The Source of Youth. Aija Jurjāne is a monographic art album, where Aija Jurjāne's two spheres of activity - painting and pedagogy - are discussed in detail in one place.
The monograph contains entries of artist's diaries and memories, which accurately capture the post-war situation in Soviet Latvia, documentary photographs and, of course, creative heritage - painting, porcelain glaze paintings, watercolors, sketches, illustrations, as well as unique drawings intended for the family.
A porcelain vase painted by daughter Ieva rose on Aija's table between the books - the vases painted by Aija in a porcelain symposium in Zvārtava had already been given away. Aija's paintings were stored in some kind of a shelf-gallery on the mezzanine floor, where you could climb up on the ladders of the Swedish gymnastics wall, there never were many, because the compositions for the Soviet-themed or seasonal exhibitions were bought by Latvian National Museum of Art or Museum of the Artists' Union of Latvia, but portraits Aija gave to those who were seen in them. Aija liked to give.
Anita Vanaga
Today, the painting of the artist Aija Jurjāne (1944-2015) can be seen as a continuous study, an observation, and at times a relentless message about a woman's life in her own family. In art, this may seem like a marginal setting, but today, when the emphasis on the "big issues" of pathos also turns to the events of an individual's life as an equally important problem to be solved in art, Aija Jurjāne's consistent "observer" course acquires special relevance and a kind of thematic monumentality.
The second important sphere of Aija Jurjāne's professional activity is the work as an art teacher at Janis Rozentāls Riga Art High School for thirty years. Aija Jurjāne's name has already entered as an example of the concept of a good teacher, and it is mentioned in the memories of school students. Her books "Composition" (Neputns, 2005) and "Painting" (Neputns, 2002) are the culmination of Aija Jurjāne's art pedagogy methodology developed over the years. This is the only case when a school teacher, as an individual author, has compiled his / her knowledge in an already methodical publication, which can be used by teachers of other art schools, as well as any beginner of the art profession.
Compiler and project manager: Sandra Krastiņa. Authors of texts: Anita Vanaga, Sandra Krastiņa, Rasa Jansone, Dace Lamberga, Anna Auziņa, Reinis Dzudzilo, Barbara Gaile, Edgars Vērpe, Aija Jurjāne, Ieva Jurjāne. Design: Artis Briedis, Rūta Briede.