From Kuldīga to Tokyo: printmaker Guntars Sietiņš on the art of mezzotint
Guntars Sietiņš, long-time head of the Latvian Academy of Art's printmaking department and native of Kuldīga, has shared his artistic journey and his mastery of the mezzotint technique. His works have been exhibited worldwide, including this spring in Poland, while he spends his summers near Cēsis.
Printmaker Guntars Sietiņš, who for years led the printmaking department at the Latvian Academy of Art (LMA), was born and attended school in Kuldīga. After eighth grade he began attending preparatory courses at the Riga School of Applied Arts, where he studied drawing under master Alfrēds Barons. After graduating, he enrolled in LMA's printmaking department, even though applied-arts graduates were usually steered toward design.
Discovering mezzotint
During his studies, while on practical training in Kandava, his teacher Gunārs Krollis brought back exhibition catalogues from the Krakow print biennial in Poland, where Sietiņš first saw works by Japanese printmakers in the mezzotint technique. He became so fascinated by this tonal intaglio method that he tried it himself in his fourth year, though for his diploma work his professor required large-format figurative compositions instead.
International recognition
His international career began in 1991 with participation in an art triennial in Krakow. In 2013 he took part in the exhibition Time of Mezzotint in Riga, where a group of artists from Latvia, Poland, Japan and the US was formed; the show later travelled to Poland, China and Japan. In Tokyo he finally met Japanese master Katsunori Hamaguchi, whose work he had long admired. This year Sietiņš held a solo exhibition, Symmetry, at the Academy of Fine Arts gallery in Gdańsk, Poland.
Academic career
Around 1997 the then-rector of LMA invited Sietiņš to join the academy, and three years later he became head of the printmaking department, building a new team of instructors. He recently passed the position to Paulis Liepa. Sietiņš notes that students today are more knowledgeable, but points to a problem: Latvia lacks well-equipped public printmaking workshops like those found in Scandinavia and Germany.
The artist is also well versed in the history of paper and pigments used in printmaking, explaining why older works often yellow over time. This summer he relaxed at his country home near Cēsis, with an exhibition in Romania and a solo show at Riga's XO gallery planned for later this year.
