ERASMUS+ KA2 PROJECT – SCHOOL EDUCATION No. 2018-1-PT01-KA229-047365
“SUSTAINABILITY FOR DEMOCRACY, DEMOCRACY FOR SUSTAINABILITY”
"Democracy, Environment and Art(s)"
“SUSTAINABILITY FOR DEMOCRACY,
DEMOCRACY FOR SUSTAINABILITY”
We are building upon Sustainability by means of Art
In the framework of the Erasmus + KA2 program entitled
"Sustainability for Democracy - Democracy for Sustainability" and in
view of the third mobility to Portugal, on "Democracy, Environment and
Art", students and teachers of the 5th GEL of Veria participating in the
program met artists and visited galleries in our city.
Ιn particular, on Thursday 26th September
the students had the opportunity to talk with the painter and Art teacher
Fotini Hamidelieli. The painter communicated her experiences from her first
steps in art to the students, comparing Art education in the USA with that in
our country and noting the serious deficiency of aesthetic education in Greece.
However, she encouraged young people to pursue art despite adversity. The
discussion focused on the relationship between Democracy and Art and
highlighted the social and educational nature of Art and its contribution to
the development of democratic consciousness and social sensitivity. Reference
was made to the notion of "woman" which inspired the painter and
determined her position in the world. Regarding the relationship between the
Environment and Art, the artist emphasized that it is a relationship of
interaction, as the Environment is both a source of inspiration and a field of
artistic creation. But she also shared with the students her concerns about the
aesthetic abuse of the Environment by humans. In the end the students had the
pleasure to ponder on Mrs Hamidieli’s original works and to “feel the breath”
of a painting.
The next day on 27th September, students
met Graffiti artist Elton Soulos. They initially expressed their concerns about
'Street Art', both in terms of its legitimacy and its relation to vandalism.
Believing that public space is "our space", the artist spoke of the aesthetic
intervention in the gray of the city: graffiti makes the walls speak and they
even communicate ecological, social, political messages, sometimes making them
travel in the form of the graffiti on trains. He is often called upon by
municipal authorities to create graffiti in order to raise public awareness of
issues such as racism. But he also expressed his distaste for any kind of
vandalism, that against the monuments and even the graffiti itself. The
students kept asking the artist questions related even with the graffiti on their
desks or whether our bodies could be considered canvas. The meeting rounded up
with a presentation of graffiti works from Greece and abroad, which are
examples of "youth art", a form of democratic Art that transforms the
urban environment.
On Sunday 29th September, the Erasmus team visited
Papatzikou Gallery. There they were welcome with warm hospitality and met a
hostess willing to discuss the problems of promoting Art. The students were
intrigued to hear how a young artist finds a home in a gallery that, like that
of Mrs Papatzikou’s, promotes innovation instead of commercialisation. During
the discussion it was evident that democracy in Art lies on the artist's contact with his time and on his
social sensibilities. However, the goal remains the closer contact of the public
with Art, especially of people living away from big cities. The ecological dimension of Art was also
discussed, both in relation to the materials used by an artist (sometimes
useless, recyclable materials, as in the case of arte povera), and in relation
to the urban environment and the artworks in it - a typical example of
Varotsos's work in the Clock Square
in town. The visit rounded up with a tour of Potamianou’s exhibition, whose
works are displayed in the gallery these days. What the students have received
can be summarized in Ms. Papatzikou's phrase: “art is the little rock that makes the lake surface ripple”
