On Saturday, 25 July, the anniversary exhibition “I’m Taking It Home” opened at the Chapel – World Anykštėnai Creative Centre (36 Vilniaus St., Anykščiai), featuring wooden sculptures and sketches by artist and sculptor Vytautas Šerys (1931–2006), a recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts.
The opening event was attended by artist, curator and art critic Dr Vidas Poškus. The programme also featured a musical performance, with French music performed by Saulė Šerytė (mezzo-soprano) and Donaldas Račys (piano). Actor Ridas Jasiulionis read Šerys’s poetry. The event also included the formal transfer of part of V. Šerys’s artistic legacy to the Anykščiai Arts Centre, as well as a presentation of a virtual reality film inspired by Šerys’s work.
The work of Vytautas Šerys (1931–2006), who was born in the village of Naujasodis in the Anykščiai District, occupies a distinctive place in Lithuanian art at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. A versatile artist, he worked not only in sculpture, but also in painting, monotype, and drawing, while also writing poetry and essays. In 1995, he was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts.
Šerys’s artistic thinking was shaped by the modernist culture of interwar Lithuania and by the broader international context of art and culture in the second half of the 20th century. He transformed these diverse influences into a unique artistic vision that was distinctly his own.
The exhibition “I’m Taking It Home” presents wooden sculptures alongside their sketches, offering an intimate glimpse into Šerys’s creative process – from the initial idea to the completed work of art. The drawings, explorations of line and early concepts reveal an idea before it has yet taken definitive form. Like a fragment of nature observed, an experience lived or a memory recalled, it gradually evolves into a distinctive visual language – a sculpture. The sketches also reveal that after bringing a work to life in material form, the sculptor would draw a detailed sketch of the finished piece, record its title, dimensions and date of creation, and conclude with the words “I’m taking it home.” The phrase seems to mark the final point in the process, signifying that the work has truly been brought to completion.
This anniversary exhibition is more than a look at the significant artistic legacy of a major Lithuanian sculptor. It is also a symbolic return to the region where his artistic journey began – a return to the landscape in which he grew up and which remained forever in his memory: the beloved village of Naujasodis, the Šventoji River, Anykščiai Forest, Lake Rubikiai, Troškūnai, the narrow-gauge railway…
The exhibition “I’m Taking It Home” will be on display at the chapel – the cultural creation center of anykštėnai of the world until 15 October 2026.
Opening hours:
Monday–Thursday: 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m.–4 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Organiser: Anykščiai Arts Centre
Financial supporters: Anykščiai District Municipality; Lithuanian Council for Culture
Information partners: regional news portal Anykšta and Anykšta newspaper
Partners: MO Museum; VšĮ Kultūros atodangos
Curator: Indrė Vaičiūnė
Architect and designer: Sigita Simona Paplauskaitė
