Jonas Bugailiškis, member of the Folk Artists’ Union (since 1981), granted art creator status in 2005 by order of the Minister of Culture. Member of the Vilnius Community of the Lithuanian Folk Artists’ Union (since 2006); member of the Vilnius Region Folk Artists’ – Art Creators’ Association (since 2007) – wood carver, sculptor, maker of musical instruments and children’s toys.
Jonas Bugailiškis is a traditional craftsman of certified national heritage products and a custodian of the old crafts of carving, musical instrument making and toy making. Issued to him: certificate of category A master of traditional crafts, 9 February 2010; certificates of national heritage products of a certified category A master of traditional crafts, 9 December 2015 and 13 November 2009.
As early as 1980 J. Bugailiškis revived the old Lithuanian folk string, percussion and wind instruments. Folklore ensembles from Vilnius, Kaunas, Rokiškis and Klaipėda play Lithuanian folk instruments made by the master. His kanklės are played in Lithuanian communities abroad. Since 1980 he has taken part in exhibitions and folk craft festivals in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Italy, Poland, Germany, Austria, France, Denmark, Malaysia, Egypt and the USA.
The monumental wooden sculptures of Jonas Bugailiškis, a continuer of the traditions of blacksmith-made and wooden cross-crafting, have been erected: in Lithuania – in Berčiūnai (Panevėžys district), Biržai, the Hill of Crosses (Šiauliai district), Rokiškis, Šilutė, Šalčininkai, Utena, Vilnius, Galiniai village of Marijampolis eldership in Vilnius district, Molėtai district, Užugiriai in Trakai district and elsewhere; in the United States of America – in Detroit and Washington; in Germany – in Kammern; in Belarus – in Gervėčiai.
The artist is one of the creators of the Hill of Angels in Būda village, Trakai eldership, Trakai district.
The sculpture composition “The birds return, and the people?”, created with funding from the Lithuanian Culture Fund, stands in Galiniai village, Marijampolis eldership, Vilnius district. The sculpture composition “The birds return, and the people?” consists of two sculptures, “Love” and “Flight”. The sculpture composition “Stork Day and the return of the 40 birds” consists of the sculpture “The Ornithologist” and a composition of nest boxes for forest birds and the stork.
In a derelict homestead acquired in 2005 the artist set up simple workshops for making musical instruments and crosses. He carries out his blacksmithing and cross-crafting at the homestead in Galiniai village, Marijampolis eldership, Vilnius district, where he lives. Calendar festivals for children and the rural community are organised at the homestead. One of his more notable activities is making nest boxes. Together with ornithologists he has studied which species live in which kind of nest box, combining ornithology with craft. He was the author of the interior of the “Kuparas” gallery of the Lithuanian Folk Art Fund, which operated from 1992 to 2001, and the initiator of and participant in its regular thematic exhibitions. In his workshops at Aušros Vartų St. 17-10 in Vilnius he has amassed a rich collection of old household items from the Rokiškis and Kupiškis districts. Every year the artist holds recreational and educational events for children, young people and townspeople in the workshop courtyard. Since 11 March 1999 he has invited the children of Vilnius Old Town into the workshop courtyard and taught them to make nest boxes. The “Bird Festival” is attended by artists who create birds, ornithologists and poultry keepers. The nest boxes made during the festival are hung in the trees growing in the Old Town squares.
J. Bugailiškis studies the origins of Lithuanian folk art and the secrets of the style of its most outstanding masters. He has given lectures and led practical sessions at seminars and courses on ethnic music and culture in Biržai, Kelmė, Vilnius, Kammern (Germany) and Detroit (USA). In his work he draws on centuries-old traditions, through which he interprets his own ideas, thoughts and expression of meaning.
He carves musical instruments, children’s toys and small sculptures in his creative workshops at Aušros Vartų St. 17-10. In order to convey the distinctiveness of ethnic culture and to bring school communities together, these creative workshops carry out an important mission – to develop and strengthen pupils’ understanding of national values. To this end, educational programmes are created based on the principle that in the workshop museum the exhibits are not only displayed but also used for tasks and games, and may be touched and tried out. Pupils are taught to make shepherds’ musical instruments themselves. The exhibits and materials gathered in the workshops, and the educational programmes carried out there, help pupils to form their own visions and imaginings and their own understanding of the nation’s past. In the courtyard at Aušros Vartų St. 17 in Vilnius, festive activity takes place during the traditional folklore festival “Skamba skamba kankliai” and the international early music festival “Griežynė”. Tourists, townspeople and pupils from pre-school institutions and schools come to learn about how folk art comes into being.
Officials, leaders, kings and queens visiting Lithuania come to Jonas Bugailiškis’s workshops. In Cathedral Square he presented the old musical instruments to the Emperor of Japan during his state visit to Lithuania. Sculptures, musical instruments and children’s toys created by the artist have been acquired by the National Museum of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Art Museum, the Rokiškis Local Lore Museum, the Balzekas Museum (USA), the museum in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and the MIM – Musical Instrument Museum (the world’s first global musical instrument museum, in Arizona). Many of the children’s toys, sculptures and musical instruments he has made are in private galleries of Lithuanian and foreign citizens.
