Back from Heaven

There are certain places in the World where you reconnect with your inner self and mother Nature. Certain places that purify your heart, mind and soul. Places that get into your heart. Places where you feel Majesty of Life.
Places like a top of the Dead Dunes in the Curonian Spit...
Photo by Marius Jovaisa. Kopa Naglių rezervate.

I've been there again. And I can say - I am back from Heaven now...

Alchemy of blossoms

For the last few weeks I've been collecting samples of various kinds of plants - blossoms and leaves (as well as scrap metals). Another dare for the pretender? Yes.

Discovering the world of botanics. I've always been interested in plants, their use for medicine purpose, always experimenting with growing plants from the seeds. But this time I am interested in pigments they hold. Colour. The colour of Universe.

I've started my eco series with plant dyeing that I called "Memories". Everything around us has memory. Starting from memories in our mind, memories of our skin sensing a touch, memories of water of any kind of vibration met in its way and...memories of the cloth that once embraced the fruits of Mother Earth - blossoms, leaves, berries, fruits, wood, mud, coal or even blood.. and left its traces. And memories of those same blossoms and leaves of the wild and endless fields, meadows, forests, open sky, rain, soil, wind or touch of a bee. All of those memories harboured in the same piece of cloth...

I gathered some pieces of our Universe...

And started my eco series with eco printing and dyeing. Just 3 plants from those produced clear visible colours, but it was a real alchemy - memories expressed in sand, maroon, grey, green and eggplant colours in a top "Linden Lea". And it smelled divine...

White. Like 20 kg of snow in the Summer

White white and white. White is purity and innosence. White is kindness, wholeness and completion. White purifies your soul... like 20 kg of snow in the Summer...

I've been working a lot with white recently. Taking new photos of my white rug "Wind in the desert", felting a white christening outfit for a little girl and a white wedding dress for the "Bride of the Clouds"...

And dreaming white dreams... trying to purify my soul and heart from all the inquietudes it's got...

I miss snow in the Summer. (Ironically - I miss Summer blooming in the Winter...) I miss white all around me. Could you send me 20 kg of snow in the port?..

P.S. Discovering myself featured in Alcova Moderna was a pleasant surprise.

The Pretender. Life of Learning

In 1996-2000 there were TV series shown - "The Pretender" - about the man genius who could be anyone he wanted, i.e. he could "flawlessly impersonate anyone in virtually any line of work".

What is the ability of a genius, is also an ability of every man but to different extent. At least I believe in this. So it wasn't just a charismatic look of the Pretender (Michael T. Weiss) that would grip you watching the series, but the idea of this human potential of becoming anyone he wanted in professional level and in the same life time.

Anyone who has changed his occupation, profession or interest field in life at least once do have this feeling of being a "pretender" and have motioned the human potential of being anyone desired. The extent of it depends individually, of course.

I have had this strong feeling of being a "pretender" several times in my life. Being a dancer from my early childhood years led me to dream only about a career of a dancer and seek perfectionism in it, though in my late teenage year I found passion for photography that I think was in the family as my father has been an amateur self taught photographer having his own old photo making equipment, chemicals, films, shiny papers, dark room...that all built into some magical sense for me as being a child. I didn't go into deep at photography at that time and I have even lost my black and white films and photos of that time.

My biggest transformation was leaving a career of a dancer for study of psychology - I took my BA and MA degree in it and I can say I was passionate about it and yes, I was good at it. I knew I could do a lot in this field. If I wanted to... And that's where I had my first doubts. I sacrificed my biggest passion - dance for psychology (and always had a feeling of being a bird with cut wings since then) and suddenly found myself in doubt if it really was the field I want to devote myself to... This was the point in life where I started my dance therapy groups and my new passionate study on merging dance, art, expression and psychology.

My second biggest transformation was finding textiles - felt and becoming - an artist? self taught. artistic soul? I haven't actually found the right word for myself till now.

I knew so little about textile before and suddenly I was so into it spending days and nights studying and practicing it on my own, experimenting, trying to feel it.

I do feel I am doing the right thing at the right time of my life now. I enjoy discovering the textile world and feel it is so strongly connected with discovering world itself, nature and life. And being a therapy for one's soul as I once said...

