For children, to play games, to draw pictures or to model things are interwoven pleasures! One, even a child, feels free when creating something artistic, or playing… To dream in that imaginary “realm” where everything is possible… At the same time, freedom for reflecting the perceived realities…
We, adults will start to gain a lot when we will realise how important it is to play or create something for the personality development of our children…
The Creativity Workshop which lasted two weeks comprised first of one week of training for art teachers from Sinop, then a workshop for children and an exhibition where the outcomes of these works were displayed. In the workshops that were lead by the Swedish art trainer Sonja Böhlander Tanrısever, Swedish “Gotland Children Art Training” methods were used. 12 teachers and 65 children participated in the workshop and the exhibitions took place at the Otel 117. The aim was to raise awareness about the role and importance of artistic expression in children’s personality development, and to generalise an innova- tive and contemporary art education concept, away from the stereotypes, and whose view points are not limited.
Sinopale Creativity Workshop for Kids was run in collaboration with the Development of Social and Cultural Life Association and supported by the Consulate General of Sweden and the Otel 117.
Within the scope of the workshops, teachers who have been trained during the first week, worked with children during the second week. During the first week the teachers were informed to make the children acquire view points towards the aims of the project and worked on new production techniques. Moreover, through seminars and presentations on topics such as İlhan Koman Project for Children which was carried out in 2004, Children and Archaeology, past best practices have been shared.
On the second week, first it has been discussed with the children what can be done with the materials that they have, and collage works have been done on themes such as “What We Like, What We Don’t Like”, in order to allow the children to express themselves emo- tionally, intellectually and individually, and to clarify the children’s and youth opinions about their environment and the world. Works on the theme “Letters That Cannot Be Writ- ten and Uttered” have been carried out. Through these workshops, children have acquired the ability to value waste materials, to use materials efficiently and to turn them into objects, and learnt how to find and adequately evaluate the resources for changing their environment aesthetically.