CHILDREN ARE OUR most precious treasures and assets. As parents. As a society. As members of humankind.
As an artist and educator of over 17 years, I have noticed a growing tendency of adults and children alike of more and more losing the ability to abstract creative thinking and feeling. Naturally, people, as well as our youngsters, are not any more stupid (intelligence is not at issue here) or uneducated than 20 years ago (well, eventually, though unfortunately sometimes they are), but the influences (particularly the media) in today’s fast-paced societies pay tribute to this declining ability.
Daily, the minds of our children are bombarded by the internet, smartphones, moving images, music, videos, and television. And they are exposed to those very images today more than ever before. Raising children in the 21st century bears its own specific challenges, in an era where 4-year-olds already know how to handle an iPhone, the Internet or a PlayStation. WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – the immediate, unfiltered real-time communication of the moment became the everyday obsession of our time.
Considering that already 25 years ago, psychologists and educational researchers warned of the endangered minds of our children and future generations, we are not any safer today. Today’s children and teenagers develop different habits of mind which bear the danger of actually changing their brains for the worse.
But, the growing brains of children are a treasure chest of enormous creative abilities and developments – IF we encourage them and teach them at the right time. As an artist, but maybe even more so as a mother, I feel a sense of responsibility to contribute positively to this.
Our workshops for children and teenagers want to stress the importance of art and play for their development of creativity and confidence — the door leading through what we call Thinking-with-our-hands to shape and refine the child’s cognitive reception. We also integrate elements of our cross-sensory-workshop to extend and refine the sensual reception of the children.
Individual courses are offered for age groups from 4–6, 7–10, 11–14, 15 and older.
We offer courses to individuals, educational institutions, Kindergartens or schools.
The workshop units usually consist of 5 sessions, but individual offers can be customized based on your interests and needs.
Sometimes I look about me with a feeling of complete dismay.
In the confusion that afflicts the world today
I see disrespect for the basic values of life.
Each second we live in a new and unique moment in the universe,
one that has never been before and will never be again.
And what do we teach our children in school?
We teach them that two and two make four and
that Paris is the capital of France.
When will we also teach them what they are?
We should say to each of them:
Do you know what you are?
You’re a marvel, you’re unique,
in all of the world, there is no other child exactly like you.
In the millions of years that have past
there has never been another child like you.
Look at your body,
your legs,
your arms,
your cunning fingers,
the way they move –
you may become a Shakespeare or
Michaelangelo or Beethoven.
You have the capacity for anything.
Yes, you are a marvel and when you grow up
can you then harm another,
who is like you, a marvel?
You must work;
we all must work
to make this world worthy of its children […]
—Pablo Casals taken from Glenn Gould’s “Casals: A portrait for radio“
