Divotvorná zahrada: art workshop for children
Together we will dive into the secrets of art-making in a magical garden — using materials the garden itself provides. This two-hour workshop for (not only) little artists lets us discover and play with natural materials across a range of techniques. We will set out on an intimate expedition that begins just past the garden gate, moving from observing and tracing the shadows of plants to creating our own versions of their forms.
The core of the process will be a themed assignment linked to Rostislav Czudek’s installation Znám jednu krásnou zahradu (I Know a Beautiful Garden), in which everyone will have the chance to make their own palette from nature’s colors — and the most inventive perhaps even their own brushes. From these personal ranges of tones, dreamlike refuges full of each participant’s imagination will take shape on sheets of card — imaginary or remembered spaces filled with calm and safety.
Those interested can also try frottage to capture surface textures, such as those of leaves, and use their personal color palette for printing with natural objects. Each author will then be able to exhibit their work in any corner of the garden they like, stepping for a moment into the role of curator.
The workshop will be followed by a picnic (bring a snack) and an author reading by Madla Pospíšilová Karasová, who will read to the children from her latest book, the children’s detective story Vyšetřovatelka Terka: Záhada ztracených koťat (Detective Terka: The Mystery of the Lost Kittens).
We ask parents to accompany their children to the workshop. We look forward to seeing you!
Instructor: Julie Dostálová Workshop length: 2 hours Admission by donation Capacity: 15–20 children No reservation needed
About the author
Julie Dostálová (b. 2002) is a visual artist whose path through art and culture leads her not only to the borderland between independent and commissioned work but currently above all to theory, writing, and practice in various cultural and educational institutions (especially the Olomouc Museum of Art). From 2017 to 2021 she studied painting and design at SŠDAM (Secondary School of Design and Fashion) in Prostějov. She then completed a bachelor’s degree in Art Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, where she also attended evening drawing classes.
She is currently continuing with a master’s degree in Theory and History of Fine Arts. Although she is presently focused more on the philosophy of art, she has not stopped making work and naturally gravitates toward existential conceptualism. Her research deals with art of the second half of the 20th century; archival research and its updated interpretive tools, together with interviews with artists and theorists, inspire her in discovering her own artistic strategies. In parallel, she writes art criticism and publishes scholarly work. She is an editor and co-founder of the emerging magazine Art.spot, which reflects on the Olomouc exhibition scene. She also helps organize cultural events and art education programs for children. She teaches art subjects at the Waldorf Secondary School in Olomouc. She takes on a range of diverse art commissions, from portraits to murals. Since 2017 she has been doing body painting.
In her independent work she addresses themes of human existence as well as social and gender issues, depicting beings who struggle on the apparent margins of society and do not meet aesthetic and other criteria. In echoes of postmodernism, she likes to blur the boundaries between art and life, disrupting public space, comfort zones, and normative thinking. She often pulls phenomena out of their established contexts and places them in new circumstances, asking uncomfortable questions — of others and of herself. Especially in her performative/happening projects, she invites contemplation and a reassessment of one’s life ideology and view of the surrounding world. She does not stop at her favorite media of drawing or painting — expressive sketches, for example, could be seen in recent months at an exhibition here in Uničov. Julie experiments with mixed techniques as well as conceptual spatial installations and alternative media — often in the form of “expanded painting.” She also incorporates ready-mades into her work, objects found for example at dumps or in squats, which she uses within exhibition ensembles. These have previously been shown at exhibitions in Prostějov and Olomouc.