Three Romas Viesulas scholarships "For Excellence in Graphic Art awarded to the 4th year students of the VAA
Bachelor Degree in Graphic Arts, Jonė Dūdaitė, Jokūbas Griška and Emilija Grigaliūnaitė.
Congratulations!
Words of greetings to the laureates from Romas Taurus Viesuls, the son of a graphic artist, who takes care of his father's artistic legacy:
We stand before a period of absolutely unlimited possibilities.
These words were spoken in 1969 by Romas Viesulas, renowned American-Lithuanian printmaker and teacher. The
following year he was invited to the Venice Biennale to create a series of lithographs in situ, long before Lithuania
was once again an independent country, or had a pavilion of its own. Fifty years later, the Lithuanian Pavilion was
awarded the coveted Golden Lion in the 2019 Venice Biennale. This would have surpassed even his wildest
imaginings of ‘unlimited possibilities’, yet here we are.
Every graduating class stands on its unique threshold of what is deemed possible. Viesulas dedicated his entire
artistic career to exploring possibilities in print. His techniques spanned everything from woodcut to monumental
linocut prints on fabric, far larger than anything a printing press could manage. The ink relief was painstakingly
transferred by hand, using the back of a spoon.
Today’s materials and technologies, analog and digital, open up new horizons in graphic art. The winners of the 2023
inaugural prize for excellence in printmaking have each demonstrated an adventurousness in approach that would
have delighted and impressed Viesulas. May this award give you the confidence and curiosity to continue developing
your own personal idiom, so meritoriously evident in the portfolio you presented.
In the twenty-first century, some would have us believe that we are ending a ‘post-paper’ era. Yet printmaking is
more vibrant than ever, thanks to the dedication to the craft of young artists like you. Carpe diem! Seize the paper!
Seize the printing press! Celebrate your vision!
Greetings from Porto
Romas Tauras Viesulas
September 1, 2023
Each scholarship consists of 200 euros and a book-album "Romas Viesulas (1918-1986). Graphics", published by the
Lithuanian National Art Museum in 2021.
