Report by Angele Juodzeviciene
The Contest of Contemporary Jewellery was held during the International Baltic Jewellery Exhibition “Amber Trip”. The main idea of the contest was to enable jewellers to reveal their creative potential, to develop the openness of exhibition visitors and guests to art and beauty, and to help perceive a piece of jewellery as an object of art.
The jury consisting of Sergey Falkin, the chairperson, artist, sculptor and Head of S. Falkin Artists’ Studio (Russia), Maryte Daugirdaite (Gureviciene), artist and designer (Lithuania), and Oleg Auzer, artist and founder of Jewellery College (Latvia), taking into consideration the originality and artistry of the artwork’s idea, and skilful performance of work, selected three works: Sergey Shimanski (Russia) was awarded the certificate “For the best expression and art idea in material” for the work “Taurus Nebula”, Asta Simkeviciene (Lithuania) received the certificate “For the best art idea” for the work “Chapel” and Piotr Wajcht (Poland) won the nomination “For the best design” for the work “Walk around the Beach” for the second year in a row.
I am interviewing winners of the contest Sergey Shimanski (Russia), Asta Simkeviciene (Lithuania) and Piotr Wajcht (Poland):Did you expect to be awarded a certificate for your work? How did you react to this news?
SERGEY SHIMANSKI: No, I did not expect to receive the prize. I am very grateful for the great appreciation of my work. I took part in your exhibition for the first time. The exhibition made a considerable impression on me and the level of organization was very high.
ASTA SIMKEVICIENE: Currently, I am studying jewellery in the Telšiai Faculty of Arts of Vilnius Academy of Arts. Works by students of the Department of Metal have been displayed in the “Amber Trip” Exhibition for several consecutive years, therefore, my participation has not been exceptional. Since I have not followed the information on the “Amber Trip” Exhibition, this first place has been a real surprise.
PIOTR WAJCHT: The award received has been a pleasant surprise for us, all the more so, as we do not exhibit our works in contests. It is a highly significant appreciation and praise of the design of our works. Attention to form and composition is the basis of our creative work.Mr. Sergey Shimanski, “TAURUS NEBULA” is one of works of the collection “Tauromania”. Please, tell me in greater detail about the birth of the artwork of namely this form to embody the year of the ox?
The idea of “Tauromania” occurred to me together with A. Ananyev, S. Falkin and other artists. We decided to try to create one work each on one subject. You have seen the result of the experiment at the exhibition. I tried to plastically embody in my work and demonstrate how people looking at the Taurus constellation are fascinated and amazed by it.
Mr. Sergey Shimanski, your creative work is acknowledged and greatly appreciated, and you take part in various exhibitions in Russia and abroad. How did your way as an artist begin? Why did you decide to become a stone carver?
I have been creating sculpture for as many as 15 years. I graduated from the Lviv (Ukraine) Institute of Applied Arts, the Faculty of Sculpture. In 1991, my friend, a sculptor and the son of geologist, who was engaged in stone carving then aroused my interest and involved me in the work with hard stone. I fell in love with this stone and it got started… I am grateful for the attention given to my creative work.
Mrs. Asta Simkeviciene, please comment in detail on the story of creation of the “Chapel”.
I created the “Chapel” inspired by sacred stone chapels. During the process of creation, it was interesting to discover a relation of jewellery itself to building material - concrete.
Mrs. Asta Simkeviciene, you exhibit works of your creation in various art galleries and plein airs. How long have you been in jewellery? What was the beginning and why did you choose namely this way?
I came to study at the then Telsiai Training School of Applied Art thirteen years ago. I chose the speciality of jewellery purely by chance, without thinking anything about the way of jewellery. It was then that I made my first acquaintance with metal. This material still helps me to express my creative ideas.
Mr. Piotr Wajcht, please tell me about your nominated work: is it a work from the collection?
Yes, it is, this work is a fragment of the collection “Walk around the Beach”. Both my wife and I are strongly related to the sea and love long walks along the beach, during which, after the storm we find “jewellery” washed ashore on the beach. It is fragments of flax and pieces of tree bark of finished design very often, which have been washed by the water for years. It is quite enough to set these “works of nature” in silver to give them a proper shape for wearing.
Mr. Piotr Wajcht, how did you become jewellery artists?
We have been married since time out of mind and therefore, perhaps, as years went by, we learned to combine our skills. At first we worked separately. Ewa had her own jewellery firm and I wrote scripts in the theatre and television. We have always helped each other in our work. Later, having united our “talents” and experience, we started to make designer jewellery.
