Evi Tihemets

• Name — Evi Tihemets • Other Names — Evi Viires; Evi Tihemets-Viires • Born — 21 August 1932 • Birthplace — Tapa, Estonia • Citizenship — Estonian • Education — Estonian State Art Institute (1951–1958) • Known for — Printmaking; Book illustration; Collage • Spouse — Ants Viires • Children — Epp Viires • Awards — Kristjan Raud Art Award (1992; 2013); Wiiralt Prize (2011); Annual prize of the Visual and Applied Arts Endowment of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2007); Order of the White Star, IV class (2025)

Tihemets was born in Tapa and studied at the Estonian State Art Institute from 1951 to 1958. 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. She is listed as a member of the Estonian Artists Association from 1959 and as an honorary member from 2002.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. Exhibition announcements and cultural programming also document joint presentation contexts with her daughter, the artist Epp Viires. 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.

In 1968 she took the surname Viires following her marriage to the ethnologist Ants Viires. 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. Her daughter, Epp Viires, is also an artist; the Estonian Artists Association has documented joint exhibition contexts involving both artists.

Evi Tihemets is recorded with the occupation graphic artist. Recorded with the occupation illustrator. Recorded with the occupation printmaker. Recorded as printmaker, artist and illustrator.

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.