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Sandra Strēle Receives Latvia’s State Forests Scholarship in Art

On 27 November, Latvia’s State Forests (LVM) Scholarship in Art was awarded in a festive atmosphere, bringing together students of the Art Academy of Latvia (AAL).

Throughout November, visitors of LVM Riga Customer Centre could enjoy the works of 19 young Latvian artists, who had made their works not only on canvas but also on such an unusual material as mirror.

The jury, considering the artistic professionalism of the applicants and the relevance of the work to the proposed theme “Young Stand”, awarded this year's scholarship to Sandra Strēle, the author of the work “The Foundation Is in Forest” (Pamats mežā).

Although on a daily basis the young artist works with canvas, she often also creates painting installations that use different objects, text, sounds and other media, thus making the visitor's experience as rich as possible.

“The theme of forest has permeated almost all of my works, and I use forest as a symbol. The idea of the work submitted for the scholarship competition is that forest is the foundation of everything, just like a house. Therefore, the silhouette of the house shown in the painting is a bit volatile, allowing the viewer to look at the house and the surrounding forest at the same time. It shows us that forest is what our homes are made of, but at the same time reminds us that a home is also a basic human unit in which to shelter, feel safe and nurture our system of values,” says Sandra Strēle.

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Latvia's State Forests Scholarship in Art 2019

Congratulating the finalists of the competition, AAL Assoc. Prof. Andris Vītoliņš noted that this year the competition had been particularly fierce, as 50 artists had submitted works for the scholarship competition. The authors were also praised for their determination and desire to enhance their knowledge, because before starting to work on their artistic vision of a young stand, all the authors of the works had gone to forest to understand and draw inspiration from the source.

The scholarship competition “LVM Scholarship in Art” is organized for the third year in cooperation with the Art Academy of Latvia. The scholarship aims to promote student awareness of forest as the largest renewable resource in Latvia, which is constantly growing. More information and the contest terms and conditions are available at www.lvm.lv/maksla.