Printing at the Paper Museum
I was born in Paide (Estonia) in 1981 and moved to Germany at the age of six during the Soviet times.
Since then I always had the wish to come back and spend a longer period of time in Estonia. When I heard about the Tartu Artist Residency I thought that this might be the perfect opportunity.
I applied and got the 1 month residency in August. The apartment is very basic and small but offers everything you need. It’s in a great location! Right in the center. With all the restaurants, bars and museums nearby.
I particularly liked the size of the city. If you have a bike you can get everywhere within more or less 10 minutes.
The Printing and Paper Museum offers good working opportunities. And if something is missing the very friendly people working at the museums will make anything possible to organize it for you.
If you want to do etchings you might have to bring your own inks or etching grounds because otherwise it has to be ordered from Tallinn. The selection of paper in the art supply store is alright, though.
I had the pleasure to share the studio with Jazmina Cininas (An artist in residence from Australia) and she introduced me to the linocut which I had never tried before. That was a great experience and I will certainly continue working on that.
Altogether I had a great time and got to know many new and interesting people.
August was also a great time to be there because of all the festivals that take place during that time. Food and wine festival, movie festival and many more…
The only negative thing I could possibly mention was that I only stayed there for a month. Just when I got used to everything I already had to leave. And last but not least I have to mention that although there is good food in the restaurants of Tartu the service can be quite bad… A relic from the soviet era I guess… So better be prepared for that.