Kerttu Siplane | “Kunstnikud on kohal” (Estonia)

Bio

Kerttu Siplane (1976) graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts in Fashion Design. She
has participated in exhibitions in Estonia and in several other countries, she is a member of the
Estonian Artists’ Association and the Estonian Fashion Designers’ Association. Over the past
decade her practice has focused on natural materials, craft techniques that allow for slowing
down and an intuitive creative process guided by chance and curiosity. Driven by interest in the
creative relationship between humans and nature, she has furthered her studies in art therapy and
psychology.

Project

The school residency offers an opportunity to continue working with old books that have
provided source material for the solo exhibition series „Beyond the Covers” (Kaante vahelt
välja), in which thousands of pages from dusty books found on the shelves of reuse rooms at
waste stations have been transformed into creative material. Through objects formed from these
pages, layers of time, emotion and memory are revealed.

In the residency, the book is approached as a process platform that makes it possible to transform
an existing form and text into something new. Participants work, on the one hand, with the book
as a material, and on the other, with the book as a carrier of memory, culture, values and
language. Using simple techniques and assignments that encourage creative freedom, the
residency supports self-expression, enables participants to approach written language differently
than in conventional reading, and sparks questions for discussion.