What actually made me think of the human potential for "pretending" (which is actually not the direct meaning of pretending to be someone you are not, but in the meaning used in the series - really becoming someone else) was my renewed interest in photography. I must say I don't know any technical rules, even any basics of it, I usually shoot driven by feelings, by something one can only sense without any scientific explanations. And suddenly I wanted to know it all, not just experiment with setting different numbers on my camera, but know what those numbers mean and what exactly I am doing.

I spent a couple of evenings trying to make several self portraits and just got a feeling that I would need another lifetime for discovering what photography really was... Or just felt too tired yet for another potential of being a pretender again in my life.

And there are so many other things I still want to learn and keep on discovering... that it really blows my mind how other humans manage to learn and keep all the information, and skills they develop in so many fields in the same life time... And where do they get all the time in the world for doing that?

We are learning all our life and after. Learning on its' global perspective is living... But I would need hundreds of life times for learning everything I want now... Yet it doesn't prevent me from enjoying those few things that I've learned in life and keep on doing. And it leads to belief that every minute left of this life time would be full of joy of discovery.

And yet I do get confused when someone asks me now - who are you?..

A "pretender", I guess.

e c c o * e c o. Featured by Abigail Doan

Recently I made a contact with very special environmental artist and writer Abigail Doan, the editor of e c c o * e c o. As she states on her profile: "I am a writer, editor, and environmental artist residing in NYC, Sofia, and rural Italy. My eco-textile and art farming projects are a means to create sustainable solutions and key visual links to the global challenges we collectively face. I am also a mother of twins." 

Conflux 2008/'Urban Fiber Flotsam' 9/13.08 (photography by Meiling Chen)

Abigail caught my view with her sensual, fragile, tactile fibre art installations and projects that merge with the surrounding space and become a natural continuation of the nature. Abigail entangles her ideas of "environmental tinkering and sustainable practice" into her projects.

She is also the editor of the blog e c c o * e c o that covers original and organic designs, fashion and art. So I was definetly honoured to have my work featured on Abigail's blog:

"Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Vilte's Lithuanian Felt Magic

I am so thrilled to have recently made contact with Vilte Kazlauskaite, a super talented eco fashion-forward felter from Lithuania. Her one-of-a-kind felted wool, silk, flax and other natural material creations are totally handmade and part of a long tradition of fiber art in her exotic homeland.

Vilte states, "I started my journey into magical world of felt about three years ago. I was a psychologist and dance therapist before then. Felting became an important part of my life. I got so into it that I also published a book, Veltinis ("Felt") about the unique felting technique in Lithuania, the first book of its kind covering this form of textile art."

I love the spirit of Vilte's designs and the sustainable alchemy that she so effortlessly conjures. Her entire collection is an inspiring example of the future of contemporary fashion being rooted in indigenous methods and earth friendly goodness.






* above images courtesy of Vilte Kazlauskaite
* visit Vilte's blog and 'felt magic' etsy shop

Posted by Abigail Doan at 11:23 PM "

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Abigail Doan – į aplinką orientuota tekstilininkė-menininkė, rašytoja ir etiškos ir ekologiškos mados dienoraščio ecco*eco redaktorė, gyvenanti New York’e, Sofijoje ir Italijoje.

Abigail instaliacijos – itin jautrios, trapios, taktiliškos, įsiliejančios į aplinką ir ją pratęsiančios.

Labai vertinu tai, jog tokie kūrybiški žmonės kaip Abigail pristato mano darbus savo dienoraštyje. Ačiū, Abigail!

Wild Angels on Haute Nature

Haute Nature - blog, covering ecologically based creative ideas, art & green products for your children, home and lifestyle...an eco guide blending high style with sustainability, has featured my felted bracelet - Where the Wild Angels Live.

Thank you! And I am honoured!

Where the Wild Angels Live

European Street Team (Etsy) challenge that I am hosting will come to an end this evening. And my theme for all the members was Wild versus Elegant. This theme evolved naturally from my inside world.

