By Heidi Trautmann

Our Art Association EMAA has celebrated the end of a project which I support with all my heart, that is the involvement of children and young people in arts, in the learning process to discover the meaning of the arts, the responsibility of humanity towards our world. It is not  the  aim to teach how to make nice pictures, it is not to train the hand that holds the brush or pencil, it is not to copy what is in front of you, it is about understanding, it is to teach the students to research whatever they are going to work on, to interpret the theme on the basis of their own findings and conclusions.

There were different age groups, very young children with very nice works, playful but I could see that they have thought about their projects; one theme was a German fairytale: Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten (The city music band of Bremen) where all kind of animals work together for a common purpose, and, as Eser Kececi, the teacher of this group was telling me, the children had added some more animals to work together in harmony.

An older group worked on the basis of the works of international artists such as Picasso and his Guernica or Edward Munch with his famous works such as The Cry. Linocuts or collages, graphic interpretations; another section was the question: what is Dadaism, what is conceptual art? The teachers here were Eser Kececi & Christos Avraam.

Another important project group was work and research in nature with cleaning beaches and road sides included. A photo series reports on it. Well done! The teacher and leader of the land art group was Ipek Karagozlu

The house was full with guests on the opening evening of the exhibition, parents with their children, young artists who had taken part, a lot of press, and the invited guests to open the exhibition, Mrs Meral Erolu, our first lady, always involved with the education of children, …the mayor of Nicosia Mr Cemal Bulutoglari and Mr Dervis Beyit, Director of the Cultural Department. Certificate were handed out which made the kids feel important and recognized.

A side effect of these educational programmes is to educate young people in forming their own opinion away from internet, facebook, games, developing their fantasy and exploring the world how it is and not how others tell them, to be part of it and defend its values, the values of MY WORLD.

The exhibition is on until 24th of February during office hours.

Visiting hours of the Art Centre:

Monday: 16:00 – 20:00

Tuesday-Friday: 10:00 – 13.00 and 16.00 - 20:00

Saturday: 10:00 – 14.00