Laima Oržekauskienė is a renowned Lithuanian contemporary artist. In 2005 she received the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize. The most important characteristics of the artist’s work are respect for the craft of textile art, relevant content and contemporary forms of expression. L. Oržekauskienė plays a significant role in Lithuanian art field as well as contemporary conceptual textile context, as she was one of the first, who linked craft of textile and intellect with relevant contemporary art tendencies. L. Oržekauskienė’s lead of the VAA Kaunas Faculty Textile Department is associated with the dissemination of concept of textile as a conceptual discipline and the formation of a new generation of contemporary textile artists. Since the beginning of her career, by researching the origins of textile, its symbols, traditional forms, and semiotic meanings the artist searched for an individual form of expression and penetrated deeper into the temporal and everyday life, metaphysical reality, female identity and experiences. In her works, the artist reflects and contemplates references in our everyday lives: life and death, man and woman, personal / private. A deep interest in the visuality of ornaments, symbols and traditional archaic weaving techniques, and their relationship with the principles of contemporary art are the epicentre of L. Oržekauskienės creativity – art historian and critic, prof. dr. Rasa Žukienė
The artist has held numerous solo exhibitions (Lithuania, Germany, Austria, India and Japan). L. Oržekauskienė has also presented her works in various group exhibitions as well as national and international art fairs, of which most famous are: 2015 – international exhibition “Art_Textiles” curated by prof. Jennifer Harris (Manchester, United Kingdom), 2014 – art fair “Chicago EXPO” (Chicago, USA) and 2013 – a collection of Lithuanian textile art “Textile LT” (Philadelphia, USA). L. Oržekauskienė actively participates in various international projects, symposiums, and artists’ residencies. In 2013 she participated in an artist residency at “City de Arts” studio in France. Throughout her career she has received major awards and in 2015 L. Oržekauskienė received Best Artist Award at the Contemporary Art Fair ARTVILNIUS’15.
Her works are included in the collections of Lithuanian National Museum, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Art Gallery of Szombathely (Hungary), Art Centre (Stockholm, Sweden) as well as private collections. The artist is a member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association, honorary member of Textile Artists’ Guild and chairwoman of the organizational committee of “Kaunas Biennial”.
