On April 14, Ziedoņa klase – Ziedonis Class – the educational direction of Imants Ziedonis Foundation Viegli (Lightly) visited the 2nd form pupils of Jelgava Central Primary School. Implementing the European Economic Area project, Ziedonis Class explored the thoughts of young people about contemporary art and culture, and sought answers to various questions about the best ways to acquire knowledge about this topic. The creative workshop held at Jelgava Central Primary School is the fourth of the series of events held in Latvia. The workshop participants were Artūrs Jenots, an expert in working with young people, and a young artist – Jānis Šneiders.

In the workshop led by Artūrs Jenots, the children discussed what art was and what was specific to contemporary art, making it different. Artūrs used a variety of creative improvisation techniques, gamification, to talk to the schoolchildren about contemporary art and culture, as well as the ways in which younger pupils would like to learn about the subject. The pupils acknowledged that they wanted to have an opportunity to have free, unrestricted activities to understand what was and what was not art. The pupils of younger classes would be happy to try their hands and heads in various creative processes, both by drawing and other versatile applied activities, and by experiencing art expressions together with artists, exhibition creators and teachers.

The pupils had an opportunity to meet the artist Jānis Šneiders, who will create a contemporary work of art, a mural for the city of Jelgava, on the facade of Jelgava Central Primary School this spring. The mural on the school wall will be dedicated to the theme of nature. Hence, Jānis Šneiders chose the theme of nature and especially birds for the workshop with the children. At the beginning of the workshop, the artist introduced the students to some birds found in Latvia and exotic birds of countries with a warmer climate. Inspired by the world around us, the children enthusiastically drew their favourite bird or an imaginary bird of their own, which later were collected to form the bird skein of the class. Some of the 2nd form pupils tried their hand at the art of paper folding and created their own flying birds, which were then launched on their first flight. At the end of the workshop, classmates in pairs made bird feeders to place them in the schoolyard to welcome and greet all the harbingers of spring.

“Although the younger pupils cannot yet give an exact formulation of how they would like to learn contemporary art topics at school, this day of workshops was very instructive for us. The 2nd form pupils of Jelgava Central Primary School were very inventive and opened up to artistic expression during our workshops, creating all kinds of birds and enjoying making bird feeders from natural materials. Cooperation with Jelgava State City Jelgava Central Primary School is successful, and I am delighted that all involved parties are open to new challenges and the arrival of contemporary art in the city,” concluded Elizabete Pavlovska, the head of Ziedonis Class, regarding the creative workshops.

It is planned that this year one more creative workshop will be held in one of the cities in Latgale region, where a mural will be created by young artist this spring as a part of the European Economic Area project. Find out more about the European Economic Area project “Me, A Human Being in the World”, A Tool for Fostering Contemporary Culture Processes on the social network profiles of Ziedoņa klase – Ziedonis Class Facebook and Instagram.

Imants Ziedonis Foundation Viegli , Ziedoņa klase is implementing a project “Me, A Human Being in the World”, A Tool for Fostering Contemporary Culture Processes (project No. EEZ/2021/1/28) with the support of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism for the period 2014–2020 programme Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Cultural Cooperation, awarded under the open call Support for the Creation of Professional Art and Cultural Products for Children and Youth.

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