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= Lirije Buliqi = Lirije Buliqi is a Kosovar archivist, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Peja. In the early 2000s she was introduced to the raku technique, which she then incorporated into her artistic practice. She was part of several collective exhibitions, as well as a few personal exhibitions.

For more than four decades she worked as an archivist at the National Gallery of Kosovo (NGK), where she contributed to the formation of the first public institution NGK to support modern and contemporary art.

“Her artistic practice gives shape and expression to her extensive experience in the arts and the world around her”.

In an interview with Oral History Kosovo, Lirije expressed her captivation with plaques, creating structure and irregular shapes.

Early Life
Lirije Buliqi grew up in the Puhovc neighbourhood of Peja, she was one of six siblings in her family. Her mother was a weaver of rugs and carpets, that’s how she sustained her family, Lirije’s father died when she was five years old.

Growing up, she and her friends, used to make dolls and other toys using roof bricks, and mud. They also used her mother’s loom machines to produce different textures to play with.

After finishing high school in Peja, she wanted to go study in Zagreb, however her brother, who was already studying in Zagreb talked her out of it, and Lirije decided to study Law at the University of Prishtina.

In Prishtina, she went for the first time to the theatre, and became more involved in cultural activities.

Career in National Gallery of Kosovo
Lirije started her career in the National Gallery of Kosovo, then known as Prishtina Art Gallery, in the beginning of the 1980s.

She worked in the administration of the gallery, in documenting the work of the gallery as well as the art works that were part of gallery’s collection. She, together with the curators of the gallery, worked with artists in the organization of exhibitions.

Throughout the 1990s, the National Gallery of Kosovo was barely active. During the month of June 1999, Lirije was the only staff member that went to the Gallery on daily basis. For an interview with Oral History Kosovo, she recalls that the collection of the gallery was left intact except for one artist Svetomir Arsić, who loaned his artworks and never returned them.

Education in Academy of Arts
Lirije dropped out of the Faculty of Law and decided to pursue sculpting after two years of studying Law and working at the National Gallery of Kosovo. Her interest in art was recognised by Engjëll Berisha, who urged her to enrol in the Academy of Arts in Prishtina. In an interview with Oral History Kosovo, she recollects “I choose sculpture because I like rough materials, clay and similar. Perhaps it’s something I have from my childhood, we did not have toys, and we played with mud.”

Lirije was enrolled in the class of the sculptor Agim Çavdërbasha, but In the early 1990s he fell ill and was substituted by Zoran Karalejić.

Because the Academy of Arts ran under poor conditions, students were expected to buy their own tools and materials for sculpting. Lirije recalls, “In the winter, for example, the studio was really cold, the clay would freeze and we couldn’t work with it.”

Career as an artist
A defining moment in Lirije’s carrier is a workshop with Hanibal Salvaro featuring ceramics, organized in the National Gallery of Kosovo in 2003. In this workshop, Lirije for the first time got acquainted with the process of creating ceramic art through raku technique. At the end of the workshop, all the participants exhibited their works nationally, and few of the artworks including Lirije’s ceramic art were chosen to be exhibited internationally. Lirije recalls winning a prize for her ceramic work.

After the workshop ended, the kiln remained in the National Gallery of Kosovo, where Lirije got the chance to experiment with ceramic art and develop more her practice. Moreover, she led two other workshops with students about ceramics, where they explored the firing process among other things.

Styles and Development
Lirije was more attracted to plaques and the idea of creating structures. In her practice she used the structure of a sack, or fractured stones to model after–in order to create an uncertainty between the appearance and the material of the artwork.

From 2004 to 2011, Lirije produced a ceramic series that includes freestanding objects and wall-hung plaques. According to Erëmire Krasniqi–who curated Lirije’s exhibition in the Gallery of the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports in Prishtina–her practice cannot be categorised, instead it is “inhabiting a space between pottery and sculpture; platter and painting; craft and art.”.

Lirije often paints on both the inside and outside of the ceramic, using it as painting surfaces, creating deeper layers and brings out the colors of nature.

“In her work process Buliqi embraces the element of chance. [..] Because of the volatile nature of the medium, failures too are inevitable, and the creative process is oftentimes daunting. For Buliqi, leaving it to chance liberates the artform from failure and pursuit of beauty.”

Exhibitions

 * Personal exhibition, 2021, Gallery of Ministry of Culture, curated by Erëmirë Krasniqi
 * Synime/Ambitions, 2021, National Gallery of Arts Tirana and The National Gallery of Kosovo, Prishtina, curated by Adela Demetja & Erëmirë Krasniqi