Certified craftsmen
Weaver of traditional selective Dzūkija bands
Renata Žiūkienė
Renata Žiūkienė, weaver of traditional Dzūkija bands, master of traditional crafts. Renata has been awarded the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture's national heritage product certificates and traditional crafts master certificates, which certify that her work meets the requirements for national heritage products.
Renata's work is eloquent and extensive. Here are the events and activities Renata has participated in since 2017:
- 2017-08-03 Certificate of National Heritage Product;
- Winner of the 3rd place in the regional round of the republican competition "Aukso vainikass" (Golden Wreath) on September 19, 2017;
- 2017-10-21 submitted the bands of the team to the "Baltic Neofolk" exhibition in Milan (Italy);
- Certificate of Master of Traditional Crafts, obtained on 02-11-2017;
- Interview with her mother for the newspaper "Alytus naujienos" on 10-03-2018 on the topic "The peculiarities of fasting in the lips of an old woman, or "Dzūkija is a wretched land, but it is very rich";
- Bands and ribbons submitted for the competition "100 souvenirs for the 100th anniversary of Lithuania" on 11-03-2018;
- Interview with the newspaper "Dainavos žodis" on 6 April 2018, in the article "What we know about bands";
- Exhibition of the bands at the Birštonas Museum on 17 June 2018;
- 2018-09-07 Demonstration of the craft of ribbon weaving at the fair organised by the Alytus Museum of Regional History;
- 2018-12-07 Participation in the 3rd Republican Exhibition-Competition of Applied Folk Art "Iš Džiugo sakmių".
16 February 2019 The Lithuanian State Flag was awarded by the Mayor of Alytus District Municipality for the activity; - Presentation "Collecting tapes. Ethnic culture: past, present, future".
- Demonstration and training of bands at the State (Coronation of King Mindaugas of Lithuania) Day celebration in Daugai, Alytus district;
- 2019-11-29 Winner of the republican competition "Lithuanian Woven Bands";
- 2020-02-18 interview about bands in the programme "Dzūkiška pynė" on Dzūkija TV;
- 2020-02-19 During the conference "Old Crafts for Career Development" Renata Žiūkienė's students' woven works were demonstrated in Jieznas Gymnasium, Prienai district.
Renata is also a folk artist. I would like to distinguish between the work of a folk artist and that of a craftsman, even though the techniques are the same and the works are valuable for their artistic value and very time-sensitive in the broadest sense.
Why does Renata weave? She says: "Who knows - whether it was the fairies, or Laima sitting at my bedside, or the ghosts of the great grandmothers who didn't have time to weave everything on this earth, but I wanted to weave since I was a little girl. Over time, the tools, the team of teachers and supporters came. Maybe genes are not the last thing, and the way of life, the environment. And nothing would have happened without long and painstaking work on the loom, without stubbornness, without believing in what you are doing. People who share their knowledge, appreciate, support and understand are inspiring. And weaving enchants me, draws me into its depth, fascinates me with the antiquity and beauty of the patterns. And it doesn't matter that I have certificates, that the number of thank-you notes is growing, that the awareness is growing - at the same time, the responsibility for my work, for the knowledge I spread is growing. And I am still learning from the old weavers, from my young colleagues. It's an extraordinary feeling when you realise that you are between the old and the past - you are a mediator who carries the knowledge, who passes it on to the future.
