In-house activities in Pristaniste: Art History by volunteer Catherine
There is a real creative spirit in our community: many lessons and workshops for the residents of Pristaniste are organized by our volunteers.
One of them is «History of Art» — a workshop that Katya has been organizing for a year now.
«We study the history of art from the primitive period to the present day. Every class we look at a certain direction or a particular author. And for better understanding we immediately paint in that style.
We don’t just look at old beautiful pictures, but through art we try to talk about social issues, understand the present and imagine how we can improve the future. I see this as an important task today, and I have high hopes for my young colleagues to change the existing systems of inequality and injustice.
In turn, I receive a tremendous emotional response and support from them.
With their empathy for the characters and artists, their awareness and depth of perception, they involuntarily convince me that everything will be all right.
My listeners and I love the opportunity given by art to break norms and boundaries, to disagree with the rules set by someone else, in the spirit of our favorite rebel artists.
How did I become a volunteer? — Simply that I love art, I love kids, and I have the time. But after a year, I realize that it has given my life a little more meaning.
There are many little things that are very satisfying to me: when they exclaim «wow, did I do that?» delighted with their results. That there is a genuine excitement to go beyond the «rules». They compare their life experiences to those of the characters in the paintings. Didn’t agree to leave for summer vacation because they wanted so badly to continue the class.
Children pass tests brilliantly, use professional terms unfamiliar to most adults, can identify the stages of the author’s work by tiny fragments of paintings and understand why modern art is cool and not scary. There are a few more people who won’t say something along the lines of «it’s a scribble, I’ll paint like that too», hurrah