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Viive Noor is one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Estonian illustration. As curator of Tallinn's illustration triennial The Power of Pictures and vice-president of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People), she connects Estonian culture with the world. In Pilsen, she works as an ArtCamp lecturer at the University of West Bohemia, and her illustrations can now be seen at the Illustration: Three Ways exhibition in the Incubator Gallery. In an interview, she reveals why Little Red Riding Hood is a love story for her, how she discovered art instead of zoology, and why Estonian children's literature is so strong. She also talks about how this nation manages to preserve its identity through language and education.

The title of the course that you are teaching at ArtCamp is Illustration / Mixed Media Techniques. What techniques do you use?

Mixed media means the participants can use any kind of technique. I hope they also use collage, because collage is quite a quick technique, which means they'll be able to finish their work. It's a huge amount of work, and there's not much time—just a week. I want my students not only to learn, but to have fun. So they can use techniques where they feel strong. I see that they use very different techniques—some use watercolors, tinted pens, or whatever. It's all okay. What I also like very much is that the participants are very individual. They look a little at what others are doing, but they all work in very different styles and techniques. It's very interesting for me to watch how they're working.

Little Red Riding Hood seems to be your favorite fairy tale. Why did you choose this particular story?

The original Little Red Riding Hood is quite a frightening story and can be interpreted in various ways. We can interpret it as a story about disobedient girls who don't listen to men, and because they are very clever, they achieve what they want. Thus as a kind of feminist fairy tale. But for me it's a very important story because my favorite animal is the wolf. I even worked in a zoo with wolves when I was 12 years old. It was my summer job for 3 months. Animals are very important to me and I've always had dogs at home. Dogs and wolves are very similar in nature. In childhood I thought people didn't understand the story. For me it was always a love story – between the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. I worked at the art academy for 13 years and one of the tasks for students was to illustrate Little Red Riding Hood and create their own story. During those 13 years I saw students creating their own stories – sometimes strange, sometimes fantastic. I even had a cookbook on the theme of wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. This story is so simple that it gives many possibilities to be creative – much better than princes and princesses. The fairy tale has many different layers and we all find our own layer depending on our experiences and age. It's a very universal fairy tale.

You once said that as a child you wanted to be a researcher. Do you feel you've fulfilled this dream through illustration?

I wanted to be a researcher for a very long time. I learned Latin animal names and was sure I would go to university to study geography or zoology. But then I went to art school and discovered art. Getting into art academy was very difficult – so many people competed for one place. I thought if I didn't get into the academy the first time, I would study something connected with nature. But I got in and everything changed. Art is the only thing I want to do. I understood that art is exploring the world. It's the same thing – just the topics are a bit different. So yes,I'm actually a researcher.

You're not just an illustrator, but also curator of the Tallinn triennial The Power of Pictures. Why this title?

I am the initiator and curator of this triennial. The name came from my classmate, an art historian who was director of the exhibition department of the Estonian National Library. I think the strongest aspect of art is precisely that there isn't just one meaning. When I was young and art historians talked about what they saw in my illustrations, I thought they were stupid because they didn't understand anything. But when I got older, I understood that it's normal. We all see what we see. People are different and see different things.

Could you introduce Estonian children's book illustration and its position in Estonian culture?

It's really strong. Children's books are very important to us. Because the Estonian nation is small in number, our state supports the publication of children's books. Such a small nation cannot survive without books. Our children read and are really excellent readers. All people in Estonia could read already in the 19th century because we are Lutherans. In Estonia two important church events – baptism and confirmation – were not possible to complete if you couldn't read. Reading, books and education were always very important. People in Estonia in the countryside weren't very rich, but from every family one – the smartest – child went to university. Everyone worked so there would be enough money for studies.

Is this related to protecting culture against Soviet influence?

I don't know if it's because of the Soviet Union. Even bigger nations than ours lost their culture and became Russians. Estonians are a mixed nation – when I say I'm Estonian, it's necessary to add that one grandmother was German, another Swedish, someone was Jewish, someone Russian. We are really mixed because there were many wars in our country. What makes us Estonian is the Estonian language. Maybe that's why education and language are so important to us.

You are the vice-president of IBBY. What does this mean to you?

Being vice-president isn't important in itself – now it just means work, because we have very few people, only eight people, and a lot of work. But it helped me in preparing the Tallinn triennial. Being vice-president gave me more opportunities to connect people, to bring them to Estonia. The first triennial took place in 2003. We became independent in 1991, but the Soviet army left only at the beginning of the second millennium. It was really difficult to organize anything after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We really felt independent only after the Soviet soldiers left. So our membership in IBBY was an opportunity to promote Estonian culture and bring foreign countries to Estonia.

Is the illustrators community around the world working well?

Yes, i tis a very strong community. As once my colleague said: We are citizens of illustration world.