The Shepherd’s Joy. | Black White Shepherd With Sheep Artwork, 2024

Alina Petkune  

Alina Petkune, professionally known as Art Dalyna, is a Latvian-born contemporary multidisciplinary artist based in Daugavpils. She has participated in more than 100 group exhibitions and presented over 30 solo exhibitions throughout Latvia and abroad. Her work has been featured in major exhibitions at the Mark Rothko Museum, the Art Academy of Latvia, and international projects in Lithuania and Estonia. Petkune is a long-standing member of the Daugavpils Regional Artists' Association and the mystical artists' collective Sarkanais akmens ("Red Stone"), and is the founder of the ethnic artists' group DENSA. Her works are held in the collections of the Daugavpils and Rēzekne museums.

Alina holds a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Design and three Master's degrees from Daugavpils University in Graphic Art, Ceramics, and Art Pedagogy. She is currently continuing her studies in Painting at the Art Academy of Latvia after completing studies in Sculpture. Alongside her artistic practice, she has worked as a museum educator, exhibition curator, art teacher, and art therapist.

Working across painting, graphic art, sculpture, textile, and mixed media, Alina creates symbolic visual narratives rooted in folklore, mythology, ecology, and portraiture. Drawing inspiration from Baltic ethnic traditions, literature, nature, and what she calls "village magic," she transforms myths and everyday experiences into contemporary allegories where reality and imagination coexist.

For Alina Petkune, each artwork becomes a living myth. Through layered materials, expressive forms, and symbolic imagery, she explores the space between the personal and the collective, the ordinary and the sacred, inviting viewers to rediscover wonder in the world around them.