-->
Stadtwerk Lehen, Salzburg, Austria is a
fantastic area for teens and children to gather in a safe environment and
create together. By providing a
framework of sculpture workshops we gave them the opportunity to explore and
co-investigate.
We explained
to the teenagers what the children in Stadtwerk Lehen needed: sculptures that
they could identify with as well as play and sit on. These sculptures needed to
be colourful and cheerful in such a bare area consumed by concrete. Without hesitation the teens bounced ideas
off each other, making pen sketches of their ideas. Jake Street and I
facilitated the process by asking questions so that they could explore and
expand further. Knowing that the
sculptures were mostly for children aged from 3-12 that made up the largest
demographic in that area, they decided on an big elephant, like in Fantasia or Dumbo
that they could play and sit upon.
Influenced by Rodin and Michelangeo, the teens thought of the diverse
community in Stadtwerk Lehen. Small international families from different parts
of Eastern and South East Europe, live in one space at Stadtwerk
Lehen, Salzburg. They thought, like Rodin, how they could carve these diverse
people into the Ytong and have them stand there as a lasting representation of
themselves, created by this new generation full of hope and promise. The mother in their sketches reminded me of
the Venus of Willendorf, a pregnant and earthy a symbol of a spiritual gardner
bringing fresh hope and promise. It was
clear that the teens had captured the spirit and essence of the community and
were ready to begin putting their sketches into form.
Our plan was,
as facilitators to guide the older teenagers to start the process and the
younger teens to join once the sculptures had taken shape. This is a process that allows greater
intergenerational learning and sharing of skills. The older teens gain more
responsibility and become teachers themselves, so that they can learn their own
learning and teaching strategies. The
younger teens generally have more respect for those older teenagers that are
closer to their age and feel important and included into their world, which
gives them a greater sense of motivation and responsibility as well. This kind
of learning bridges responsibilities and community between the generations
where, without this, there is usually conflict.
The difficult part was moving
large blocks of Ytong, which is like a soft concrete, into the space where the
sculpture was to stand and to start chiseling from scratch, forming the
elephant seat that the children would be able to sit and play on. They had to form the firgures that would be
representing the Stadtwerk Lehen community as well. Hartwig guided the teens to mix some concrete
paste, so that the block could be stuck together and set to stay in place. In order to start shaping the sculptures, the
teenagers drew on the Ytong blocks. They
sketched the outline of an elephant on one the blocks of Ytong and on another
they drew figures, representing the community.
What was interesting that the teenagers stuck to their concept of
bringing out the diversity of the people living in Stadtwerk Lehen. For instance, there was a young boy, a couple
kissing-just like the teenagers themselves and I noted how similar this looked to the sculpture of Brancusi entitled The Kiss-an old man, some young people and a mother.
As the teenagers began to chisel
away, the younger teens that had been playing football came curiously over to
the sculptures that were in the making.
The older teenagers responded to their curiosity and showed them how to
chisel away at the Ytong. Seeing that
they were keen to try, we fitted them with safety glasses and they joined in at
first tentatively, and then confidently, shaping the very characters that were
representing the community that they were a part of.
In order to
set the forms that they had created and so that we could paint the sculptures
in many different colours we had to cover Ytong material with paste and leave
it over night. As we took pictures of
the white sculptures, elegant and minimalistic before the painting workshops
begun, we were reminded of Greek Sculptures that we see in museums and books
today: white, cream and neutral.
However, we forget that there was a time when these Greek sculptures
were colourful as well. Bright, garish
colours, often in primary colours, a far cry from those classic and refined
cream surfaces we see displayed today.
When we had begun the sculpture workshops, we had given the older teens
pictures of Michelangelo colourless sculptures for their inspiration. Looking at what they had created out of the
Ytong, I could see these influences being brought out through their own
creativity. At first it seemed a shame
to cover over these creations that seemed so pure without a speck of colour,
but we were reminded that in the tradition of the Ancient Greek sculptures,
they too were enlivened with colour.
