PTC Weekly #9: Kids make trees out of cotton wool, and Zamzam's mother joins our workshop.

Another action-packed week for us at PTC. In Wedding, and Weisensee, we continued with our current painting and printing series, and in Pankow we welcomed our friends from Studio Brique for a special Dream Garden workshop!

This week we brought our Lichenstein project to Wedding, where Ayiat and Salaam attempted 'Coast Village' for the first time. Although they were both daunted by the complexity of the piece, with Salaam even commenting, "I can only finish this when I am dead", we were all really pleased with the amount of effort that the kids put in.

Although Salaam gave it a go, in the end he decided that he would prefer to do some independent painting, so he made a picture of his face instead. However, Ayiat ended up getting really involved with her painting, carefully adding layers and texture to create a very detailed work of art. She will finish her painting next week.

After the session, we all had some snacks, and Salaam mentioned that he wanted crisps, so we went to the shops across the street to buy him some!

This week, in Weisensee, Julie was leading our latest print-making session. Following on from last week, we wanted the kids to focus on making a print of a specific object (such as a computer, or a cat), and try to make it as detailed as possible. As there weren't as many kids as last time, there were enough volunteers to sit with the children and help them individually with their work. There was a very nice atmosphere in the room, and as it was rainy and stormy outside, it felt very safe and comfortable. A really nice surprise was the addition of Zamzam's mother to the group:

"...a super nice thing happened: Zamzam’s mother came to the workshop and sat with us. She was watching us a bit, but was quite shy. I offered her to take part and draw something but she explained to me that she can’t draw... I showed her a picture of a light bulb and told her to try to copy it. She started drawing, and she had so much fun doing it that she started doing a lot of stuff around, a date palm and a sun with her smiling face on it. I believe she was very satisfied when she saw her drawing printed with ink 🙂" - Julie

This was a really heart-warming story from last week's class. We love it when parents come to our classes and we always encourage them to join in. Although our art classes are for children, EVERYONE can enjoy art, no matter what age!

In Pankow, this week, our friends from Studio Brique led a workshop centered around 'the garden of your dreams'. The idea was for the kids to each make a fresco of their dream garden, using a mixture of paints and raw materials. The kids painted their trees, flowers and animals using different paints, and then added elements like cotton wool and steel wire to add texture to their work. The children enjoyed this activity as they were already familiar with collage making, and enjoyed experimenting with the different materials.

A lot of the girls were super focused and designed some stunning gardens, with lots of colours and flowers. The boys also enjoyed the task, but became more interested in playing with the metallic paints- they started mixing new shades of colours and then painting on themselves. In the end, we had to send them to get cleaned up!

In most of the gardens, flowers were a recurring theme. One girl painted a huge fire in her garden. Another girl had a great idea, and made a tree out of cotton balls by painting the trunk and then sticking on the cotton balls to make leaves.

We wish to thank Studio Brique for organising another great workshop for us, and we look forward to many more! :)

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