The cross-shaped and circular pendants along the shelves are a mossy grey-green in colour, yet this magic has not been achieved by using Mottled Aquamarine #42. The pieces have been pressed out of sheets of centuries-old copper from the rooftop and spire of Tallinn’s oldest church, Toomkirik (Dome Church) on Toompea hill above the capital.
Stripped from atop the church in the late 1980s, some of the beautiful oxidized copper (VASK) was spared from the clutches of metal collectors and sellers (a booming business at the time) and survived. Art historian Juhan Kilumets informed his artist-friend of this treasure and the idea to create small, simple pieces from the amazing weather-worn material was born. They are on sale at the church which produced them and some were brought “down-town” for the holidays.
The artist Kadi explains that beauty does not always have to be the result of labour-intensive work on the part of the artist. As always, the value of handiwork is in the hours invested and in this case the miracle of time (AEG) took but a few hundred years to produce. Another example she cites is peat – the packed layers of sphagnum moss found in bogs. 1 metre of peat (TURVAS) takes approximately 1000 years to produce. If one were to collect, dry and say, weave the fibres of this ancient gold into felt hats (a handicraft rage in Estonia), you could be protected from the elements by the product and spirit of many thousands of years. For the moment Kadi’s tapestries contain sparkly hints of synthetic gold thread, but the wheels inside her head are turning (RATTAD KÄIVAD).
This image and text (Maria, Mother of God) adorns the church bell atop the tower of Tallinn’s Toomkirik. Artist Kadi Pajupuu has printed this on paper bags used for packaging pendants made of copper weathered on the same church’s roof and steeple.
Can time be measured in kroons? Kadi’s pendants cost 30 such units, the ones presented on beautifully simple slats of pine (MÄND) are 60 kr and tiny square charms, some bearing funny natural scars and some engraved by the artist, cost 15 kr.
Since weaving is not an easy task while (wo)manning the Eesti Käsitöö (Estonian handicraft) shop’s exhibition and sale, Kadi spends her time drawing on wooden cards: 2 thin sheets of light-coloured ash (SAAR / saarepuu) bearing the lines of time are held together by a strip of copper. I bought the one she had just completed when I arrived. It began with a sketch of the vaulted doorway of Pühavaimu kirik (the Church of the Holy Spirit) across the street from the store. Then two angels (INGLID) and some patterns were added, in the simplest thin brown marker on wood. The most elegant, magical card I have ever seen, hand-made for a dollar fifty. NB: Most art in Estonia is not this inexpensive nor are most people this talented.