An Introvert's Studio Diary: Go create! | Atelierovo Art

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"Don't think you know more than children. You don't have all the answers and you don't hold the patent on anything."

Ivi

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I often think about how important it is, at these creative sessions, to tune into what each person in a group has come for.

Some people and children need to be supported in the originality of their unique "wildness" - so they can allow themselves joy through creating, a rest from the pressure of the outside world. They want to experience freedom and free expression. And others want to peek into a different world and be inspired - they want to grow, improve, refine their technique.

But they all have one thing in common: each of them needs a little time to open up and know that they are in a safe environment where there is no competing, no judging - and where they can simply "play" :).

Creating gives us the opportunity to release what's bubbling "beneath the surface." And that's what art is really about for me personally - about letting go: of sadness, of control, and yes, above all - of fear - and that leads to gradual transformation.

And that can so often lead to an awareness that points toward greater freedom and creativity, which gradually, in quiet little steps, seeps into everyday life. Where once there was - "I definitely can't do this" - a quiet voice begins to speak:

"Just try, you have nothing to lose."

That's how we try to function and create with the people and "our kids" who visit us. They have the freedom to create their own rules and their own bubble in the making.In joy, lightness and a healthy self-confidence that it's OK to have this kind of "world of your own" and follow your inner voice.

I feel very strongly that the kids who come to us need us to trust them, to be inspired by them, when they show us their world in their own colourful understanding.

We try to do this as well as we can, so that it continues to give us meaning.

Because in the end, I always created best when possibilities were explained to me, when someone nudged me in a certain direction, boldly threw a new challenge my way and showed me how things work - and then I chose for myself which direction I wanted to go.

The moment someone imposes or dictates their idea of how "the sky is blue and the grass is green," the joy of creating and the inspiration to try new things completely and miserably leaves me.

Yes, there are certain basic rules that everyone should learn if they want to grow in drawing and painting and discover their own style - but experience shows me that children ask for these rules entirely on their own, through a curiosity led by joy.

And it happens when they're ready, at the right time.

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And since I myself am quite a big experimenter, for whom the most important thing is to create what I feel and see - I love leaving these "inner worlds" for the children who come to us too.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/328bf4_a9b93bb27ac14ae18577e9d372bf9474/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Children's spray paint art workshop outdoors - kids creating with spray cans under the guidance of Atelierovo Art - Organised by the Culture of Banská Štiavnica. Children's Day celebration, Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia.

And when the time comes for growth, for developing skills and vision, we begin experimenting together and looking at how things relate to each other, how they interact - and how they influence one another.

In these moments we give children back their decision-making - and phrases like " Do it for me - I don't know how - I'm making mistakes - this can't be done" - begin to lose their meaning.

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And so we learn from them, too - to be quiet, to notice, to support where we can - and every now and then we point toward a new possible direction. And things move. In exactly the right direction and at exactly the right time.

It really is that simple - all it takes is to step back from our own expectations and constructs, not to impose, to let things happen and be "on hand" when needed.

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I feel the muse nodding contentedly today.

Mine today looks like an 11-year-old girl who tells me today: "Don't think you know more than children. You don't have all the answers and you don't hold the patent on anything."

So I say to her:

Well, I keep reminding myself that I know nothing. Tell me, how do you see it?

And her? She just laughs. And disappears. But from a distance, she shouts back, smiling at me:

"Go and create!"

So off I go.

See you in the diaries next week! :)

~ Ivi

~ Atelierovo Art

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