Tartu Art School marks 75 years as demand for creative skills grows

ERR reports that Tartu Art School is celebrating its 75th anniversary as its director, Kadi Kreis, says an increasingly visual society needs more people who can think creatively.

The anniversary year is being marked with three exhibitions at Pallase Gallery, presenting student work from different decades from the school’s collections. The exhibitions examine the school’s history, as well as what has changed and what has remained the same over the decades.

Kreis said the school is in a strong position, with more young people studying there than ever before. She attributed the interest to several factors, including growing demand for people with artistic skills.

“Society needs more people with artistic skills. Our labour market and society have become more visual, and there are more jobs than there were 30 years ago,” Kreis said.

She said the school’s status as a vocational education institution was also important. In addition to providing strong skills in art and design, it offers a good secondary education that allows graduates to move in any direction.

“It is one of the coolest models for acquiring an education. The present day needs people who think creatively. The art school has supported that throughout its history,” Kreis said.

On the second floor of Pallase Gallery, an exhibition titled “7 1/2 Still Lifes”, curated by Ilja Jakovlev, brings together still lifes from the school’s collection painted by students between 1957 and 2026.

Kreis said still-life painting remained an important part of studying at the school because every student had to complete one. She described it as a method for teaching students to see and understand colour, form and other elements.

The seven still lifes, each from a different decade, also show how styles and approaches to composition have changed over time.

According to Kreis, the works reflect changes among the young people studying at the school. Students begin from the age of 15 or 16, and some have arrived even younger. The school’s connection with young people helps it remain current and fresh, she said.

“These are young people who are just entering life, beginning to seek and test boundaries, and becoming adults while studying at the art school,” Kreis said. She added that creative young people should be able to question things, including why they should make still lifes at all, and that it was important for the school to support them on that journey.

In the basement of Pallase Gallery, an exhibition titled “Unlimited Surface”, curated by Mari-Liis Krautmann, focuses mainly on people whose studies were not completed or who have remained anonymous for various reasons.

Kreis said the school’s community was much larger than its alumni. Some people had studied there in order to continue their education and had left before completing their studies, while still retaining a connection to the art school.

She said the community also included people who had been expelled for political reasons, including during the late Soviet period, if they wished to regard themselves as members of it.

Kreis, who has led the school for more than 20 years, said young people had changed significantly during that time, while several principles of the school’s teaching had remained the same. She considered it important that creative people respond to developments in society and to changes in the labour market, including the professions and jobs that are needed.