CONTACT

info@kristaleesi.ee

+372 5221152

Tallinn ESTONIA

CV

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
1993 Estonian Academy of Arts, textile art and design
1987 Tallinn School of Music, piano
CURRENT POSITION
Faculty member in the Department of Textile Design of the Estonian Academy of Arts

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 IN SPE. SAINT VICTOR AND THE FOUR DRAGONS, Draakon Gallery, Tallinn
2021 VERBARIUM, Tartu Art Museum, Tartu, Estonia
2020 The Small Modern Textile Dictionary, Evald Okas Museum, Haapsalu, Estonia
2019 ROOM. Krista Leesi, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn
2019 Herringbone by Krista Leesi, Hop Gallery, Tallinn
2017 Fabric & Fabrication, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Kaunas Faculty Gallery, Lithuania
2014 Tallinn toile, Hop Gallery, Tallinn
2014 Souvenirs de Paris, Institut Francais d'Estonie, Tallinn
2013 From Estonia With Love (with Heino Prunsvelt), Corridor gallery, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2011 REMARK, Hop Gallery, Tallinn
2011 From Estonia With Love (with Heino Prunsvelt), Artifex Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
2008 Oma tuba oma luba, Hop Gallery, Tallinn
2003 f-mail (with Lylian Meister), Design Gallery, Tallinn
2001 Last word of Textile Art (with Aune Taamal), Tallinn City Gallery
1999 Variations on a theme: Textile, Kuressaare Town Hall, Estonia
1999 Sidused ja eosed (with Kreg A Kristring), Gallery Sammas, Tallinn

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2024 The Fine Lines of Constructivness, The 9th Tallinn Applied Art Triennial, Kai Art Center, Tallinn, Estonia
2024 ONE OF US, internationally renowned textile artists from Estonia and Lithuania, Pallas Gallery, Tartu, Estonia
2024 The 24nd Annual Exhibition of Estonian Artists’ Association, Spring Exhibition 2024, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
2023 Encounter Estonian Design An Introduction, Lithuanian Museum of Applied Arts and Design, Vilnius, Lithuania
2023 QUO VADIS? 7th Riga International Textile and Fibre Art Triennial "Tradition and Innovation", Riga, Latvia
2023 IMAGINE ! exhibition of the international festival of textiles, National Museum’s House of Histories, Vilnius, Lithuania
2023 3rd International Micro Textile and Fibre Art Exhibition “Scythia”, Ivano-Frankivs’k, Ukraine
2022 IMAGINE ! FITE 2022-2023 (the International Festival of Extra ordinary Textiles), Musée Bargoin, Clermont-Ferrand, France
2022 MINIARTEXTIL, 30th edition, Marcq-en-Baroeul, France
2022 The 22nd Annual Exhibition of Estonian Artists’ Association, Spring Exhibition 2022, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
2022 Looking Through Objects. Women in Contemporary Polish Design. Accompanying exhibition: Women in Contemporary Estonian Design, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2022 Fiberart International, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA
2022 MINIARTEXTIL, 30th edition, Busto Arsizio, Italy
2022 MINIARTEXTIL, 30th edition, Paris, France
2021 MINIARTEXTIL, 30th edition, Como, Italy
2020 Contemporary Thinking, Textile Seeing. Vilnius Academy of Arts, Textile Department in the Kaunas Faculty, Lithuania
2020 London Design Festival, Adorno's Virtual Design Destination, Estonian collection: CAN YOU FEEL IT, curated by Kai Lobjakas & Anne Vetik
2020 DOERS, exhibition of Estonian Textile Artists’ Association, The Museum of New Art, Pärnu, Estonia
2020 CONTEXTILE 2020, Contemporary Textile Art Biennial, Guimaraes, Portugal
2020 KCDA, Korea Craft Designer Association, Invited International Exhibition, Vancouver, Canada
2020 Patterns: Krenholm textile design 1963-2005, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2019 Textile in Art. Contextile, Centro Cultural Municipal Adriano Moreira, Braganca, Portugal
2019 Textile Art of Today, 5th edition, Muzeum Historyczne, Bielsko–Biala, Poland
2019 8th International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art WTA, The Sustainable City, Centro Arte Complutense (Large Format Textile Art), Madrid, Spain
2019 8th International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art WTA, The Sustainable City, Museo del Traje (Small Format Textile Art), Madrid, Spain
2019 Textile Art of Today, 5th edition, Pesti Vigadó Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2019 KCDA, Korea Craft Designer Association, Invited International Exhibition in the U.S.A, KM Art Center Gallery, USA
2019 International exhibition of jacquard weaving, FRAMES. Pärnu Museum, Estonia
2019 Textile Art of Today, 5th edition, The Moravian Museum in Uherské Hradište, Czech republic
2019 Baltic Textile and Fibre Art Exhibition IDENTITY, M. Žilinskas Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania
2019 Textile Art of Today, 5th edition, Tatra Gallery in Poprad, Slovakia
2018 Textile Art of Today, 5th edition, Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava, Slovakia
2018 CONTEXTILE 2018, Contemporary Textile Art Biennial, Guimaraes, Portugal
2018 KCDA, Korea Craft Designer Association, Invited International Exhibition in the U.S.A, KM Art Center Gallery, USA
2018 IDENTITY, 6th Riga International Textile and Fibre Art Triennial "Tradition and Innovation", Riga, Latvia
2017 Silk and Tradition: China and Central & Eastern Europe Contemporary art silk exhibition, China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou, China
2017 Time Difference, The 7th Tallinn Applied Art Triennial, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2017 Exhibition In Print, Surface Design Journal, Las Vegas, USA
2016 CONTEXTILE 2016, Contemporary Textile Art Biennial, Guimaraes, Portugal
2016 Idealists. Exhibition of applied art, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
2016 Consul´Art, Maison de l'Artisanat et des Metiers d'Art, Marseille, France
2016 KITCHEN. Changing Space, Design and Applied Art in Estonia. Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2015 Diversity & Unity, 5th Riga International Textile and Fibre Art Triennial "Tradition and Innovation", Riga, Latvia
2015 ONE HUNDRED Estonian Textile Art 1915-2015, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
2014 ornaMENTAL, Tallinn Art Hall
2013 Contemporary Estonian applied art at Cheongju International Craft Biennale "Something Old Something New" in the biennale's platform International Pavilion - Craft Meets Market
2012 The Art of Collecting, The 6th Tallinn Apllied Art Triennial, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2012 Powerhouse Europe Connected, exhibition-project, Parc de Wesserling - Ecomusée Textile, Husseren-Wesserling, France
2012 En Face, Klaipeda Culture Communication Centre, Lithuania
2011 Experiments with Light: Art Lab, gallery “BALTA” Kaunas, Lithuania
2011 Estonian Design. Lights. Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2011 For Love not Money, The 15th Tallinn Print Triennial, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
2011 Catapult, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
2010 Global Intrique II, 4th Riga International Textile and Fibre Art Triennial, Riga, Latvia
2010 Fresh Takes. New Estonian Design. Estonian Embassy in Helsinki, Finland
2010 Textile Art in Estonia, Krasnojarsk, Russia
2009 Via Baltica, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian Textile Design, Vilnius, Lithuania
2009 24h design, Estonian design exhibition in Riga interior fair, Latvia
2009 Faces and Names, exhibition of ceramics and textile art, Evald Okas Museum, Haapsalu, Estonia
2009 Estonian Textile Art Yesterday and Today, Russian Museum of Ethnography Petersburg, Russia
2009 Annual of Estonian Artists Association Self-exposure, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
2009 Estonian Textile Art in Rome Club of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Italy
2009 Blumenflirt, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2008 Cloth & Culture NOW, Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester, UK
2008 Plural, annual exhibition of the Estonian Textile Artists Association, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2008 Rauma Biennaale Balticum Flower Power, Rauma Art Museum, Finland
2008 Annual of Estonian Artists Association Vabaduse väljak / Vabaduse Square, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
2008 Cloth & Culture NOW, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts Norwich, Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester, UK
2007 Annual of Estonian Artists Association Art of Living, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
2007 My World: The New Subjectivity in Contemporary Design by British and Estonian artists, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2006 Tallinn Applied Art Triennial Two Close Ones, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2005 An Archive, a retrospective summary of 25 years of existence of the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2005 International Textile Art Exhibition Textile 05, Kaunas, Lithuania
2005 Estonian Textile Art in Latvian Museum of Applied Art, Riga, Latvia and in Pskov, Russia
2004 exhibition of the Department of Textile Design of Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
2004 Estonian Textile Art in Riga, Latvia
2003 International Textile Art Exhibition Right and Wrong Sides, Kaunas, Lithuania
2003 Estonian 3 Dimensional Art Notes, Szentendre, Hungary
2003 Estonian Textile Art, Boras, Sweden
2003 Contemporary Baltic/Sweden Textile exhibition “Forever Young”, Stockholm, Sweden
2001 European Textile Art Exibition Tradition & Innovation state Art Museum, Exhibition Hall “Arsenal” Riga, Latvia
1999 ITNET 2000: Tapestry at the Millennium
1997 Estonian Textile Art in Riga, Latvia

