Maie-Ann Raun has been involved with glass throughout her life in an exceptionally active way, teaching about the material and the field, keeping alive and reviving the history of the discipline, and cultivating understanding through her work.

She is a glass artist, a long-time lecturer, professor emeritus at the Estonian Academy of Arts and an outstanding specialist in Estonian glass history.

After completing her studies as an art teacher at the Tartu Art School, she entered the State Art Institute and graduated as a glass artist in 1964. After finishing school, Raun worked at the J. Sverdlov glass factory in Russia and continued her studies at the Moscow Higher School of Arts and Crafts in 1966–1969. Soon after graduating, she became a lecturer for decades, and since 1996 a professor at the art academy in Tallinn.

In her work, she has used a variety of technological and thematic approaches. She has created both distinctly geometric and more organic works and series, many of which are part of the collections of the Applied Art and Design Museum and others. Maie Raun is also the author of a several of monumental works, one of which, as a part of her thesis, was the wall piece “Galactics” for the Tõravere Observatory (1964). Later series of stained glass windows were designed for the Tallinna Matkamaja (1984, 1986). 

She has researched the history of Estonian glass, put together exhibitions on the subject and written articles.

The collection of the Museum of Applied Art and Design includes just over 70 works by Maie-Ann Raun, a selection of which has been exhibited in the museum’s permanent exhibitions of applied art over the years. This is still the case today.

Raun’s works are simple and powerful, characterised by a delicate, soft and fluid use of materials and colour, and an often poetic approach.

In the spring of 2023, the museum had the opportunity to add significantly to its glass collection with Maie-Ann Raun’s work from the 1960s-1970s. Among them, the works designed and executed at the J. Sverdlov Glassworks but also additions to the existing sets, including the Engagement (1969), the Chess Prize (1980) and a small selection of works completed during a residency in Denmark, Bornholm, in 1993.

The exhibition is accompanied by a recent video interview with the author, where she talks about how she became involved with glass as a material, her challenges as a teacher and an artist, and the background to her work.

The video has been produced in cooperation with the Estonian Glass Artists’ Union and ETDM and with the support of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

The exhibition team: Tiina Sarapu, Kai Lobjakas, Ketli Tiitsar, Toomas Übner

Graphic design: Meelis Mikker