a professional engagement in educational and socio-creative environments - nourished by personal artistic research and practice essentially creating lived and shared human learning expériences

you are welcome to contact me for more information on current artistic, social and pedagogic practice and actual projects.
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measuring creative opportunities
creative workshop with children in cooperation with »La Maison des Enfants« in Bordeaux, France, 2013 ;
image credits : Lucie Dujardin, www.luciedujardin.fr

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* > social sculpture
is an extended concept of art, that was advocated by the german artist Joseph Beuys. Beuys believed in elementary human creativity and its potential to initiate social change.

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practical approach

some personal guidelines for conducting a creative workshop
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* create a warm and positive atmosphere
* think inclusive and provide space for everyone
* be attentive to the individual mindset, abilities of the participants and consider their limitations
* give initial impulses to spark creative exploration
* participate in all activities
* render yourself available for general and personal assistance
* offer conceptual and technical support
* encourage and inspire self-confidence
* enable a critical view on the outcome of the exercise
* stay flexible and adapt to the particular dynamics of the group in a given environment
* enjoy
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techniques and media
story-telling, music-making, theatre, drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, installation, multi-media workshops, cooking, nautique and continent based adventures
particular attention is given to non-toxic, harmless, resourceful procedures and environmental concerns
work with paper, wood, clay, pigment and color, found objects and natural resources
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references

ongoing professional experiences mostly in association with the french educational system which is conventionally organized into the following age groups : : young childhood 3-6 years ; children 6-11 years ; adolescent children 12-17 years ; young adults 17 - 27 years ; adults

i find that inter-generational and mixed culture- groups provide particular high potential fertile grounds.

Centre d'animation Saint-Pierre,Bordeaux, France
continual creative interaction with various public : : my everyday bread and butter :)

La Jenny, domaine résidentiel naturiste, Le Porge France
creativity workshops / artistic practice (2014) : : 2 months artist residence, work with all ages and an open mindset!
proposition : : »fabrique de rêves : soyons réalistes, exigeons l'impossible«
play all day, everyday, forever

La Maison des Enfants, Bordeaux France
creativity workshop / artistic practice (2013) : : for children, 6-8 years old, enrolled in a general arts course
proposition : : »les mains dans la terre - la tête dans les nuages«
storytelling, drawing, work with clay

Surfriders Foundation, Bordeaux France
creativity workshop / artistic practice (2013) : : for college kids, 14-16 years old, environmental project as part of regular school class
proposition : : 3R's (reduce, reuse, recycle) -- valorization of wasted material

Lycée Professionnel Charles Peguy, Bordeaux France
artistic project (2011) : : high school -- young adults, 16-18 years old, production of an art piece
proposition : : introduction to my professional practice and co-production of the art piece »le plan«

L'insoleuse Atelier de Sérigraphie, Bordeaux France
screenprinting workshops : : various public / professional artists
proposition : : making screenprints and printed editions

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence USA
assistant to professor (2007): : undergraduate students in typography class
proposition : : introduction to advanced studies of typography (graduate level)

East London Printmakers, London UK
printmaking tutorials (2005) : : various public / professional artists
proposition : : introduction to various printmaking techniques (screenprint, intaglio, woodcut)

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a meditation on the creative experience...
solely drawing out a few wildly vague conceptual outlines here - some lowlight glimmering language schemes reflecting but a flurry projection of loose thought-material«

...seemingly apart from pure survival instinct doings - yet apparently natural - is a particular human disposition to vitally engage with the world in a somewhat detached and particular sensitive manner .

making art is concrete and playful inter-action with the material world (= gestaltung) .

practically-mindful and formally-aesthetic real-time creative expression - a high potential and potentially fun process of active existential positioning, liberation, expansion and manifestation - characterized by an overflow of radicalized curiosity - curiously canalized into calculated & intuitive body-mind engagement with inner- and outer-presence -

// the experience is supposed to be physically harmless (! apriori for art practice !) - yet, confronting circumstantial constraints and finding material resistance is common - testing personal limits and overcoming cultural limitations is a motivational condition - »pushing the envelope« by trial and error - the practicing principle - might provoke feelings of frustration and doubtful thinking...

- going into improvisation modus coupled with persistence in trying is key - and will be echoed by continual (un)conscious feedback - ongoing operational adjustment and pragmatic refinement define the essence of the concrete learning-experience... an infinitely expansive and open-ended experience

the creative experience is essentially about capturing the fleeting presence of concrete knowledge in the light of wondrous beauty .

sparks *
nourished by momentarily liberated energy : the experience of body-mind intelligence & experimental material knowledge - can always be further - intentionally & intuitively - tested and applied to space-matter floating in time. //creative production process under the influence of intelligible atmospheric presence - (zeitgeist) //personal & comparative aesthetics //and socio'-cultural constructs .

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... right on ...
- stake out a creative play-field (can-be any kind of harmless setting or situation)
- dim ordinary target aiming logics and give way... go into fusion modus (contrary to fight or flight reaction)
- warm & bright lighting and deep breaths of fresh air facilitate the enterprise ;)
- fully engage in sensual exchange - observe and enjoy ...
// occasionally the outcome makes for good give-aways and presents - which is cool .

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... i wholeheartedly invite you to contact me in case of interest !