Evi Tihemets

Evi Tihemets (born 21 August 1932), also known as Evi Viires and sometimes hyphenated as Evi Tihemets-Viires, is an Estonian printmaker and graphic artist. She studied at the Estonian State Art Institute and has worked primarily as a freelance artist, becoming known for colour-based printmaking across techniques and for later collage works assembled from earlier impressions and new elements.^[1][2] Her work has been the subject of coverage in Estonian cultural press and presented in major museum programming, including a retrospective-style presentation at the Estonian National Museum.^[3][4]

Tihemets was born in Tapa and studied at the Estonian State Art Institute from 1951 to 1958.^[1] According to the Estonian Artists Association, she initially entered the institute intending to study painting but shifted to graphic art, completing her studies in book-related graphic training; she subsequently worked as a freelance artist.^[2][1] She is listed as a member of the Estonian Artists Association from 1959 and as an honorary member from 2002.^[1]

Tihemets’ early career developed in the context of Soviet-era “creative trips” that sent artists to different regions; Estonian cultural writing highlights travel and field-sketching experiences that contributed to her visual language and subject matter in the late 1950s and early 1960s.^[3][2] In later reflections and exhibition commentary, her work has been described as moving beyond direct depiction toward more reworked, idea-driven imagery, including broader thematic interests and formal experimentation in printmaking and mixed techniques.^[3]

She is also associated with book illustration and print cycles; the 2010 Estonian Artists Association yearbook records her as trained in institute-era book/graphic work and as active in multiple printmaking formats across decades.^[1]

Tihemets is documented as working across multiple printmaking techniques and combining processes to achieve specific visual effects; the Estonian Artists Association describes her as strongly oriented toward colour and complex printmaking solutions, and as later developing collage works by cutting and reassembling earlier prints with additional elements.^[1][2] A major 2018 museum presentation, Dedication. Graphics by Evi Tihemets, juxtaposed earlier graphic sheets with large-scale collages and framed the exhibition as a dedication connected to the memory of her husband, ethnologist Ants Viires.^[4]

Tihemets has had solo exhibitions in Estonia over multiple decades; institutional exhibition records list repeated solo presentations in Tallinn venues (including Vabaduse Gallery and the Tallinn Art Hall Gallery) as well as shows in other Estonian galleries.^[1] Her work has also been presented in contemporary-program contexts, including a 2023 solo exhibition opening in Telliskivi area that was covered by Estonia’s public broadcaster.^[5]

In 2012–2013 she was recognised in connection with an extensive sequence of solo exhibitions marking her 80th year; the Estonian Artists Association’s Kristjan Raud Art Award record cites a series of exhibitions across venues during that period.^[6] Exhibition announcements and cultural programming also document joint presentation contexts with her daughter, the artist Epp Viires.^[7]

Internationally, she appears in participation lists for major print events; for example, she is listed (as “Tihemets Viires Evi, Estonia”) among participating artists for MTG Kraków 2012 on the website of the International Print Triennial Society in Kraków.^[8]

Tihemets has received multiple prizes and state recognition.

• Kristjan Raud Art Award (1992; 2013).^[6]
• Annual prize of the Visual and Applied Arts Endowment of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2007), listed under the name “Evi Viires”.^[9]
• Wiiralt Prize (main prize, 2011).^[10][11]
• Order of the White Star, IV class (2025), listed in the official state decoration register (Riigi Teataja).^[12]

Institutional biographical listings also record earlier competition and biennial distinctions (including prizes connected to Kraków print events and Tallinn print triennial contexts).^[1]

In 1968 she took the surname Viires following her marriage to the ethnologist Ants Viires.^[2] Museum framing for the 2018 exhibition Dedication connects the presentation to Ants Viires’ memory and positions her later collages and selections of graphic sheets in that context.^[4] Her daughter, Epp Viires, is also an artist; the Estonian Artists Association has documented joint exhibition contexts involving both artists.^[7]

Works by Tihemets are catalogued in the Art Museum of Estonia’s digital collection, which provides an artist page and links to holdings attributed to her.^[13]