As Artistic Education, we believe in the potential competence of children, who disserve to be seen as full citizens in their community. A major interest for us is in the children’s explorations of their particular world and their search for meanings. By creating simple and easy artistic activities, we aim to support children’s inner drive to communicate their ideas and feeling through the many different forms of representation.
This is my story as founder of Artistic Education:
When I was a teenager, our school held some meetings between teachers and parents to discuss, among others, the adolescence of the pupils. At that time even though I was just 13 years old, I was so curious to know what they are talking about. I was wondering if their words are similar to our conversations during school time about how we experience things.
So, one day I decided to go to one of our teachers and ask her to also give us a chance to talk about our experiences with parents. Who can tell our stories better than us?
She agreed and I was asked to talk to parents on behalf of all my schoolmates. It was a new wave of communication that we had never experienced before. I was walking around with a pen and notebook asking my schoolmates: What do you want to say to your parents? What is being a teenager according to your point of view?
I did not know how to give a speech, but that day my simple words in the meeting, like a simple painting, made a clear picture in parent’s minds about the inner world of their children at the beginning of puberty.
And today that experience strengthens my belief that to build a better world for children, we must go to them and listen to them.
From the beginning of this long journey, art became my baggage and tool. I became familiar with lines, colors and patterns. I have met many artists and artworks. I cried in front of “Guernica” and smiled with “Mona Lisa”. Beyond the geographical borders of my country, I saw that throughout the history, art has been used for communication and expression as our minds comprehend forms and symbols at a much deeper level than language. I worked with artists who heard hundreds of children’s languages and changed the classic form of education.
All of them became like tools in my hands which help me to create simple and creative activities for children in every aspect of their lives. Thus, having more opportunities to hear children.