Viestarts
Aistars has had his artwork exhibited at the Detroit Art Museum, Indiana
Art Center in Indianapolis and South Bend, Indiana, the Kalamazoo Art
Institute, Grand Rapids Art Museum, in Seattle, Washington, New York
City, Reading, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, Ohio, to name only a few.
He has had over 50 one-man art exhibits in the Midwest and Eastern
United States. He has won numerous prizes and his work has been purchased
by
countless private collectors, also by the State Museum in Riga, Latvia,
the Art Museum in Jelgava, Latvia. A painting of a Latvian woman in
folk costume hangs today in the Riga Pils (Riga Castle), the president's
residence
in Riga, Latvia. His most recent exhibits in Kalamazoo have been as
part of the Art Hop in 2005, as part of the Latvian cultural exhibit
at Miller
Auditorium, and Western Michigan University.
|
A Latvian Artist Paints Across Two Cultures
by Zinta
Aistars
Viestarts Aistars was born in Dobele, Latvia, in the summer of 1927. Even as
a small child, he loved to draw. A pencil, a piece of paper, a small pad,
and he was content. These were his tools, his way of touching the bright
and immense world all around him. He would often sketch the tiny stone cottage
on the edge of the Baltic Sea, called Sarnate, where he spent his summers.
 The year was 1944. The Russian army was invading Latvia from the east. People
were being slaughtered, homes were being burned to the ground; destruction
and terror were everywhere. The Aistars family (Ernests and Lidija with their
four sons) headed for the Tukums train station. The station was crowded with
refugees. Faces washed with fear peered out from train windows.
After being moved from refugee camp to camp, the Aistars family finally settled
in Augsburg, Germany. Schools were set up within the camps. Aistars was cheered
to find that he could continue honing his craft, and he studied watercolor
and oil painting.
Five years passed in the camps. As hope died for an eventual return to Latvia – after
World War II the country had become a victim of the Yalta Conference, a “prize” to
keep political leaders mollified – the Aistars family resolved to find
a new home. In October 1949, they boarded a ship to America.
 Chicago, Illinois. A city like none the Aistars’ had ever seen. The language
was new and strange to their ears. A church had sponsored the group of Latvian
refugees, and they were grateful. Joining the church choir, Aistars met his
wife-to-be, Velta Dunkelis, and in 1951 they married.
Aistars worked unloading freight at the Wabash train station, saving every
cent to continue his education. As soon as he had enough, he enrolled in night
classes at the Chicago Art Institute.
“I was not proficient in the English language, but language was not a barrier
in art. I enjoyed the experimentation in various art classes. But my own style
was developing, and I found I still liked a more realistic, classical approach.”
 In
1954, war would once more interrupt the young family’s lives. With
a newborn at home, they had moved into a tiny loft and Aistars decided to quit
school for a while to work more hours. But as soon as he was no longer a fulltime
university student, he was flagged for the draft. A draft notice from the United
States Army arrived two weeks after he had dropped out of the university. He
was to be shipped to France.
When Aistars arrived with his regiment in Verdun, France, the captain asked
him about his education. Art, said the young soldier, I am an artist… and
the captain was intrigued. He pulled aside the soldier with the Latvian accent
and asked if he might be interested in painting a fresco across the wall of
the mess hall.
 When he returned to civilian life in the States, Aistars finished his studies,
and, with art degree in hand, he was offered a job as a graphic artist – in
Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo had a large and quickly growing community of Latvians,
and the Aistars family made their permanent home in Kalamazoo.
For more on Aistars and his artwork, visit http://zeenythe.tripod.com/viestartsaistars
|
|
