Dr. Jelena Škulienė

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Dr. Jelena Škulis is an artist and researcher whose practice and scholarship are grounded in materiality and community. She teaches at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

Education and Memberships

• 2018–2024 – Doctoral studies in Fine Arts, Vilnius Academy of Arts.
• 2012–2014 – MA in Textile Art and Design, Vilnius Academy of Arts.
• 2006–2012 – BA in Textile Art and Design, Vilnius Academy of Arts (graduated with distinction for integrating traditional textiles into a contemporary social context).
• 2005–2006 – Studies in Clinical Psychology, Vilnius University.
• 2001–2005 – BA in Psychology, Vilnius University.
• Since 2016 – Member of the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association.
• Since 2017 – Participant in the Creative Partnerships programme.

Awards and Distinctions

• 2025 – The dissertation–artistic research Weaving Social Fabric and Community: Connection-basedl Artistic Practice (2024, Vilnius Academy of Arts) was recognized by the Phenomenological Research Institute as the best qualitative research work in Lithuania in 2024.
• 2023 – Awarded for political engagement and the strengthening of community through artistic practice (HANDWORK), Latvian National Museum of Art.
• 2015 – Award for a creative interpretation of process-based work in the project Identities / Business Cards (2013–present), at the international miniature biennial Out of the Box, Arka Gallery, Vilnius.
• 2014 – Award for the socially engaged work Scarf (2013), 6th Lithuanian Textile Biennial Textile X, Arka Gallery, Vilnius.

Group and Council Work

• 2022–2024 – Member of the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association Council.
• 2023–2025 – Member of the Council for the Granting of Artist and Artists’ Organization Status (under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania).

Škulis’s recent projects explicitly connect artistic practice with the political sphere, while her research topics emerge organically from artistic activity. Her work critically examines political issues, vulnerable social and political conditions, and processes of marginalization within textile practices.

In 2020, together with artist Dileta Deikė, she founded the studio–workshop HANDWORK (Vilnius, SODAS2123 cultural complex), a space for artistic research dedicated to investigating handcraft practices through direct action and critical reflection within historical, philosophical, and everyday contexts. In recent years, Škulis has combined performative actions, participatory art practices, and handwork processes to reveal and critically reflect on pressing societal issues. Škulis delivers lectures and seminars in Lithuania and internationally and has been engaged in educational work for many years.

Research projects and grants

Postdoctoral fellowship project “Handwork as a political act through a feminist lens“, project participant, 2 January 2026 – 31 December 2027, project has received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement No. S-PD-25-49.

Selected solo exhibitions, community projects