Creative week at GHMP: 7 days – 7 buildings – 7 workshops – 7 themes

During the week of 10-16 July 2023 (1-6 p.m.) you can visit all the buildings and exhibitions of the GHMP and take part in workshops responding to the current exhibitions, permanent exhibitions and buildings of Prague City Gallery.

Art materials will be available on site. You can come and go anytime between 1 pm and 6 pm. Workshops do not build on one another – it is up to you how many you attend. Booking is not necessary.

The events will be conducted by the educators of Prague City Gallery, Lucie Haškovcová, Markéta Slachová Goldová and Veronika Stojanovová.

Mon 10 July 2023, 1–6 pm
Education Centre in the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace
Charles Bridge statues (GHMP’s public sculpture collection)

The workshop will be inspired by the nearby Charles Bridge and its statues, which are in the care of the GHMP. The workshop will include putting finishing touches to reproductions of the statues (changing contexts and settings, adding contemporary attributes, finding parallels to the present, playing with details). The second part will be a photo shoot of so-called “living statues” (visitors will try to imitate the statues from Charles Bridge and style themselves into them). We will place them directly in their original position in the photographs using a so-called “keying background”. There will also be educational leaflets on the theme of Charles Bridge (in Czech and Ukrainian), serving as a guide to the bridge for families with children.

Tue 11 July 2023, 1–6 pm
Bílek’s Villa
František Bílek’s Studio

During the workshop, we will be inspired by the work of the artist František Bílek (1872-1941) – sculptor, graphic artist, illustrator, creator of applied art and partly also an architect, who combined elements of Art Nouveau, Symbolism, Decadence and Expressionism in his work. Through drawings and collages, we will apply symbols and natural motifs appearing in his work in combination with his original rendering of typeface, with an overlap into artistic experimentation. During the workshop, participants will get acquainted with the unique environment of Bílek’s villa at Hradčany and the exhibition dedicated to the work of this visionary, mystic, esoteric, religious thinker and, above all, artist.

Wed 12 July 2023, 1–6 pm
The Stone Bell House
Dragoljub Raša Todosijević / WAS IST KUNST?

During the art workshop, we will be inspired by the main features and essence of the artist’s work, both in terms of form and content. As well as using classical techniques, such as drawing, watercolour, collage, mixed media and spatial art, we will also explore action, conceptual and experimental art with an emphasis on body art and physicality. For example, we will be inspired by visual elements from the Big Fantasy series. We will reflect on thought-provoking questions: What is art? Who is an artist? What is a work of art? What is a symbol? We will also look at the notion of a symbol in the sense of reduction and synthesis of image and content (message). We will explain that we can communicate not only with text and words, but also with images or in a combination – with a symbol. The workshop will develop creative and critical thinking.

Thu 13 July 2023, 1–6 pm
Municipal Library
Jitka Svobodová: Beyond the Edge of the Visible

During the workshop, we will explore the inexhaustible possibilities and dimensions of drawing. Through experimental methods – for example, by playing with scale and perspective – we will try to change the way we look at seemingly ordinary things and objects of everyday use, which we will take to a new and higher level. We will try to enlarge small objects and their details into large-scale drawings in pencil and pastel, and transform them towards abstraction. We will also explore Jitka Svobodová’s changing style – from dramatic and dynamic sharp lines through meditative and relaxed lines to drawings. All of these inspiring planes will become stimuli for our work. We will also explore shifts in drawing towards spatial work and create objects from wire, where lines in space will be emphasised. We will also focus on the transformations, dynamics and energy of a drawing in motion. During the workshop, we will reflect on the unique concept of the exhibition and also take inspiration from each of the stimulating ranges of themes.

Fri 14 July 2023, 1–6 pm
House of Photography
Jaroslav Beneš: Ex Urbi

During this art workshop, we will respond to the exhibited works of Jaroslav Beneš. The main theme will be the photography of urban reality through its visual details (grids, elements of geometry, the effect of light and reflections). Using the collage technique, we will create abstract compositions in combination with graffiti elements, applying the principles of layering and blending. We will work with both black-and-white and colour photography to make real collages and, using iPads and creative apps, we will also make them in digital form, comparing the possibilities of both approaches.

Sat 15 July 2023, 1–6 pm
Troja Château, Eco-studio in the orangery
Heroes, Geniuses, Symbols and Muses

During these art workshops we will be inspired by the form and content of the selected models and studies for monuments by important artists (Bohuslav Schnirch, Josef Václav Myslbek, Ladislav Šaloun, Bohumil Kafka, Josef Mařatka, Jaroslav Horejc, and others) – focusing especially on their themes such as personifications of abstract notions (Intelligence, Music, Devotion, Spring), emotions (Sadness, Sorrow) and elements (the Vltava river), as well as their depictions of personalities from Czech history (Jiří of Poděbrady, St. Wenceslas, František Ladislav Rieger) and culture (Svatopluk Čech, Božena Němcová), characters from mythology (Libuše and Přemysl, Ctirad and Šárka), the theme of a woman (Resting Girl, Woman with Amphora), etc. Visitors will be able to see reproductions of photographs not only of the presented studies but also of the final completed monuments in their current location in public space. Participants will be able to not only compare these themes but also to design their own versions and variations on them — even directly for the sites where they are currently placed — by drawing into the reproductions of their 3D creations (made of modelling clay). These small models will then be photographed in the garden of the Troja Château using optical effects to achieve a final result giving the impression of a monumental sculpture, located directly in the garden.

Sun 16 July 2023, 1–6 pm
František Bílek’s House in Chýnov
long-term exhibition

During the workshop we will respond to the unique building that is Bílek’s house in Chýnov (the so-called Chaloupka or “Cottage”). We will draw the sculptures and their details that were important to Bílek (hands, eyes, facial expressions and drapery). We will design the decoration of ceramic vases based on the author’s models. We will also try our hand at designing sculptures inspired by different tree shapes and at creating so-called “living sculptures”. We will also incorporate in our work the distinctive typeface of František Bílek (1872-1941), who combined elements of Art Nouveau, Symbolism, Decadence and Expressionism in his work.

 

Art materials will be available on site. You can come and go anytime between 1 pm and 6 pm. Workshops do not build on one another – it is up to you how many you attend. Booking is not necessary.

The events will be conducted by the educators of Prague City Gallery, Lucie Haškovcová, Markéta Slachová Goldová and Veronika Stojanovová.