Ārija Skudra’s first personal exhibition introduces an artist who worked for many years as a designer at the Hat and Felt Products Factory “Rīgas Filcs”, where she created standard hat models that were later mass-produced for society at large — for children, women of various age groups, and men. As a result, for several decades, a large part of Latvia’s population wore hats designed by Ārija Skudra. The artist’s designs were regularly featured in fashion shows organised by the Riga Fashion House; however, her name — like those of many designers working with mass-produced items — remained unmentioned. This exhibition is therefore a deliberate step towards inscribing Ārija Skudra’s name into the history of Latvian design of the second half of the 20th century.
Ārija Skudra received secondary art education at the J. Rozentāls Riga Art High School but was unable to pursue higher education. Alongside her work as a designer, she developed a second field of creative activity — painting. She participated not in the professional art scene, but in exhibitions organised by amateur artists, presenting landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and figurative compositions executed in oil. Her most significant artistic achievement, however, lies in her work with the batik technique, which she practised from 1970ies until the beginning of the 21st century . These works are distinctly decorative, characterised by a virtuoso rhythm of lines and a high degree of generalisation in both natural and human motifs.
The exhibition features selected press photographs, materials from Riga Fashion House magazines, and a collection of the artist’s batik works.
Exhibition curator: Irēna Bužinska