I love wild, raw, natural, and chaotic... Prefer a wild mustang over a domesticated horse. Wildness symbolizes freedom for me. It's the energy that makes everything flow in the world.

I love elegancy, grace, I am always looking for it in any objects, materials. My understanding of elegancy is of course subjective and might seem weird sometimes. Usually wild and elegant are not considered to be a one. Usually man made objects that claim to be wild are lacking grace in their form; and the ones that claim to be elegant are too much polished and perfect, lacking a sense of freedom and natural life.

For me wild and elegant go together, one in another, entangled in each other... There is so much grace and elegancy in the wild world. It's just a question of how you look at it. 

My entry for the challenge is a bracelet felted from raw Drenthe Heath wool (no, it's not fur, it's felted fleece!), merino wool, silk and Baltic amber. Drenthe Heath has the strongest expression of wildness here, while the rest - merino wool, silk and amber combine wild and elegant nature in themselves.

It might look soft as a feather, but actually it is pretty rough (Drenthe Heath), and I love this combination between soft, gentle and rough, raw, wild... I called it

W h e r e t h e W i l d A n g e l s L i v e

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Kur gyvena laukiniai angelai. Apyrankė iš šilko, merinosų vilnos, Drenthe Heath vilnos ir baltiško gintaro.

Myliu tai, kas turi laukinę sielą, neapdirbtą prigimtį, tai, kas natūralu ir kiek chaotiška… Visuomet renkuosi laukinį laisvą mustangą, o ne ramų prijaukintą kuiną. Laukinė siela yra laisvė. Tai energija, kuri viską pasaulyje priverčia tekėti.

Myliu eleganciją, grakštumą. To ieškau visuose objektuose ar medžiagose aplink. Elegancija gan subjektyvi. Ir elegancija paprastai nėra tapatinama su laukiniškumu.  Žmonių pagaminti daiktai, siejami su laukiniškumu, paprastai stokoja grakštumo; o tie, kurie siejami su elegancija, dažnai būna per daug nušlifuoti, per daug tobuli, stokojantys net minčių apie laisvę ir natūralumą.

Laukinė siela ir elegancija man – viena su kita susipynusios išraiškos… Viskas priklauso nuo požiūrio ar…įžvalgos.

Felt United - a call to participate on International Day of Felt

Last week I received an email inviting to participate in the event Felt United on the first International Day of Felt, October 3d, 2009.

Elis Vermeulen (The Netherlands) and Cynthia Reynolds (Norway) are organizing this event and are calling all felt artists around the World to participate. I said "yes" for Lithuania!

"The theme for this year will be a slice of the colour wheel, yellow through red.

People around the world will be surprised by finding yellow felt on doorsteps, orange felt birds in parks, children wearing red felt vests and husbands carrying bright felt bags to work. There will be felt in museums and felt in markets. There will be felt groups organizing open days and workshops.

...felt in trees, on cars on bicycles and on mountaintops.

This is an open call to felters around the world who have not yet heard about FeltUnited. We are asking felters everywhere to participate on October 3rd, 2009.

Display your felt - on your front door, in the park, along the road or on your car. Anywhere your heart desires... be wild! Have fun! Let the world see what you make".

Love it!

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2009 spalio 3 d. – pirmoji tarptautinė veltinio diena, kurios tema – spalvos  geltona-oranžinė-raudona. Ir mes, t.y. Lietuva, dalyvaujame! :)

Bloom Rider

  Wedding veil B l o o m R i d e r. silk chiffon, merino wool, silk, banana silk yarn

Colors. We usually ask about favorite colors. And this simple question always confused me as it never looked simple to me. How can you have one favorite color? I like certain colors to look at, others - to wear, to use in my living space, certain colors for certain objects...And certain color as a philosophy of colors.
Colors are changing during the life. Some colors come and go, some always return, some you seam to hate but find yourself attracted to them after several years, and some you love and just can't bear any more of them after a while. Colors are flowing energies in life.
I usually had problems with working, wearing, looking at pink color in my life. It was one of the colors that wasn't so easy for me to accept. And just not so long ago I found I could appreciate it, I could find beauty in it, accept it and create with it.

