Ogre Museum of History and Art

“ART IN MOTION – SUMMER IN OGRE” Creative Workshops for Children and Youth

Laura Tuča — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:04:39 +0000

The series of activities will begin on 8 July at 11:00 a.m. and will consist of seven diverse art workshops led by six artists from different creative fields in collaboration with museum educator Liena Subatiņa–Brazeviča.

The programme is designed as an inspiring and educational experience, offering participants the opportunity not only to engage in creative activities but also to explore various art forms, ask questions to professional artists, and gain insight into their daily work, creative journeys, and the unique aspects of their professions.

CREATIVE WORKSHOPS:

08.07. | Liena Subatiņa–Brazeviča
“Design Your Own T-Shirt” – a tie-dye workshop introducing the batik dyeing technique.

15.07. | Laura Ikauniece
“When Words and Images Become a Story” – a creative writing masterclass.

22.07. | Māra Gaņģe
“The Museum of Lost Things” – a performative and research-based art workshop.

29.07.| Oto Holgers Ozoliņš
“Form-Making Workshop” – an introduction to sculpture mould-making and casting techniques.

05.08. | Dārta Madara Cielava
“Impasto Oil Painting” – a workshop exploring oil painting techniques.

12.08. | Ilze Krastiņa
“Draw the Summer” – large-format flower and plant painting using acrylic paints.

19.08. | Auce Biele
“Splash Studio: Painting Emotions Through Abstraction” – an abstract painting workshop.

To register, please call +371 20217889 or email liena.subatina@ogresnovads.lv.

Participation Fee: EUR 3.00

When registering, please provide the participant’s name, a parent or guardian’s contact phone number, and the name of the responsible adult.

Book launch event for Mārite Tabita Kļaviņa’s book “The Old Oak”

Laura Tuča — Fri, 29 May 2026 11:13:19 +0000

On June 11 at 5:00 PM, the opening for Mārite Tabita Kalniņa’s book “The Old Oak” will take place on the second floor of the exhibition “The Path to Freedom”. The book is intended for a young adult audience and tells the story of a partisan based on true events. During the launch event, visitors will be able to participate in a trivia game and enjoy the main character Donāts’ favorite treat — honey cake. It will also be possible to purchase the book and receive an autograph.

Latvian Batik Masters – Contemporaries of Ārija Skudra

Laura Tuča — Fri, 29 May 2026 07:22:51 +0000

On June 13 at 1:00 PM, we invite you to a special lecture as part of the exhibition “The Queen of Hats and Her Batiks.”

Seeking new opportunities for creative expression, the batik technique gained popularity and application in Latvia in the 20th century. 60.-80. It was embraced by both professional and amateur artists. The technique’s appeal lies in its broad and diverse decorative possibilities, utilizing hot, cold, or freehand painting techniques, or various combinations thereof.

This is evidenced by the brief, yet artistically brilliant, engagement with this technique by artists such as Rūdolfs Heimrāts, Rita Blumberga, Pēteris Sidars, Diāna Dimza Dimme, and others. Meanwhile, Ērika Iltnere, Georgs Barkāns, Arnis Pumpurs, Jevģēnija Knāviņa, and Vitolds Kucins were artists for whom batik was either the sole or one of the primary techniques in their creative work.

The lecture will provide a brief insight into the work of the aforementioned contemporaries of Ārija Skudra, characterizing the diversity of their thematic, stylistic, and technical approaches.

The lecture will be led by the exhibition curator and art historian Mg. Art. Irēna Bužinska, who this year received the Latvian Art Annual Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her professional work is characterized by an unceasing interest in phenomena of art history that have been forgotten or misunderstood due to political circumstances or changing tastes over time, and an ability to inspire this interest in others. Her research gaze has always been directed towards artists whose originality contrasts with the aesthetic norms of their time or transcends conventional formal boundaries.

The lecture will take place at the Ogre History and Art Museum building at Brīvības iela 36. The event may be filmed and photographed.

Admission to the event is free.

FAMILY DAY EVENT

Laura Tuča — Tue, 26 May 2026 13:39:28 +0000

FAMILY DAY EVENT

June 6 | 12:00–16:00

On Family Day, we invite you to a warm and creative gathering for spending quality time together! You will have the opportunity to learn simple hat-folding techniques and decorate them using various materials.

There will also be a special activity, “From Heart to Heart. From Family to Family.”

Leave your family’s thoughts and wishes in a small letter — a gentle imprint left in the world, entrusted to another unknown yet equally important family. And by taking with you a message written by someone else, allow yourself to feel how closely we are all connected — through kind words, hopes, and quiet care for one another.

OBJECT OF THE QUARTER

Laura Tuča — Wed, 13 May 2026 08:46:55 +0000

OBJECT OF THE QUARTER
A Communist Crime Comedy in Ogre, July 1940
[..]

“In July 1940, J. Gucevičs bought two mercury thermometers in Riga, while J. Nemo purchased apple pies at the buffet of the Ogre railway station. The contents of one broken thermometer were poured into one of the pies. The ‘enhanced’ pie was then fed by J. Nemo to V. Jupatins at the Ogre Community Hall, following a ceremonial rally held in honor of a visit by commanders of the occupation army.

J. Gucevičs did not know that ingesting mercury is not lethal. The harm done to V. Jupatins was limited to severe stomach cramps and groaning while lying on a couch in his office.”

