Since 2007, the A-Gallery has been selecting the best Vault exhibition every year. The aim of the competition is to appreciate the masterful achievements of jewellery artists in their work. The winner will be determined by the shareholders of A-Gallery.
What is balance, why is it so important? Balance is a state of being that gives people inner peace, dignity and certainty, a sense that I can decide, have control over my life and take responsibility for my choices.
Balance is honesty towards myself, an ability to understand my emotions and simultaneously understand other people. A balanced life gives energy, the capacity to think and find what is valuable, to see beauty and feel joy, to be curious about everything new and interesting. Balance means standing on firm ground, it is knowing that what surrounds us is permanent and does not fall apart.
In art, balance means a sense of equality between the various parts of a work, a sense that nothing needs to be added or removed. A well-balanced work finds harmony between the idea, the choice of materials and the technical execution.
Jewelry is a precious thing, which is mostly created to complement the costume and emphasize the wearer’s personality, it goes into the wide world and lives its life there. It reflects the world of thought of the jeweler, but each wearer always adds his or hers personal energy to the jewelry.
A balanced piece of jewellery is convincing, pleasant, gives confidence to the wearer, supports and makes us feel better.
I strive for balance.
The exhibition was designed by ÜLA KOPPEL.
The artist expresses her gratitude to Cultural Endowment of Estonia, A-Gallery, Üla Koppel, Kalle Komissarov, Liina Lõõbas and Avo Raikna for their help and support.
Ülle Kõuts (b. 1956, Pärnu) is an Estonian jewellery artist, whose clear minimalist nature of her work and the marriage of metals technique that she uses makes it stand out and has contributed to establishing her position in the Estonian jewellery art scene. Ülle Kõuts’ work has been exhibited in Estonia, Czech, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, USA, France, Germany, Hungary and Denmark. Her works belong to museum collections in Estonia, Latvia, Sweden and Russia. Ülle Kõuts is a member of the Estonian Artists Association, the Estonian Association of Jewellery and Blacksmiths, the Katariina Guild. She is one of the founding members of the artist group ON-grupp. BALANCE is her fourth solo show at A-Gallery and a continuation of artist’s solo exhibition KOOSKÕLA at the Evald Okas Museum in Haapsalu in summer 2021.
Jewellery artist Ülle Kõuts’s personal exhibition On the Stairs is in the Vault Room of A-Gallery.
Ülle Kõuts: “Being on the stairs implies movement from one point to the next. Often such movement occurs on a winding staircase, where at times it is necessary to stop to marshall one’s resources… to reassess… and then still and again to move on…”
At her current exhibition the artist presents folded breastpins that have been completed in the “marriage of metals”- author’s technique where the artist creates characteristic stripes while soldering silver with copper or German silver. Kõuts’ minimalistic style is known already from her earlier works. Yet, the artist has reached a new artistic approach and arrived at a new level.
Ülle Kõuts (b. 1956, Pärnu) has graduated from the Estonian State Art Institute in 1980. Since then she has participated in numerous exhibitions in Estonia and abroad. Kõuts is a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association and Estonian Metal Artists’ Association. She is a co-founder of ON-Grupp and A-Gallery. Present exhibition On the Stairs is Ülle Kõuts’s third personal exhibition in the Vault Room of A-Gallery. Her previous exhibition Water was awarded with the Best Exhibition Prize held in the Vault Room in 2011. The annual prize serves as the recognition of jewellery artists by A-Gallery.
It is a jewellery exhibition about the sea and sea stories.
Life is a journey. Thoughts, feelings, relationships, situations and longings move forward – this time by the sea. I don’t dream of a mighty ocean and powerful storms – I stand in a quiet bay and look at the water. Underwater worlds open up, an endless set of qualities and relationships. Quiet life enchants – on the surface of the water and in the depth. One or the other is visible, something can be perceived, many do not really know or can even guess. I watch beautifully flowing aquatic plants floating in the calm rhythm of the waves. However, the lush vegetation does not mean strong health for the bay – the bay is closing up.
“A drop in the sea” – it’s a non-existent size (“ah just a drop!” …), but once my bay is dry – and not a drop?
Everything is relative. The droplets become a whole, every detail is important.
The exhibition was supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.