Irena Kurklietienė, a Lithuanian artist, draws her creative inspiration from nature. She is captivated by the nuanced and frequently unnoticed aspects of her environment—grasses, trees, blooming shrubs, the shimmering movement of leaves, and ordinary objects that populate familiar settings. By engaging in attentive, ongoing observation, she captures fleeting impressions that she interprets through her personal perspective before expressing them on canvas. In her landscape paintings, Kurklietienė transforms these elements of nature, often reducing them to abstractions that convey a sense of tranquility and harmony.
Kurklietienė aims for her paintings to create a harmonious and peaceful environment for viewers, offering a welcomed escape from the everyday preoccupations of material life. Her works tend toward abstraction, uniting representation and imagination with the intention of immersing the audience in a meditative mood. She hopes her canvases function as a visual sanctuary, enabling viewers to detach and experience stillness.
Born in Samogitia in Lithuania's Telšiai district, she began her formal artistic journey at the Telšiai Art Technical College, graduating in 1990 with a degree as an artist-constructor. Kurklietienė continued her education with a retraining program at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2002, earning qualification as an art teacher. In 2011, she completed her studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Šiauliai University and soon afterward joined its Art Department. She obtained her Master’s degree in painting in 2013.
Currently, Irena Kurklietienė dedicates most of her efforts to both painting and teaching. She regularly takes part in group exhibitions and organizes solo shows, always striving to bring her artistic perspective to a broader public. The dynamic relationship between her work as an artist and her teaching role continuously deepens her involvement with the arts.
About this artwork+
The painting captures a vibrant, lush garden scene bursting with verdant greenery. Atop the thick foliage, nasturtium flowers in vivid shades of orange and yellow happily pop out, interrupting the green with bursts of color. Nearby, delicate tendrils of vines stretch out and up toward the sky, which is depicted in light, breezy hues of pale green and light blue, suggesting a bright, clear day. The garden bed is richly textured, filled with variegated shades of green and flares of blue and purple which could be other blossoms or shadows, adding depth to the floral tapestry. The brushwork is loose and expressive, lending an air of spontaneity and life, as if the garden is caught in a gentle breeze.
