The
children’s workshop
of the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart has been in operation since the institution’s founding in 1978. Consistent with the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart’s emphasis on artistic production, the pedagogical approach of the Children’s Workshop has always been one of experiential learning through the actual realization of artistic projects with practicing artists. Children starting at the age of 4 experiment with materials, techniques, and concepts while working on long-term projects guided by practicing artists. The children’s workshop takes place Monday – Friday from 3pm to 6pm, and is located directly around the corner from the main building at Augustenstraße 67b.
Workshop Manager
With the help and guidance of an artist, we process and test materials and design techniques in a free and playful way. The stock contains materials for the visual field – painting, drawing, collage and printing – as well as for plastic experiments in plaster of paris, wood, clay and paper mache. The focus is on developing your own creative power and will to express yourself. It is less about the end product and technical issues, but about the individual process at work and each individual symbolism. This process-oriented way of working allows children to have a long-term connection with a topic or material without being interrupted by short-term objectives or evaluations.
In the groups, which often work together constantly for several years, the children experience their own individual personality in the field of tension with other children and their preferences, knowledge and skills. Each child has the opportunity to realize their own plans and projects and find inspiration, help and support in the group. Looking at younger and older children promotes the joy of experimentation and the ability to deal with new, unknown situations, to react to them independently and to develop oneself. This makes creative work an indispensable method of awareness, experience and communication.
The team is made up of freelance artists with pedagogical knowledge and experience in dealing with children. The children’s workshop, however, does not see itself as a healing or art therapeutic facility, but rather offers a forum for the next generation of artists and those interested in art and enables the children to make new social contacts and friendships.
Text: Stephanie Bollinger-Casale
