Breadcrumb
The winner of the Audience Award of the 21st Annual Exhibition of the Estonian Artists’ Association is ceramicist Anne Türn
27.05.2021
Art patrons Riivo Anton, Aivar Berzin, Jaan Manitski, Tiit Pruuli and Rain Tamm have presented a prize of 5,000 euros for the winner of the audience vote in the Spring Exhibition. Visitors of the exhibition selected their favourite from among the 71 participating artists. Voting was open at the exhibition venues until 23 May and a total of 1,420 visitors cast their votes.
This year’s award ceremony took place at Tallinn Art Hall on 27 May at 10 am, with live broadcast on Facebook (link to the video).
Anne Türn (1964) is an Estonian ceramic artist. She studied ceramics at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 1984–1990 and furthered her studies at the Höhr-Grenzhausen Institute of Ceramics and the University of Kassel in Germany. Her work has received international recognition in Zagreb, Croatia (1997) and Monterrey, Mexico (1998). She received the Ceramic Artist of the Year award in 2011. In recent times she has been working on light installations. Her latest exhibitions are Birth of Light at Noblessner Shipyard in 2019 and Rain at HOP Gallery in 2018.
Artist Anne Türn on her work: “The power, beauty and fragility of nature have always inspired me and taught me how to be respectful. There is something very similar in nature and ceramics: in the mountains you do what is allowed; it is not wise to go and “conquer”. The same applies to clay. They both tell you what to do – you only have to listen. In my recent work I have given porcelain and glass the opportunity to act independently. My biggest challenge has been to wait patiently and not to open the oven door too soon. Glass and porcelain can do a wonderful job, just like nature, in creating unique, fragile shapes.” The artist comments on the winning of the Audience Award as follows: “Every artist needs feedback, and in the last year it has been quite scarce. So many events have been cancelled or postponed, and those that have taken place have been held in a very restrained manner. Receiving the Audience Award seemed to bring it back all at once, and it is wonderful. It is nice to do work that you enjoy, and if others too care about it, then it is pure joy.”
According to one of the presenters of the Audience Award, Riivo Anton, it is not easy to predict the audience’s favourite, but when the winner is announced, it always becomes clear that the decision was the right one. It could be that Anne Türn’s installations spoke to the audience through their technical mastery and patience required to complete such fragile works. On the other hand, her works also fit into the general context of the last year, where nature has shown us that rain falls on all of us and the sea waves ebb and flow for everyone equally. Whether you wear a face mask or not. It is also gratifying that a ceramic artist has now been added among the winners of the Audience Award, which shows that a wider art audience is open to various media and techniques.”
At the award ceremony, the President of the Estonian Artists’ Association, Elin Kard presented this year’s exhibition catalogue which can be purchased from the book store of Tallinn Art Hall. In addition, a gift voucher of 500 euros for the NOAR platform was drawn from among all the voters. This year too works displayed in the Spring Exhibition can be purchased both in the exhibition hall of Tallinn Art Hall as well as on the NOAR.eu platform. The interest this year has been record-breaking: 24 works of art have already found a new home.
The ten artists receiving most votes in this year’s Annual Exhibition were Jaanika Arum, Toomas Kuusing, Vilen Künnapu, Laurentsius, Lola Liivat, Sten Saarits, Maret Sarapu, Kadri Toom, Anne Türn and Toomas Vint. The main exhibition of the Spring Exhibition can be viewed at the Tallinn Art Hall until 30 May. Spring Exhibition 2021 takes place in cooperation with the Estonian Artists’ Association.
Additional information:
Sirli Oot
Tel: +372 5873 6841
E-post: sirli@kunstihoone.ee
Sirli Oot
Tel: +372 5873 6841
E-post: sirli@kunstihoone.ee
