After years of isolation, the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are still little understood in North America. This website and the art exhibition that preceeded it were intended to bring forward documented accounts and analyses, as well as first-hand experiences, of contemporary art from this region.

Mounting such an exhibition was both an adventure and an accomplishment and many people contributed to its success. The idea for the exhibition was originally conceived in 1989 by myself and Helga Pakasaar who was then a curator at the Walter Phillips Gallery – she is a Canadian born Estonian, and I, a Lithuanian Canadian. When Helga left the gallery, I proceeded on my own. My tireless travel companion and sounding board for the research trip to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1991 was Elspeth Sage. The following individuals were particularly instrumental in setting up meetings, gallery and studio visits, and for sharing their knowledge with me: the entire Rubes family, Vid Inglevics, Vita Plume, Jon Baturin, Raminta Jurenaite, Anna Gerretz, Helena Demakova, Anu Liivak and many wonderful and generous artists, curators and gallerists that I met in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. I also wish to acknowledge the support of H.E. Michael Phillips – Canadian Ambassador for Lithuania and Latvia at that time.

The exhibition itself, which occurred from July 28th – October 25th 1992, involved bringing six of the seven artists to Banff to make new works and this created an excitement for everyone involved. We are grateful to the capable and committed Gallery staff who worked on this project: Pauline Martin, Deborah Cameron, Mimmo Maiolo, Mary Anne Moser, Sally Garen, Wendy Robinson, Bob Knowlden, the Art Studio program, Technical Services as well as Tim Westbury, Michael Toppings and Colin Griffiths. Members of the Canadian Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian communities were very generous in their reception of the artists, especially Davis Maksins. Many thanks to Barbara Weiss Gallery in Berlin, the lenders of the exhibition – Eda Sepp, Anita Dumins, the Zimmerli Art Museum – and to all the artists who worked so hard in making exceptional pieces for the exhibition.

The website is the product of even more hard work. I am grateful to Sylvie Gilbert former curator at the Walter Phillips Gallery, Mary Anne Moser and Mary Squario the former publications staff, Catherine Crowston, former Director/Curator, Sara Diamond, Artistic Director of Banff’s Media and Visual Arts programs, and Banuta Rubes for their wisdom and advice. I appreciate the current leadership roles taken by Anthony Kiendl, Director, Melanie Townsend, Curator and Trevor Hall, Associate. I want to acknowledge the professionalism and skills of Shelley Ouellet for her design, Mary Schendlinger for proofing, Elspeth Sage for co-ordination and research, Cheryl Bellows and Monte Greenshields for photography. I am indebted to the intelligence and ideas of the writers Lolita Jablonskiene (Vilnius), Mara Traumane (Riga), Hanno Soans & Anders Härms (Tallinn) and Raimundas Malasauskas (Vilnius/New York) who make this an engaging website to read. Finally, it is the vision of the artists Juris Bergins, Andris Breze, Valts Kleins, Leonards Laganovskis, Leonhard Lapin, Dace Liela and Gediminas Urbonas who give us insights to the world we live in.

The Walter Phillips Gallery is grateful for the generous financial assistance for this project from the Canada Council’s Visual Arts Exhibition Assistance Program which provided grants for the research, presentation and publication aspects of this project, and to the Canada Council’s Foreign Visiting Artists Program. Ongoing assistance from The Banff Centre, the Canada Council, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts is also greatly appreciated. The project was made possible with additional contributions from Mr. Peter Augaitis and Mr. Guntis Liepins.

This project has brought together my professional and personal lives in an unprecedented and rewarding way. It was a pleasure to seek advice from family and friends, to rely on them for translations, fundraising and guidance, especially my parents Peter and Sofia Augaitis, Rita Dirse, Danguole Zvirblyte and Vytas Butkus. Thank you to all!

Daina Augaitis
Exhibition Curator and Editor

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Website Personnel

Editor: Daina Augaitis — Curator of Exhibition
Researcher/Coordinator: Elspeth Sage — Curator/Administrator, On Edge (Vancouver)
Website Designer: Shelley Ouellet, vanitygallery.com (Calgary)
Site Hosting: Webcore Labs Inc. (Calgary)
Digitizing/PhotoShop: Paul Wong — Artistic Director, On Edge (Vancouver)
Text conversion: Paddy Ryan
Photography: Monte Greenshields and Cheryl Bellows
Funding: The Canada Council for the Arts


THE EXHIBITION | ARTISTS | ESSAYS | SITEMAP | CREDITS | REFERENCE