The following
day, we started mixing the paints and the younger teenagers excitedly skipped
over to join us. As both the older teens
and facilitators guided them through the process, there was less careful
craft work and more exploratory efforts coming from the younger teens. Our first reaction was to slow down the
process, but then as we allowed the younger ones to take a more central role
than they had done during the actual sculpting process, then, we saw that they
were taking ownership of the artwork. We
realized that this multi-focus of the older teenagers in the first, more
difficult part and the younger teens in the second part, was what brought them
and the artwork into a more collaborative effort. The painting upon the sculptures was not as
polished as it would have been if the older generation had continued to take
the major role, but we realized that this is what gave the sculptors their
charm. Furthermore, the younger children
would be the ones that would be playing and sitting upon the sculptures the
most and so, giving them almost complete free reign over the painting helped
them to identify with more with the sculptures being an integral part of their
creation and community.
It is important, whenever working with these kinds of
workshops, to allow the process to show you the way and not to control the
process too much. Teens and children
need guidance and structure so that their creativity be facilitated to a
concrete form, however, it is important to allow flexibility within that
process so that not only the target group learns, but also the facilitators
explore and learn as well, so that everyone becomes co-investigators in the
project and in the process everyone is transformed for the better.
Stadtwerk Lehen, Salzburg, Austria is a
fantastic area for teens and children to gather in a safe environment and
create together. By providing a
framework of sculpture workshops we gave them the opportunity to explore and
co-investigate.
We began by giving several introductory presentations in Stadtwerk Lehen
community rooms in collaboration with Spektrum youth centre, Kinderhilfewerk at the spring and autumn festivals. We provided a special
info-afternoon just for the children in Stadtwerk Lehen, as well. Here children
and teenagers in Lehen, Salzburg had the possibility to ask questions to HartwigMülleitner, who was the professional sculptor that would be teaching them, so
that they could see what their possibilities were.
We had many discussions with Spektrum youth center, who ran the spiel-bus
(play-bus) there. Vera who is a social
worker at Spektrum, who works closely with the children in Stadtwerk Lehen
area, told us about the lack of spaces in which the kids could play and sit. She showed us the area under the concrete housing where some table
tennis tables had been placed. The area
looked bare and in need of some colour. So we talked about how we could design,
together with teens and children from Lehen, colourful sculptures that would
brighten up the area and that they could sit and play upon.
At first we recruited a group of teenagers from 15-17 from Lehen. In Fotohof`s extensive library we looked at
sculpture books, particularly from the traditional figurative, sculptural
cannon. We explored those sculptors that
were concerned with the human form such as Auguste Rodin but also those that
had a mannerist style such as Michaelangelo.
We explained
to the teenagers what the children in Stadtwerk Lehen needed: sculptures that
they could identify with as well as play and sit on. These sculptures needed to
be colourful and cheerful in such a bare area consumed by concrete. Without hesitation the teens bounced ideas
off each other, making pen sketches of their ideas. Jake Street and I
facilitated the process by asking questions so that they could explore and
expand further. Knowing that the
sculptures were mostly for children aged from 3-12 that made up the largest
demographic in that area, they decided on an big elephant, like in Fantasia or Dumbo
that they could play and sit upon.
Influenced by Rodin and Michelangeo, the teens thought of the diverse
community in Stadtwerk Lehen. Small international families from different parts
of Eastern and South East Europe, live in one space at Stadtwerk
Lehen, Salzburg. They thought, like Rodin, how they could carve these diverse
people into the Ytong and have them stand there as a lasting representation of
themselves, created by this new generation full of hope and promise. The mother in their sketches reminded me of
the Venus of Willendorf, a pregnant and earthy a symbol of a spiritual gardner
bringing fresh hope and promise. It was
clear that the teens had captured the spirit and essence of the community and
were ready to begin putting their sketches into form. Our plan was,
as facilitators to guide the older teenagers to start the process and the
younger teens to join once the sculptures had taken shape. This is a process that allows greater
intergenerational learning and sharing of skills. The older teens gain more
responsibility and become teachers themselves, so that they can learn their own
learning and teaching strategies. The
younger teens generally have more respect for those older teenagers that are
closer to their age and feel important and included into their world, which
gives them a greater sense of motivation and responsibility as well. This kind
of learning bridges responsibilities and community between the generations
where, without this, there is usually conflict. |
| teenagers kissing/Stadtwerk Lehen |
 | ||
| Brancusi "The Kiss" |
As the teenagers began to chisel
away, the younger teens that had been playing football came curiously over to
the sculptures that were in the making.
