Works by Monika Žaltauskaitė Grašienė stand out not only because of their unique content, but also because of unexpected combinations between traditional and contemporary techniques. The artist weaves impressive draperies using a complicated computerized jacquard technique, which allows her to create new stories and identities. Since the beginning of her career, M. Žaltauskaitė Grašienė was interested in image transformations in textile surfaces. She has a unique way of seeing everyday objects and aims to convey life processes evident on surfaces. The main motifs in her works are the volumes and forms of human body or clothing folds that are transformed into topographic textile maps. The images in her works are not directly transferred onto a flat surface, but rather go through different materialization forms: (textile), object, photography, computer program and textile. The original form is a real, physical object or body covering, enveloping cloth, the last – a two-dimensional, flat textile that gives a three-dimensional illusion of reality – curator, Neringa Stoškutė
The artist has held a number of solo exhibitions and actively participates in various group exhibitionsin Lithuania and abroad (Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, USA, Iran, India). In 2015 M. Žaltauskaitė Grašienė’s works were presented at an international exhibition “Art_Textiles” curated by prof. Jennifer Harris (Manchester, United Kingdom), alongside such artists as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Ghada Amer and others. In addition, M. Žaltauskaitė Grašienė has won significant awards, amongst which Individual Artist or Educational Stipends from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Kaunas City Municipality. The artist has completed training at the Cultural Innovation Hub & Artistic Laboratory in United Kingdom and participated in an artist residency in Delhi, India. She has given lectures at various higher education institutions and presented academic papers at international conferences.
M. Žaltauskaitė Grašienė’s works are included in private collections both in Lithuania and abroad. Since 2013 the artist is a member of the organizational committee of “Kaunas Biennial”.
Date of birth
1975 10 27
Education
2004-2007 Licentiate of Arts, Vilnius Academy of Arts
1994-2000 MA in Textiles, Kaunas Faculty, Vilnius Academy of Arts
Professional qualification, academic degree
2011-till now Associate professor, Textile Department, Kaunas Faculty, Vilnius Academy of Arts
Employer and position
2016-till now Head of Textile Department, Kaunas Faculty, Vilnius Academy of Arts
2011-2016 Associate Professor and Lecturer, Textile Department, Kaunas Faculty, Vilnius Academy of Arts
2008-2011 Lecturer, Textile Department, Kaunas Faculty, Vilnius Academy of Arts
Solo Exhibitions:
2016 “Smiling”, Contemporary Art Fair ARTVILNIUS’16, Vilnius, Lithuania
2016 “Rags”, Pažaislis Monastery Hospitality Complex “Monte Pacis”, Kaunas, Lithuania
2013 “Moving Fabric”, Vytautas Magnus University Gallery “101”, Kaunas, Lithuania
2013 “Total Equality”, Kaunas Photography Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania
2012 “Total Equality”, Pamėnkalnio Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
Group Exhibitions:
2016 “Notes on Tomorrow”, International CreArt project, Museu da Cidade De Aveiro, Portugal
2016 “Photo, Image, Media Textile”, Modern Art Research Institute of Ukrainian Academy of Arts, Kiev, Ukraine
2015 Innovative Textile Biennial “Inventing Fashion”, All-Russian Decorative Art Museum, Moscow, Russia
2015 “COLLECT 2015”, Saatchi Gallery, London, Great Britain
2015 “ART_TEXTILES”, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, Great Britain
2015 “10 x 10 = 100% Jacquard”, Norway + Lithuania, “Titanikas” Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
2014 Sanskriti Foundation, Artist residency, Delhi, India
2014 “Absolute Textile”, Museum of Applied Art and Design, Vilnius, Lithuania
2014 “ART.VS. DESIGN”, Gdansk, Poland
2014 Lithuanian Textile Biennial “TEXTILEX”, “Arka” Gallery, Vilnius
2014 “(ZU)DECKEN”, “Trofejas” Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2013 International Triennial of Tapestry, Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland
2013 Contemporary Lithuanian Textile Art Exhibition “LTextile”, Philadelphia Art Alliance, USA
2012 “Rewind History”, Paco Dos Duques De Braganca, Guimaraes, Portugal
2012 “Reprise”, Iranian Academy of Arts, Tehran, Iran
2012 Exhibition in Berlin, WerkstattGallery, Berlin, Germany
Conferences, residencies and workshops
2016 Conference “Make:Shift 2016”, Crafts Council, Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, Great Britain
2016 Workshop “CreArt”, Network of Cities for Artistic Creation, “Ars et mundus”, Kaunas, Lithuania
2015 Conference “Sonic Pattern and the Textility of Code”, London, United Kingdom
2015 Workshop and conference ARCINTEX‘15, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, Great Britain
2014 One-month artist residency at Sanskriti Foundation, Delhi, India
2012 Conference and lecture “Contemporary Lithuania Textile: From Tradition to Innovation”, Iranian Academy of Arts, Tehran, Iran
2011 Jacquard weaving workshop, 16th ETN Conference “Rewind into the Future”, Kaunas, Lithuania
Paper presentations
2016 Paper “Digital Image Transformations/Pixel Generation” delivered at the conference “Textile and Clothing: 4th Industrial Revolution”, FTMC, Textile Institute, Kaunas, Lithuania
2016 Paper “Photo, Image, Media Textile” delivered at Modern Art Research Institute of Ukrainian Academy of Arts, Kiev, Ukraine
2015 Paper “Crafting the Future” delivered at “COLLECT 2015”, Saatchi Gallery, London, Great Britain
2015 Paper delivered on individual artistic practice at ARCINTEX‘15, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, Great Britain
2014 Paper “Lithuanian Contemporary Textile Art Developments of the Last Two Decades” and a presentation of individual artistic practice at Cork Institute of Technology, Crawford Collage of Art and Design, Cork, Ireland
2014 Paper delivered on individual artistic practice at Sanskriti Foundation, Delhi, India
2012 Paper “Possibilities of Artistic Expression in Jacquard Weaves” at Estonian Applied Art and Design Museum, Tallinn, Estonia. Presentation of “Rewind History” project
2012 Paper “Contemporary Lithuania Textile: From Tradition to Innovation”, Saba Art and Cultural Institute, Tehran, Iran.
Art curating
2016 Artist and curator, Project “Labyrinth”, International Dance Festival “Aura”
2016-2014 Project manager, “You can’t – art can”, Kaunas Faculty, Vilnius Academy of Arts
2015 Project manager, “Text[ile] routes”, 10th Kaunas Biennial
2015 Curator, “10 x 10 = 100% Jacquard”, Norway + Lithuania, “Titanikas” Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
2014 Curator, Student exhibition “Things/Daiktai”, Socrates/Erasmus staff mobility programme
2012 Curator, 90th anniversary retrospective exhibition, Kaunas Faculty, Vilnius Academy of Arts
Awards
2016 Individual Stipend, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
2014 Silver shuttle award, Lithuanian Textile Biennial “Tekstilė X”
2014 Individual Stipend, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
2012 Individual Stipend, Kaunas City Municipality
2012 Stipend for Education in Iran, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
