NordenBladet —
As part of a national level project, artistically inclined schoolchildren created over 800 portraits of members of the Riigikogu, with one portrait of each MP selected to the exhibition. The techniques of the portraits run the gamut from classical painting to mosaic, from drawing to digital art.
The President of the Riigikogu Lauri Hussar sees the drawings as an expression of unbound creativity in our young artists.
“I am very impressed by the way the young people see us, members of the Riigikogu, and express this vision through their art. The drawing process itself brought so much joy to our daily lives and these images on the wall of the Riigikogu have already created a special atmosphere here,” Hussar said.
The leader of the project and the Chairman of the Board of the Estonian Association of Art Schools Kristel Kallau emphasised the importance of multi-directional communication in the society, and art offers a medium for this.
“Visual communication gives an artistic youth the opportunity to express their message and flag their existence. For the state, the most important aspect is that kids and teenagers take life forward. The project aimed at connecting art school students with members of the Riigikogu, whose decisions determine the future of the youth of today. The meet-up location was the art class. With this encounter, the MPs turned from faces on the TV screen into real persons who have had a childhood, a formative life’s journey, emotions. Our young students, on the other hand, learned about the work in the Riigikogu. This created a two-way contact and communication line,” Kallau said.
To strengthen this connection, all participants in the exhibition could take part in a portrait workshop by the renowned Estonian portraitist and patron of the project Aapo Pukk.
The project attracted 37 Estonian general education and art schools and more than 800 students between the ages of 5 and 18 under the guidance of 84 teachers. 838 works of art were completed, which is a new record for the Estonian Association of Art Schools art competitions. Members of the Riigikogu were actively involved in the project, and many visited the participating schools personally.
The project was born in cooperation with the Finnish Association of Art Schools for Children and Young People; an exhibition of portraits of the members of the Finnish parliament is also opened in the Eduskunta building today. For our Northern neighbours, this is the second such project. The project had garnered a lot of attention from both the participants and the general public; inspired by this success, the Estonian schools were invited to carry out a similar project.
The 101 Models exhibition will remain open in the space outside the Plenary Hall until 27 February. The exhibition can be visited from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on working days. Visitors need to present an identity document to gain entry.
All the 800+ works of the project can be viewed in a web gallery on the home page of the Estonian Association of Art Schools.
Photo gallery of the opening of the exhibition (Erik Peinar, Merje Meisalu / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)
Riigikogu Press Service
Maiki Vaikla
+372 631 6456, +372 5666 9508
maiki.vaikla@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee
Link uudisele: The Riigikogu hosts an exhibition of portraits of MPs by schoolchildren
Source: Parliament of Estonia