Birutė Jadvyga Mickevičienė



Birutė is an accomplished folk artist in many areas and wide-ranging interests. As a child, she learned the art of embroidery from her mother. Birutė practices sewing, embroidery, knitting, floral arrangement, three dimensional straw ornaments, sash weaving, easter egg decorations and photography. She also engages in restoration and decoration of traditional dowry chests.

Birutė was born in 1937 in Tauragė, Lithuania. She graduated from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute with a degree in civil engineering. Throughout her professional life she has worked in the areas of construction, engineering and resort development planning. Some say it is this professional background that endows her handicrafts with an engineer's precision.

In 1992, she participated in a contest held by the “Burda Moden” magazine, and was awarded a prize for her application of folk elements in clothes design.

In 2003 she graduated form a course on quilting at the Lithuanian quilters club “Urtė“, and is a member of the Lithuanian quilters association.

In 2003, she became a member of the Lithuanian folk artists union.

Since 2004, she has held seven personal exhibitions of her handicrafts, participated in seven nationwide quilting exhibitions and four on the international level.

In 2008 she was awarded recognition as a noteworthy folk craftsman of the Vilnius region.

Birutė has one daughter and is also a proud grandmother. She likes to spend summers at her countryside villa, where she tends to her garden of decorative plants. In the cold season, she returns to Vilnius, where she attends the Third Century University, honing her skills in the departments of folk art, tourism and spirituality.

Through her art she has also contributed to various charity work for the neonatal wards of hospitals in both Vilnius and Kaunas, the two biggest cities in Lithuania.