Preserving glass art traditions
- Vineta is a professor at the Art Academy of Latvia
- She aims to inspire younger generations
- For her, traditions are the basis of the present
Vineta Groza knows a lot about glass. She masters many techniques, which she passes on to the new generation of glass artists at the Art Academy of Latvia. She was and still is inspired by the materiality of glass, the variety of its applications and its functionality. This passion led her to choose the career of a glass artist. Vineta not only teaches younger generations and creates glass art herself, she is also one of the founders of the Glass Art and Studies Centre, which continues the historical idea of a glass workshop and promotes the craft of glassmaking, creating educational exhibitions that provide an insight into the latest achievements in Latvian glass art.
INTERVIEW
The basis of my education and my initial training in handicrafts came from my grandmother, the knitter Alma Tavare, as well as my mother Aina Groza, who was a weaver and a knitter. So I can say that the basis of my education is my family.
For me, it is important to create sketches, which are an indispensable element in the creation of a work of art, especially in glass art. In the field of literature, a sketch is sometimes called an essay or a draft of a literary work, and that's also what I call my sketchpads.
I preserve existing traditions in glass arts and crafts, while teaching and inspiring the younger generation not to lose or ignore them. I am a teacher.
Nowadays, tradition is not a fashionable word, unlike new terms like sustainability. Traditions balance instability and protect against radical changes. The past is the basis of the present, hence traditions are the basis of everything that is happening now. So, innovations based on traditions will be sustainable.
4 EXPERIENCES
