Budleja (Butterfly Bread)

Daiva Staskeviciene was born on 13th of June 1968 in the city of Vilnius where she grew up, finished high school, and started her further studies at the Justinas Vienozinskis Art School (1993-1995). In 1995 Daiva began studying scenography in the Academy of Arts in Vilnius, however after over a year she discovered her passion for printmaking. This keen interest turned into further studies of the subject and in 2000s led by prof. Leonas Lagauskas Daiva acquired her bachelor’s degree. Subsequently, she continued her education and in 2002 also achieved Masters degree under the tutelage of prof Juozas Galkus. The same year Daiva became a member of Lithuanian Union of Artists.

Daiva’s wide variety of work including etching prints, miniatures, oil paintings and illustrations over the years were used to represent the artist‘s home country; art pieces were presented to respectable and notable people from Lithuania and abroad. Between 2001 and 2005 pieces depicting old town of Vilnius were awarded to the members of interantonal conference “WoMen and Democracy, Reykjavik-Vilnius” as well as NATO congress members. In 2017 The Mint of Vilnius released a silver coin with one of the artist‘s pieces. Last year (2020), Daiva‘s work was chosen to expand a design collection of luxurious scarves featuring work by Lithuania‘s prominent artists. During the artist‘s career, her work was also used time and again for various print publications and book covers at home as well as abroad. 

Daiva has held 22 personal exhibitions, including her latest virtual exhibition during 2020 pandemic. Her work was also showcased in other collaborative shows in Lithuania and internationally. Most of the artist’s creations are carried out using intricate and time-consuming technique which results in a limited amount of art works that usually go directly to collectors’ hands. As such, Daiva’s art has been highly appreciated overseas and travelled across the globe to USA, Canada, Russia, UAE, Germany, UK, Holland and other many others.

Daiva‘s work is characterized by high artistic value, fine detail, originality and abundance of symbolism. Her etching prints are full of cultural references and Baltic folklore elements. Her  pieces reflect the influence of folk tradition and express the appreciation of her Lithuanian origins while her paintings are an amalgam of surrealist portraiture and historic allure tied together with meticulously planted symbolic elements. Even though Daiva is a versatile artist and not a stranger to digital art, she most commonly works with exclusive old master’s techniques dating back to Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt and keeps the mastery of the trade alive for the future generations.