The older teenagers responded to their curiosity and showed them how to
chisel away at the Ytong. Seeing that
they were keen to try, we fitted them with safety glasses and they joined in at
first tentatively, and then confidently, shaping the very characters that were
representing the community that they were a part of.
Meanwhile, the older teenagers were discussing
with the other block of Ytong how they should carve an elephant. At first they thought about having the face at
the front, but then they changed to having the face at the side and a cut away
seat at the front, that would be carved into the elephant`s body. This is so that there could be a proper seat
for the children. In doing so, they were
making the actual construction of the sculpture harder for them to do, but
nevertheless, they wanted to maximize the comfort and safety for the children
in Stadtwerk Lehen that would be sitting and playing on it for years to come.
More of the
younger teens began wandering over from playing football. We fuelled their
curiosity by giving them camera to film and take pictures of their neighbours
and friends who were joining in, making the sculptures. The sense of community began to grow stronger,
boys and girls and young and older teens mixed.
Without parental supervision, there were often conflicts, with little to
focus upon except each other. Now that
the teens and children had something to focus upon, a common goal to work
towards that was indeed a representation of the community that they belonged
to, there was less conflict and instead curiosity, unification and a sense of
belonging. More and more children and
teenagers joined, sensing this spirit, knowing that by joining in, they would
be part of building something together of which they were an integral part.
In order to
set the forms that they had created and so that we could paint the sculptures
in many different colours we had to cover Ytong material with paste and leave
it over night. As we took pictures of
the white sculptures, elegant and minimalistic before the painting workshops
begun, we were reminded of Greek Sculptures that we see in museums and books
today: white, cream and neutral.
However, we forget that there was a time when these Greek sculptures
were colourful as well. Bright, garish
colours, often in primary colours, a far cry from those classic and refined
cream surfaces we see displayed today.
When we had begun the sculpture workshops, we had given the older teens
pictures of Michelangelo colourless sculptures for their inspiration. Looking at what they had created out of the
Ytong, I could see these influences being brought out through their own
creativity. At first it seemed a shame
to cover over these creations that seemed so pure without a speck of colour,
but we were reminded that in the tradition of the Ancient Greek sculptures,
they too were enlivened with colour. The following
day, we started mixing the paints and the younger teenagers excitedly skipped
over to join us. As both the older teens
and facilitators guided them through the process, there was less careful
craft work and more exploratory efforts coming from the younger teens. Our first reaction was to slow down the
process, but then as we allowed the younger ones to take a more central role
than they had done during the actual sculpting process, then, we saw that they
were taking ownership of the artwork. We
realized that this multi-focus of the older teenagers in the first, more
difficult part and the younger teens in the second part, was what brought them
and the artwork into a more collaborative effort. The painting upon the sculptures was not as
polished as it would have been if the older generation had continued to take
the major role, but we realized that this is what gave the sculptors their
charm. Furthermore, the younger children
would be the ones that would be playing and sitting upon the sculptures the
most and so, giving them almost complete free reign over the painting helped
them to identify with more with the sculptures being an integral part of their
creation and community. It is important, whenever working with these kinds of
workshops, to allow the process to show you the way and not to control the
process too much. Teens and children
need guidance and structure so that their creativity be facilitated to a
concrete form, however, it is important to allow flexibility within that
process so that not only the target group learns, but also the facilitators
explore and learn as well, so that everyone becomes co-investigators in the
project and in the process everyone is transformed for the better.
Comments