A Maritime Message for the Little Ones of Klaipeda

To celebrate the 774th anniversary of the city of Klaipėda, one of the port city’s oldest daycare centers was transformed with bright colors and maritime accents. The main wall of the “Traukinukas” educational institution was adorned with a maritime fresco painted by Aušrinė Pudževytė, an artist who travels the world—she has left her frescoes in more than thirty countries around the globe. The Lithuanian artist, who is based in Morocco, traveled from the Netherlands—where she had just opened her solo exhibition “Tides of the Self” in Rotterdam—to paint the maritime fresco.

“It’s always a pleasure to return to Lithuania and leave my creative mark here. It’s especially meaningful to create for children. I’ve always believed that in places like kindergartens or schools, there can never be too much color. These are spaces where children spend a large part of their day, so they should inspire curiosity, joy, and imagination. “I hope that by seeing this mural every day, children will grow up learning about Klaipeda’s identity as a maritime city and understanding that the sea can become a part of their future,” said Aušrinė Pudževytė, the mural’s creator.

Maritime murals have been painted in Klaipeda’s educational institutions for the second year in a row. Last year, a maritime motif adorned the wall of the “Pagrandukas” nursery school. This maritime mural is one of the components of a project designed to encourage an interest in maritime culture.

The project partners are the Steam Center at Klaipėda University, the Lithuanian Maritime Museum, and the Lithuanian Shipowners’ Association.

You can learn more about Aušrinė Pudževytė’s work, which includes murals all over the world, on her social media accounts: Facebook and Instagram