"Pink is the color of universal love".
"Pink provides feelings of caring, tenderness, self-worth and love, acceptance".

I do hope it means I managed to embrace more of universal love..and accept (myself?)

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Spalvos yra įvairovė. Ir labai sunku nusakyti mėgstamiausią spalvą, kadangi vienos spalvos tinka dėvėti, lytėti, kitos žiūrėti ar būti jose…

Vienos spalvos patinka dabar, kitos anksčiau ar vėliau. Vienos spalvos ateina ir išeina, kitos – pasilieka visada.

Rožinė – ir vėl sunkoka spalva man… Tačiau kartais ateina laikas, kuomet sugebi įsiklausyti ir į šią spalvą, ją įvertinti, suprasti ir ja kurti.

Rašoma, jog rožinė – visuotinės meilės spalva, sukurianti švelnumo, globos jausmus, savo vertės suvokimą ir gebėjimą save mylėti, priimti.

Ar gebėjimas kurti rožine spalva reiškia, jog sugebi aprėpti daugiau visuotinos meilės ir.. priimti..(save?)

Giving and receiving of the give away

As I have posted almost a week ago there was a giveaway on Ravenhill's (Emily from Oslo) blog. A giveaway of one of my shawls - F e a t h e r s. 

And we do have a winner of the shawl today - Ms. Mary Pennington. Congratulations for her!

But I am not going to speak about what I gave away. I wanted to speak about something that I received. And I did receive a lot.

Lots of beautiful, heartwarming, motivating, magical words from all the people who visited my Etsy shop and devoted their time and attention to what I create. Feedback is what reconnects you with those who see, touch, own or dream about what you create. It means a lot to me. Thank you all!

OK, I checked out the shop and my first impression was "sensuous!" The photography does a great job not only of showing off Vilte's beautiful colors and designs, but it is very evocative of the airy caress of silk and Nuno felt. I think she has a gorgeous product and shows it off well in the shop. I wish Vilte much success in her "Felt Magic" venture. Kristin L

she has the most tender felted shawls I've ever seen! I think Salome would've loved to use them for her dance :) zsb creations

I have been to the shop and I must say, I have never seen anything like this before. I love the colour combinations and the look of those contarasting textures... no wonder there is a pic of some one wearing nothing but the shawl! Christina

..it's been like a daydream, gorgeous materials skilfully matched, and a pleasant atmosphere of lightness all around...I'm in LOVE with Vilte's shop!!! logos63

Viltes creations are for me a bit fairy, romantic, very feminine!!
She is a real felt artist, with a very own style!! fleurfatale

These are pieces of wearable art!!! Lunaticart

I love all her creations ! And the way she photographs them is really fabulous ! enchanting ! P8

completely dream creations, beautiful work and great imagination with her textures and designs. .. magic! the feeling of visiting something a little exotic too .. the photography is divine and very theatrical :) sigmosaics

my breath is always taken away by the beauty of the work and the photographs. whenever I go to her shop I am always transported to another reality of beauty and etherialness. It's like visiting a DREAM. the work is beautiful and inspiring. paula

There is something about the flow and textures that seem so free and organic. Heidi

The whole shop is very sensual..and..yes, sexy. :) Who can ever resist?!! NOt only the scarfs are fantastic..also the pictures and story behind them!! Alise Lake

Her shop is like art gallery - it's indeed wearable ART! JaneBo

I love Vilte's work. She creates with passion, and it shows in her beautiful shawls! Dawn, from LaTouchables

Impressions-- I like her generous use of fabric-- these are really shawls not scarves. I like the movement in her pictures and the way the fabric floats and drapes.
I also enjoy her bold use of color. thebeadedlily

when i first saw her shop, i thought it looked very elegant and sophisticated. her shawls look like they were made for anyone who deserves to be spoiled! sarah

She has a sensual approach to art. Very pretty, and unique. Sarah

These are just some comments that were left.

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Kartais duodamas gauni daug daugiau nei duodi. Gauni atgalinį ryšį, kurio kartais taip trūksta (ypač Lietuvoje ;) ) Perfrazuojant japonų posakį – vienas šiltas žodis sušildo visus 3 mėnesius…