Bulgarian Roses and the Art of Art Education ****************************************************************************************** * Bulgarian Roses and the Art of Art Education ****************************************************************************************** Mirena Vaseva is an Art Education Ph.D. student from Plovdiv University, Bulgaria, who joi of Education in Charles University during her Erasmus study in the summer semester of 2015 Education student it was an obvious choice for her to join the award winning Europe Meets a voluntary teaching programme of the Erasmus Club at the Faculty of Arts. This May, her p both the host teacher in the Basic Art School Olešská in Prague 10 as well as the pupils i class. The interpreter of the project complimented her profound enthusiasm and dedication and its success. Mirena made clay medallions for each of the children prior to coming to her host school an of rose petals out of red paper for her class so that the pupils would have an easier job roses out of them. Her commendable dedication was evidenced by the tears in her host teach Mirena’s class was over and when she left the school. 1. Mirena, You held an exemplary EMS art project recently, which centered around Bulgarian the significance of a rose for Bulgarian people and how did you introduce the flower and i Bulgaria and its people to your host class? Thank you for the lovely introduction! The reason why I chose flowers as the topic of my p show the children something unique to my country. The Bulgarian rose is a special symbol w freshness of nature, aesthetics in Bulgarian culture and the pursuit of beauty and happine grown to produce rose oil and other derived products, is used in the perfume industry. Bul oil has superb quality that can compete with any other producers in the world and it is th material of many reputable producers of perfumery products. For the rose part of my project, children in my host class created „folders“ out of thick later can use for collection of various things. On the top, the folders were decorated wit roses and a painted view of the Bulgarian mountains in the background, inspired by the pic opening presentation. I also brought rose oil with me and let the children smell the aroma not as popular in the Czech Republic as it is in Bulgaria. While the children worked on their art works, we compared similarities in words between Bu using the names of colours, flowers etc. as examples. It was also a good occasion to talk important date in Bulgaria, May 24th. On this date we celebrate the National Day of Educat as well as Slav Letters and brothers Saint Ciril and Methodius who created the first Slavo 2. Thank you for mentioning the Bulgarian alphabet. This is actually something our two nat the origins of the Slavonic alphabets can be found as far back as the 9th century, in Grea Early Medieval state that existed for about one century in what is known as the Czech Repu today, and to some extend parts of Hungary and Austria. It was later abandoned in Czech co the strong Latin church influence, but – after adaption – the Slavonic alphabet has surviv (among other countries) until today. As part of your project, you spoke to the children in about the different alphabets and similarities and differences between our two languages a mentioned. Considering the children in your class were quite young, had they any knowledge different alphabets prior to your arrival at the school? How good were they at learning th words? I was pleasantly surprised how quickly the children embraced the different alphabet. Using prepared at home prior to coming, I showed them the Bulgarian alphabet and consequently th to write their names in Bulgarian! We repeated certain words and phrases together couple o as What is your name?, thank you, hello, sun, mother etc., and I helped the children to ma between the three languages – English, Czech and Bulgarian. Together we found that there w similarities between the languages – which I believe will be useful to the children. 3. The second part of your project was the decoration of clay medallions you had made for The decorations were inspired by the traditional Bulgarian embroidery and its current mast Krustanova. Could you tell us more about this part of the project? When I was preparing this part of the project, I was thinking about what would be interest children in an art course. Then I thought about my exciting introduction to an incredible master, Stoyna Krustanova, a guardian and distributor of Bulgarian weaving techniques and wanted the children to „meet“ with her as I had done – and share the message which has str and I hope has the same effect on them. The message is that Art has no boundaries and when something – whether you are 4 years old or 94 – you do it because you love it! Despite her age, Stoyna Krustanova opened an exhibition a few months ago, and now is preparing her nex truly astonishing to me! I also taught the children about Bulgarian traditional decoration techniques and showed th pictures depicting the detailed art to them and explained how each figure and decorative e own symbolism. Based on all this, the children‘s task was to choose which ornaments to use the making of their medallions. I think they did very, very well! 4. While the children were creating their rose cards and decorating their medallions, you songs to them. I can almost see them joining in with you singing … Am I right to assume th and you enjoyed the project greatly? Were you also able to learn something by visiting a C School? Is there actually any afternoon or free-time art course like this offered for chil      I think we all enjoyed the combination of the two arts. My idea was to show the children t the relationship between the various art disciplines and the diverse feeling to them. I th a complexity: when the children painted flowers, they smelt the (rose) aroma and listened performed... The application of different senses makes an artist more immersed in the worl As to the visit of the school itself, I must say thanks to Helena Hradilová, who in additi for me, acted as my teaching assistant, and also the host teacher – Mrs. Hana Horká was ve cooperative. She has a lot of experience in teaching art; during my visit to the school, s me works of the children from the course and we talked about various topics. I think this useful to me. In Bulgaria we have a similar form of hobby art courses, but it is always he experiences with other enlightened people in the field! I am even starting to think about a future cooperation! 5. You proved to be a truly great and dedicated teacher in your project. Is teaching child career and if yes, what attracts you to it? Would you be interested in teaching children o adults also a potential target group for you? What are the main differences teaching art t „grown-ups“? In Bulgaria I have had the opportunity to work with both children and adults, as well as s University of Plovdiv, where I am enrolled in a Ph.D. programme. By the latter, I am grate confidence my department had given me. For me being a teacher is a mission; I like feeling to give everything in me to my audience. As a teacher, be it of art or any other subject, to educate and create a personality – or damage it. Therefore it is very important that th constantly develop themselves – mentally, spiritually and professionally. I like working w especially when I see the joy and positive reaction in the eyes of the person I was  able sharing the idea, knowledge, and showing them a way to solve their problems...). Through a communicate at many different levels – which is rewarding in itself. 6. My last question. You are an artist yourself. What do you like to paint, draw, model or the best? As an artist I like to deal with many things in the field of visual arts. It can be design connected with children) or free art works (mixed media), in which I diffract reality thro feeling and experience... I like to create things that inspire me. Thank you for the interview.  I would like to Thank you for this interview, too, and to Charles University, Department o in the Faculty of Education, for the opportunity to learn new things and to get in touch w culture. I met so many different and interesting people during my stay here – for which I grateful. Aoife Brady is an Irish International Law student on Erasmus in Charles University. She en