Exhibition “7 stories for Gabrielė” belongs to the series “Sugrįžimai/Coming back”. Artworks for this exhibition, with dedication to fellow student Gabrielė, were presented by former students and graduates of Textile art and design programme of the year 1993-1999 at Department of textile art and design of Vilnius Academy of Arts: Vaiva Abromaitytė, Gerda Navickaitė, Indrė Sofija Ditkovskė, Martynas Gediminas, Giedrius Bagdonas, and their lecturer Eglė Ganda Bogdanienė.
Students who enrolled at Department of textile art and design in the year 1993 formed a particular class – seven personalities, seven stories, seven restless souls. This class was the first at the Academy to attend to international camp in England, at West Dean college, where painter and teacher Pat Taylor introduced them to weaving of classical tapestry. Visiting Tate Modern and Victoria and Albert Museums also made lasting impression on this class.
Studies at Academy, educational camps at West Dean, in London, in Labanoras and Paberžė with Father Stanislovas merged this group of students into a group of like-minded friends.
Although not everybody from this group finished studies, although one person from it is no longer with us, although after studies everybody drifted into very different professional fields, the connection between colleagues and to the Academy persists.
Exhibition “7 stories for Gabrielė” from the annual series “Sugrįžimai/Coming back” by Department of textile art and design invited fellow students and lecturer to remember their studies, present their artwork and discuss, how the knowledge obtained at Academy helped (or impeded) them in creating their professional career.
ARTIFEX gallery
Gaono St. 1, Vilnius.
II-V: 12-18. VI: 12-17