Jonas Bugailiškis knows the specifics of fairs well: displaying works and communicating with the public. He has represented Lithuania at various events on many occasions (in Germany, Poland and Austria). Children are very fond of the stands he prepares. When several children gather, the artist brings them together into a musical group or organises various contests (whose newly made instrument will produce the most varied sounds, whose spinning top will spin longest, who will blow the horn loudest, whose “team” will arrive first, who will load the cart faster, and so on).
Through his works Jonas Bugailiškis has been presented many times to television audiences in Lithuania, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, China and Japan, and to readers of publications about national heritage and tourism.
Jonas Bugailiškis has repeatedly received letters of thanks from the country’s cultural institutions and has become a laureate of competitions.
More about the artist can be found in the book “Folk master Jonas Bugailiškis: crosses, sculptures, musical instruments, masks, toys, nest boxes”, published in the National Museum of Lithuania’s series “Traditions and the Present”.
THE MOST IMPORTANT DATES OF RECOGNITION OF JONAS BUGAILIŠKIS’S CREATIVE WORK IN 2015-2020:
2015 – letter of thanks from the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
2015 – the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania to Jonas Bugailiškis, continuer of Lithuanian cross-crafting traditions and folk artist, for his services to Lithuanian culture, for spreading the name of Lithuania, for his contribution to restoring the independence of the State of Lithuania and for his meaningful work in the field of ethnic culture, 17 June 2015
2015 – letter of thanks from the director of the National Folk Culture Centre
2016-2019 – letters of thanks from the organisers of the Kaziukas Fair
2017 and 2019 – letter of thanks from the organisers of the Hill of Angels (Būda village, Trakai district)
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES in the creative workshops (Galinių St. 99, Galiniai village, Marijampolis eldership, Vilnius district, and Aušros Vartų St. 17-10, Vilnius)
Organised for schools every year by prior arrangement:
25 March to 1 May: “Spring is brought by the birds” (since 2013)
1 September to 1 November: “The old new musical instruments for children” (since 2014)
1-23 December: “The Advent-Christmas season and children’s toys” (since 2012)
10 March 2020, in Ožkabaliai at the birthplace of J. Basanavičius, an educational programme for the Day of the 40 Birds
EXHIBITIONS:
Since 1979 he has taken part in exhibitions and folk craft festivals in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Denmark, Malaysia, Egypt and the USA.
Since 1986 he has represented Lithuanian traditional culture at international events (represented at more than 20 events):
23 June 2015 – National Museum of Lithuania, Arsenalo St. 1, Vilnius. More than 150 families, that is about 300 people, attended the opening of the exhibition. After repeated consultation with the museum staff it was decided to reflect all the genres of my work: crosses, sculptures, musical instruments, masks, toys, nest boxes. The exhibition opened on Midsummer Day, and after the opening everyone was invited to the traditional Midsummer festival in Galiniai village.
15 July 2015 – blacksmith-made crosses and sun ornaments at the studio at Aušros Vartų St. 17-10.
September 2016 – exhibition organised by the international instrumental folklore festival “Griežynė”
4 November – 30 December 2016 – exhibition of the works of folk artist Jonas Bugailiškis at the Rokiškis Regional Museum
3 January – 28 February 2017 – exhibition of J. Bugailiškis’s works at the Crafts Centre in Uoginiai, Kupiškis district
30 June 2018 to 1 August 2018 – photography exhibition presenting the project “The birds return, and the people?” at the museum of the Parudaminys forest district, a branch of the Vilnius forest enterprise (photographs by Antanas Šeronas).
2 July 2018 – on the occasion of the Song Festival, the folk art exhibition “Living connections” in Vilnius, at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary the Comforter.
4 July 2018 – for the Lithuanian Song Festival “Vardan tos…”, an exhibition of musical instruments at the National Museum of Lithuania
4 July 2019 – at the Ignalina Regional Museum, the National Museum of Lithuania exhibition LITHUANIAN TRADITIONAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
1979-2019 in Lithuania (Palm Sunday, the Kaziukas Fair, the festivals “Skamba skamba kankliai”, “Baltica”, “Griežynė”, exhibitions organised by LITEXPO and others)
August 2019 – participant in the “Culture Workshops in Lublin” series of events marking the 450th anniversary of the Union of Lublin, “From the Union of Lublin to the European Union”, and in the JAGIELLONIAN FAIR / 16-18 August in Lublin (Poland).
16 February – 16 March 2020, at the Šalčininkai Culture Centre, the National Museum of Lithuania presents the travelling exhibition “Lithuanian traditional musical instruments”
10 March – 1 May 2020, exhibition of sculptural nest boxes in Ožkabaliai at the birthplace of J. Basanavičius for the Day of the 40 Birds
6 August 2020, the sculpture of St Roch erected on the Hill of Crosses, Šiauliai district
2020, the sculpture of St Roch was consecrated by the monks of the Hill of Crosses monastery.
Material presenting the results of earlier creative work (2015-2020)