Greeting Cards by Aldona Saimininkas
Date2001
MediumPaper
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.135.1-.12
DescriptionGreetings cards made by Aldona Saimininkas featuring her art work.
(.1) Gyvenkime Kristaus, image of Lithuanian Easter eggs.
(.2) Image of Lithuanian Easter eggs.
(.3) “Margucíaí”
(.4) “Margucíaí,” Sveiki sulauke sv. Velyku!
(.5-.7): Image of Lithuanian straw art.
(.8) “Egle Zalciu Karaliene”
(.9): “Mergaite Su Kanklem,” “Girl Playing Psaltery”
(.10) “Mergaite Su Kanklem”
(.11-.12) Image of Lithuanian straw art.
NotesBiographical Note: Aldona Saimininkas creates Lithuanian pictures and traditional ornaments using straw, a traditional Lithuanian technique. In a time-honored process learned as a girl in Lithuania, she hand-picks rye straw from farm fields and prepares it to form ribbons which she then cuts into pieces. and irons it flat, glues it onto sheets of paper, then cuts shapes and forms which are compiled into geometric patterns or figurative pictures based on Lithuanian designs and scenes. These are assembled onto a dark background in abstract or floral folk art patterns that reflect Lithuanian weaving or embroidery, or to create a scene important in Lithuanian culture. Often these pictures are on a large scale, such as the Madonna commissioned from St. Andrew’s Church in New Britain, and altar pictures at Holy Trinity Lithuanian Church in Hartford. Aldona also makes hanging ornaments from pressed straw or straw tubes fashioned into stars, snowflakes, and birdcages for Christmas trees which glow like gold on the tree; traditional dyed Easter eggs; and straw mobiles called sodas (garden). Although a humble plant material, the golden color of the straw shines, signifying light. (.1) Gyvenkime Kristaus, image of Lithuanian Easter eggs.
(.2) Image of Lithuanian Easter eggs.
(.3) “Margucíaí”
(.4) “Margucíaí,” Sveiki sulauke sv. Velyku!
(.5-.7): Image of Lithuanian straw art.
(.8) “Egle Zalciu Karaliene”
(.9): “Mergaite Su Kanklem,” “Girl Playing Psaltery”
(.10) “Mergaite Su Kanklem”
(.11-.12) Image of Lithuanian straw art.
Aldona plays a central role in Connecticut’s Lithuanian community as an artist, tradition bearer and cultural ambassador. She helps to organize the annual Lithuanian Scouts Food and Crafts Fair held at Holy Trinity Church at 53 Capitol Avenue in Hartford, the spiritual heart of the Greater Hartford Lithuanian community. For over three decades Aldona has given workshops to Scout groups, Lithuanian gatherings and cultural schools, and adult classes throughout the U.S. and in Canada. She is teaching a dedicated apprentice all the techniques of straw art. Aldona’s artwork has been commissioned by St. Andrews Church in New Britain and by many private collectors. She was asked to create an official gift to represent the Lithuanian American community as a commemoration of the American celebration of the 600th anniversary of Lithuanian Christianity. One of her straw pictures was given to Pope John Paul II and is in the Vatican’s art collection. She was one of only two Connecticut artists featured in the de Cordova Museum’s Stories To Tell: The Narrative Impulse in Contemporary New England Folk Art in Lincoln Massachusetts in 1989-90, an important early exhibit of folk art. CCHAP has featured straw art and traditional dyed Easter eggs created by Aldona in ICR’s exhibit Hidden Treasures: Connecticut Folk and Traditional Artists at the CT Commission on the Arts Gallery in March 2001, Ambassadors of Folk at the Institute for Community Research Gallery in 2010, and in Connecticut Traditional Artists and Their Communities: an exhibit celebrating 25 years of the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program, along with Asta Nenortas’ Easter wands, at the CT Office of the Arts Gallery in 2016.
Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this artist.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
