It is organized in a different country every two years event invited masters from the farthest corners of the world to Lithuania. Straw art masters from Japan, Australia, China, Ukraine, JAV, Estonia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Serbia, etc.
The festival was organized by the Vilnius Ethnic Culture Center, which pays great attention to straw art in its activities. At the beginning of last year, on the initiative of the center, the tradition of Lithuanian straw gardens was included in the list of intangible cultural heritage values of Lithuania. The organizers are happy that this festival allows you to look at straw art even more broadly - to get up close and personal with the masters of other countries, the techniques they use, the possibilities of using straw material, various products.
Among the participants of the festival are two masters of straw gardens from Japan. One of them is Momoko Honda, who became interested in straw art after seeing the garden at the Lithuanian Embassy in Tokyo. Later, she had to participate in the thatch garden tying training organized by the embassy. Fascinated by this art, she was interested in its history, traditional methods of tying, and a few years ago she started tying gardens herself and came to the festival to deepen her knowledge.
The second guest from Japan, Ryoko Hongo, came to the festival as a master gardener. Having seen a straw garden ten years ago in Finland, and a few years ago learning that gardens are tied in Lithuania as well, she created a Japanese interpretation of the Lithuanian straw garden. She will also teach the participants of "Straw Magic" to tie this Japanese-Lithuanian garden.
Morgan Owens-Celli, director of the American Straw Art Museum, creator of the festival, sculptor and anthropologist Morgan Owens-Celli also came to the festival. Having admired a Lithuanian garden seen in a Baltic art store in America thirty years ago, he proposed holding a festival in Lithuania a few years ago. Morgan has been interested in straw art his whole life, his family has been making straw since 1833 and says that straw art is inseparable from the artist who creates it, so this festival is especially important to share his knowledge: "I have been traveling the world for many years collecting straw samples of artefacts for his museum, in order to preserve at least some of the world's straw art cultures, but the artefacts are not yet a tradition that can only be passed down from man to man."
At the Straw Art Festival, more than 40 Lithuanian and foreign folk artists and artists will teach various straw products: gardens, applications, paintings, jewelry, souvenirs, fans, flowers, hats, etc. The participants of the festival will not only learn in straw crafts workshops, but also travel around Lithuania, listen to lectures, watch documentaries and take part in excursions.
The organizer of the festival, Eglė Česnakavičiūtė, was happy with the increased interest in straw art: "Until now, the festival only brought together straw art masters, but when we organized the festival, it also attracted straw art lovers who still want to learn this craft. I am happy that it seems that such a simple thing as straw can bring together not only representatives of different specialties, but also representatives of nations - Japanese or American women are learning to make Lithuanian traditional straw hat.
The festival wants to attract the attention of not only straw art masters, but also Vilnius residents and guests of the city. On July 27, the last day of the festival, a traditional art and eco-design market will be held at the City Laboratory in Sapiegiu Park, where you will be able to see or buy the works of the festival masters: bags, hats, straw gardens, jewelry, etc.