📍You can read the full story in the permanent exhibition “The Path to Freedom”

Photograph: Organizers of the parliamentary elections at the Ķegums open-air stage. 1940. Collection of the Ogre History and Art Museum.

Dārta Madara Cielava’s solo exhibition “BELONGING”

Laura Tuča — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:48:37 +0000

On May 16, 2025, the competition-exhibition “Artists of Ogre Region” was opened at the Ogre History and Art Museum.

The winner of the exhibition “Artists of the Ogre Region” was Dārta Madara Cielava with the work “Grandpa Doesn’t Know My Name.” The recipient of the main prize earned the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition in 2026 in the museum’s Great Hall.

About her upcoming exhibition, the artist says:

“Everyday rhythm leaves its traces in the environment around us. The meaning of objects in life is no longer purely practical. Space is not just space. Within it, an object becomes a reference point of human attachment. It tells a story about its user and keeper, about habits, about socioeconomic status. Daily experiences leave their imprint on the environment we maintain around ourselves. It is a diary that holds what cannot be expressed in words. I am an anthropologist. I am a detective. I know myself differently. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say I know myself less than those who deduce, research, observe. You look at me like a bird locked in a cage through screens, paintings, and loudly declared theses in moments when I do not play along with the staged performance of my own persona.

I am a student; I have school, work, and home. And at home I also work—I paint, write, send endless chains of emails. Routine emerges from comfort and the combination of small problems and joys.

I am affected by expensive heating in a rental building; I am affected by foolish, thoughtless remarks made by people whose staged performances we are all subjected to. My bed is my safety—it is like the origin point of a coordinate plane. I am not untouchable; I am in a cage I have built myself. When I step out of it, a new act begins.”

In her works, the artist perceives each object as a sign or a word. Nothing is accidental. Compositions form naturally; the artist assigns them context, seeking correlations between the physical and its emotional foundation. There are not answers to everything—it is important to accept that.

The exhibition searches for the boundary between the personal and the public. The paintings become a place where silence and information overload collide, revealing how conditional and fluid our understanding of private space is today. The body of work forms a reflection on social structure, our mechanisms of adaptation, and the tension between the collective and the individual—creating a distinctive documentation of the era.

In the paintings, impasto brushstrokes and vivid colors interact with bare areas of linen canvas, allowing the detail-rich works to breathe. What remains unpainted stays in shadow; its existence is neither emphasized nor diminished. Within the overall context, it becomes an axis of balance—important, yet forgotten.

Although the artist is trained as a painter, more unconventional media often find their way into her works and collections. Materiality plays a significant role in her practice; every choice of technique and material is grounded in intention. Painting evolves into an ideological practice, becoming a language without attempting to confine itself strictly to a medium or a conventional form.

The exhibition will be open at the Ogre History and Art Museum from July 3.

WHERE DID THE BAT COME FROM?

Laura Tuča — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 08:42:29 +0000

Museum detective, answer the call!

Can you help uncover the story of this object? What is it? Where does it come from?

We are looking for answers together with you — perhaps you have an idea or a memory about it!

Send us a message: ogresmuzejs@ogresnovads.lv; muzejsogre@gmail.com

Exhibition “Between Two Occupations.”

Laura Tuča — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:21:59 +0000

The exhibition “Between Two Occupations” tells about events in the Ogre region from June 22 to July 6, 1941. It was a time when the troops and officials of the communist occupation regime were leaving the territory of Latvia, while the period of Nazi occupation had not yet begun.
It was a complex and chaotic time, characterized by uncertainty, looting, deaths caused by military actions, and the murder of civilians. At the same time, it was also a moment of bold and sometimes desperate hope, when many inhabitants of Latvia, with weapons in their hands, tried to drive the communist occupation regime from their land, believing that the worst was already behind them.

Exhibition author: Inese Dreimane
Design: Rolands Vēgners
Graphic design: Estere Vītola

Translation to English:
In the images:
Notices published in a newspaper in 1941 about looting carried out by employees of the Jumprava Parish Executive Committee while fleeing.
A notice published in a newspaper in 1941 searching for a driver who had been forcibly taken away.
Jumprava parish partisan Kārlis Balodis (1911–?). Arrested on April 30, 1949. On July 18, 1949, the Military Tribunal of the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) of the Latvian SSR sentenced him to 25 years of imprisonment and 5 years of exile. He was imprisoned in Krasnoyarsk Krai. Released on June 11, 1955.
Pēteris Zelkāns–Kūkseliņš (1896–1941). Lived in Riga. Taken off a train at Ogre station and shot on June 24, 1941, on suspicion of attempting to seize a Red Army officer’s pistol on the train.

Ogre History and Art Museum received Jānis Kuga’s paintings for its collection.

Ogres Vēstures un mākslas muzejs — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 07:49:42 +0000

Ogre History and Art Museum has received three paintings by Jānis Kuga, one painting by Māra Cepurīte-Reynolds, and one drawing by Edvards Dzenis into its collection. The museum team extends heartfelt gratitude to Anna Reynolds for this generous donation.
Pictured: Jānis Kuga. Untitled, 1949. Oil on canvas. 102 × 82 cm. Gift from Anna Reynolds.

Ārija Skudra – Personal Exhibition

Ogres Vēstures un mākslas muzejs — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 16:10:50 +0000

Ārija Skudra’s first personal exhibition introduces an artist who worked as a designer at the Hat and Felt Products Factory “Rīgas Filcs” for many years, 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, it can be said that 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 the 1970s 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

Exhibition scenographer: Ineta Sipunova