Our educational art program “Artsvit for Kids” has come to an end! Its final was the opening of a collective exhibition of works created by children during the project!
This year's course was called “Theater Stories” — the children learned acting in its various manifestations: they learned to express their emotions with their bodies, work with associations, invent stage images and makeup, create sets and costumes, make their own puppets, and even put on shadow plays. In fact, in the exhibition we presented imaginary posters for plays and films, sketches of stage costumes, handmade scenery and puppets for the papet show, and a recording of two shadow performances that the children performed for the guests of the vernissage. Below you can find the scripts of these productions:
“The Fantastic Tree”
There was a man who decided to do good and planted a small seed. And a big tree grew from that seed. Not just any tree, but a magical one. Every day, the tree cleaned the air and produced oxygen. It protected the townspeople from strong winds and floods. Various animals found shelter in the hollows and shade of the tree. Fantastic flowers grew near its roots, and birds made nests in its branches. Lovers would hide under its crown from the rain and draw hearts on its trunk. In the fall, the tree grew dragon fruits, from which real dragons hatched. They were very formidable, but they obeyed and made friends with the person who planted the tree. So, if you want to have a dragon yourself, plant a tree!
“Utopia City”
A big and beautiful city of the future. People live in houses, but do not lose their unity with nature. Majestic plants have grown on high-rise buildings, where life is in full swing. But life is not only human. Animals also live in harmony with people. You can see a deer or a rare bird near coffee shops. This city is full of magic. There are rumors that there is a magic sculpture that grants wishes, but only those that benefit the townspeople. The city also has a group of wizards who do good and protect the city from external threats. Electricity and watering for the machines is generated by magic and solar energy. Smart robots are full members of society. Realizing their power, they decided to help people with hard work and precise measurements. Tolerance, kindness, honesty, peace and love reign in this place! Everyone and everything works as a well-coordinated mechanism that drives change in the country and the world!
WHEN: December 7-20, 2024
WHERE: Artsvit Gallery, 21a Krutohirnyi Descent. Entrance from the side of Uspenskaya Square
Authors and teachers of the program: Alina Stefan and Yulia Hryshyna
Project coordinators: Stanislav Pyvonos
Photo: Olya Vasilets
Design: Olena Misyura
The educational platform "Artsvit for Kids" has been operating since 2014. Each of its iterations touches upon new topics and techniques, but one thing remains unchanged — the desire to open the multifaceted world of art to children and refute the idea that it is boring or difficult to understand. We are convinced that through creativity, children get to know themselves better and acquire a variety of skills that are useful in adulthood and in any profession, even technical ones.
However, we would like to emphasize that this project is not an academic education; our teachers do not teach children to draw. Communication is an important factor in the program, we want to integrate children and teenagers into the art community, to organize a dialogue, to refute the idea of art as something boring and difficult to understand. We believe that the younger generation deserves to have a broad outlook, and that art and culture in general not only enrich them aesthetically, but also educate them as conscious citizens.
We noticed that in their conversations, children often touch upon the topics of war, death, and the nuclear threat. At the beginning of the program in the fall of 2023, the teachers noticed detachment, aggression, withdrawal, and a preference for dark colors in the drawings. However, those children who regularly attended classes became more proactive, involved in the process, and interacted more actively with others in the team.
We will continue to create a safe and supportive environment at the Artsvit Gallery where children can express their emotions, relieve stress and develop their creativity. Through art classes, we help children overcome the traumatic experience of war and contribute to their social and emotional rehabilitation, as well as give them creative tools to understand the world and themselves.
Teacher Alina Stefan: “I see how important it is for parents to take their children to art events, and their efforts to keep their children in the normal world of childhood even in the middle of a war when reality is collapsing. At first I thought, what can art do when people are dying, artillery and rockets are destroying towns and villages, people are losing the most basic necessities and don't feel safe? Now I have realized that my experience as a children's writer, my experience as a teacher, my experience as a doctor — all of these things help a lot — they give rise to strength, and I can help children, adults, wounded soldiers, and I am learning to do it better with every meeting, with every group, every participant, and now I see how important it is here in Dnipro. I see people smiling at their own or their children's artistic achievements, wrinkles between their eyebrows smoothing out, and them becoming a little less tense at an exhibition of their children's drawings. I see how children calm down and become less anxious when they hold a paint brush, plasticine, cardboard, or oil crayons. I see how art pulls out those who are “drowning” in the daily trauma of loss, when yesterday you bought markers in a store and today it was destroyed by an explosion. And children drive by and see their daily lives being destroyed every day. And then in the classroom in the shelter, they draw, cut out, do shadow theater or make up a fairy tale and create art and life out of the rubble they just drove by. I want the world to hear the voices of these children.”
