Select your language
This section features coins whose design was created by the artist – from the initial concept to the final visual solution.
Ilze Lībiete is an exceptionally feminine artist, a master of quiet moods, working in half-tones, where delicate coloured or black-grey gradations softly touch the white paper, mirroring the depths of the human inner world. Among all graphic techniques, she favours chromolithography and silkscreen printing. Both techniques allow for a richly textured coverage of areas while enabling versatile line work – from loose, instinctive scratches to refined, smooth curves. Realistic images and specific details are scarce; instead, her works – even those dedicated to notable writers (such as Rainis, Charles Baudelaire, Rūdolfs Blaumanis) – are rich in associative similarities, subtle hints, and mood-evoking abstract symbols.
Lately, she has sought to deepen the sense of mystery in her work by layering black-and-white gradations like shadows over vibrant colours (the solo exhibition Ēnā (In the shadow), 2018). And it is working beautifully! Two worlds – the outer one, visible to all, and the inner, deeply personal, and untouchable realm – are contrasted in a subtle, understated way, existing only as a possibility. "I can't tell if I'm moving slowly or quickly, but this is my unique path in art, and it enriches my life."
Ilze Lībiete was born on 16 February 1951 in Bauska.
She graduated from Janis Rozentāls Riga Art Secondary School in 1969 and from the Graphic Art Department of the Art Academy of Latvia in 1976. She earned an MA in 2002. An artist with extensive experience in teaching, she has worked at Liepāja Secondary School of Applied Arts (1975–1978) and the Art Academy of Latvia (with some interruptions since 1979). She is also a lecturer in preparatory courses at the Art Academy of Latvia and a guest lecturer at Daugavpils University (from 2006).
She has been a member of the Latvian Artists' Union since 1981. Ilze Lībiete has been actively involved with the Latvian Chamber of Graphics since its establishment in 1994.
She works in graphics, design, painting, and heraldry (since 1996), with some pieces created collaboratively with her spouse, graphic designer and poster designer Juris Ivanovs.
She has been participating in exhibitions since 1975. Ilze Lībiete has participated in numerous graphic group exhibitions in Latvia and abroad, including Sweden, Germany, Russia, and Belarus. She has also held over 20 solo exhibitions, with notable displays in Estonia (2008) and Lithuania (2014), as well as several heraldry exhibitions alongside Juris Ivanovs (2001, 2013–2015).
She was awarded the Karlskoga Nobel Art Scholarship in Sweden in 1993.
Her works are included in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Latvian Artists' Union Museum, the Pushkin Museum, The Nobelmuseum in Karlskoga (Sweden), the Westerland Museum in Germany, and the Swedbank AS art collection in Riga.
The biography was prepared by Rūta Muižniece,
Master of Arts
