Elo-Reet Järv

Elo-Reet Järv (1939–2018) was an Estonian leather artist. She graduated from the National Art Institute of the Estonian SSR (now Estonian Academy of Arts) in 1964 and started participating in exhibitions from 1966. At the beginning of her creative career, Järv worked mostly with leather art and bookbinding, but from the 1970s she started experimenting more and more with sculptural forms made of leather, that gradually began to challenge the boundaries between applied arts and visual arts. Järv had numerous solo exhibitions in Estonia, but she also participated in group exhibitions in many parts of Europe. She received several awards, including the Kristjan Raud Art Award twice (1984, 2012).