Alena was invited to lead a series of drop-in community art sessions to support an uneasy transition for displaced Ukrainian females and their children.
Autumn classes at Edinburgh Ukrainian Community Centre
AUGB - Ukrainian Community Club, EdinburghSeries of 7 weekly art classes for adults & 1 interactive workshop for children.
October - November 2022
Intuitive drawing
We used the pattern of Flower of Life as initial inspiration to infuse a sense of meditative calmness and grounding. Based on participants’ feedback at the end of the session, this helped them reflect on their feeling of uncertainty, fear of the future, and loneliness.
Recycling Art session with displaced kids
We used materials we were about to recycle and those that were kindly donated to us, for the kids to create an imaginary environment. Kids learned about art installation and using everyday recyclable materials for art.
Experimenting with materials
Inspired by Rachel MacBrinn’s approach (Course Leader of Contemporary Art Practice at Leith School of Art), we introduced our participants to the randomly allocated recycled materials. The task was to explore the qualities of received materials diving into the experimental art process. We then reflected on a series of creative experiments together as a group learning from each other’s findings.
