Even before the restoration of Lithuania’s independence in 1990, the most radical and Western applied arts reflecting changes were taking place. The political and cultural situation of the last decade of the 20th century created conditions for creative shifts that had started earlier. By then, the reformers of Lithuanian ceramics Aldona Ličkutė-Jusionienė, Liucija Šulgaitė, Aldona Jonuskaitė-Šaltenienė, Nora Blaževičiūtė, Kristina Karkaitė-Mazūrienė, Juozas Adomonis and others had already become classics and continued their creative line. Their works focused on reflections on history, current reality, and human existence in a world full of contradictions. Many other ceramicists had already conveyed these themes a decade ago or even earlier through the artistic means of their work – a metaphor, an allusion, or by concentrating on the meaning of the artistic image which informed the material of their works. These creations bring out the materiality and technical mastery of clay, fireclay, and stone mass. Next to the works of the creators of conceptual ceramics who developed the tradition emerged a tendency to ironize and emphasize the fantastic, playful beginning of their creativity. Nomeda Marčenaitė and Jolanta Kvašytė constructed their works by this principle. Kvašytė's religious figurative compositions interpreting sacred themes encourage a new look at values that had been unquestioned for centuries.
Jolanta Kvašytė is a renowned Lithuanian ceramic artist, creator of monumental mosaic sculpture compositions, ceramic paintings, fine plastic sculptures, interior art designs, and garden pottery and vases who creates two- and three-dimensional objects full of expressive shapes and colorful narratives. Her works delicately combine clay, porcelain, black pottery, and various other materials (beads, stones, feathers). They feature interpretations of religious or secular content, distinct characters, vivid expression, storytelling, dramatic play, theatricality, grotesque, irony, caricatures, metaphors, allegories, etc. The works are decorative, rich in colors, and finely ornamented.
This is what Kvašytė says about our existence:
“Friendship with the elements of nature gives you more than the hustle and bustle of the city life – away from it, a person feels refined, goes deeper into themselves. Paradoxically, loneliness gives you fullness.”