex and knew nothing about either syphilis or love for hire? The red-light district in Kaunas City, legal prostitution, the abundance of sexually transmitted diseases, and kiosks full of multiple types of condoms suggest that people from the past were not that different from us, and in some cases, even surpassed the present.

In this exhibition, you will be able to explore spicy details of the Lithuanians‘ intimate lives in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as other topics that are not frequently examined: historical perception of erotica, underwear, films, prints and other media for adults, sexual education, contraception and obscene folklore among other things. Additionally, for the first time in Lithuania, we present a recreated brothel room interior from Nemunas Street red-light district in Kaunas city.

 

Exhibition „Viewing by minors is prohibited“ is open from the 1st of August, 2024 in the Stankus and Abugelienė shop in Museum‘s Town.

 

Partners of the exhibition:

Šiauliai History Museum, Rokiškis regional museum, Museum of the Pasvalys region, The Museum of the History of Lithuanian Medicine and Pharmacy, Kaunas county public library.

 

Curators: Inga Levickaitė, Justas Rimavičius

Exhibition designer: Lina Jonikė

Conservators: Gražina Babkauskienė, Martynas Kosas

Technicians: Saulius Jonas Kandratavičius, Juozas Kniūkšta, Vygantas Jonikas

Digital graphics: Gytis Banys, Daiva Zubrienė, Rimgaudas Žaltauskas

Voice-over: Darius Narušis

Special thanks to: Janina Samulionytė

The exhibition dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Open Air Museum of Lithuania expositions highlights the importance of wood in our lives, and by extension, in our museum. Lithuania has always had a substantial wood culture, which is why wood has become the foundation of this museum. Over several decades, the museum has amassed an exceptional collection of wooden buildings, including homesteads and individual buildings.

Wood, wooden objects, and woodwork accompanied people at every step, from the cradle to the grave. A tree was planted when a child was born. The deceased were laid to rest on a wooden board. Wooden coffins were used for burial. In cemeteries, wooden crosses and roofed poles were built, and statues of saints were carved. Wood was significant to people in both the sacred and the domestic spheres. People continued the life of the tree through their creations.

People knew wood. They knew what tree should be used for making certain items because they knew the properties and uses of wood. That knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation.

People knew how to use wood products. They knew the composition of wood and used its parts skillfully. Not only the trunk but also the bark, roots, branches, and leaves.

The exhibition features many everyday objects used in Lithuania in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Other objects not included here can be found throughout the museum, in the interiors of the museum’s houses and bathhouses, and in further contexts.

This exhibition is like an introduction to our museum exhibitions.

Exhibition „Wood and us“ is open from the 30th of June, 2026 in the Exhibition Hall of the Open Air Museum of Lithuania.

dr. Aistė Morkūnaitė – Lazauskienė
Curator of the exhibition

The republican exhibition of ethnographic still-lifes of folk artists is the result of traditional, annual, and comprehensive cooperation between the Open Air Museum of Lithuania and the Union of Lithuanian Folk Artists.

As many as 34 talented and original folk still-life painters from all over Lithuania (Vilnius, Kaunas, Panevėžys, and Šiauliai) are participating in the ethnographic still-life exhibition. They submitted 48 still-lifes for the exhibition, made with various techniques, reflecting multiple painting styles, and original drawings. They were very suitable for the museum expositions.

The republican exhibition of ethnographic still-lifes of folk artists is open from the 16th of May until the 30th of September, 2024 in the firefighter’s shelter in the Museum‘s Town.

The exhibition curators are art researcher Ina Dringelytė and architect Neringa Norvaišaitė.
The author of the exhibition poster is N. Norvaišaitė.
The poster uses I. Zebčukienė’s painting “Ethnographic still life I”, 2023.