AWARDS AND GRANTS

2022 Estonian Textile Artist of the Year 2021
2020 Acquisition Prize 2020, Contextile 2020 - Contemporary Textile Art Biennial, Guimaraes, Portugal
2020 Estonian Textile Artist of the Year 2019
2020 Annual Art Prize of Cultural Endowment of Estonia
2019 Third Honourable Mention in the 8th International Biennial of WTA Contemporary Textile Art, Large Format Textile Art, Madrid, Spain
2019 Winner of the competition for the Christmas postage stamp of Eesti Post (Estonian Post)
2019 Second prize in an art competition for ordering a piece of art for the State Gymnasium of Kohtla-Järve
2018 ASM Award 2018, Contextile 2018 - Contemporary Textile Art Biennial, Guimaraes, Portugal
2018 Second prize in an art competition for ordering art pieces for the Estonian Embassy in Moscow
2016 An Honourable Mention in an art competition for the interior of the new building of the Health Board
2015 Third prize in an art competition for ordering a piece of art for the Estonian Embassy in Beijing, wall textile category
2015 Estonian Textile Artist of the Year 2014
2014 Winner of the competition for souvenirs of the Estonian Academy 100
2013 residency Cité Internationale des Arts / Paris, France
2010 Winner of the competition for souvenirs for the Estonian Museum of Applied Arts and Design
2007 Annual grant of Estonian Cultural Endowment
2006 Winner of the competition of Kesho Mawashi for Baruto (Estonian sumo westler) with Heino Prunsvelt
2005 25 best Estonian book of the year 2004. Honourable Mention for book „tekkSTIILIkunsti SÕNAraamat” *
2002 Cultural Award of the Ministry of Culture
2001 Estonian Textile Artist of the Year
2001 Sleipnir grant for professional work in Sweden
1998 Second prize in the Krenholm Printed Textile Design Competition

* A book of my works with explanations and attempted translations. The title of the book is "tekkSTIILIkunsti SÕNAraamat" (Dictionary of Textile art). The nature of the Estonian language allows a lot of room for playing around with words. The word tekstiilikunst means textile art, but if we deconstruct it into its constituent parts it becomes blanket (tekk), style (style) and art (kunst).