Creative workshops accompanying the exhibition ‘The Artistic Collection of Bishop Đuro Kokša – The Seal of Faith, The Trace of Art’

We will start this new cycle with sculpture workshops so we can learn to notice differences and similarities between sculptures. The statue (statue, free-standing sculpture) is a shaped relation of free-standing masses. The statue can be observed from all angles, we can circle it but we cannot bypass it, because only by paying attention can we learn how to observe and come to understand how the sculpture has come to life. It is created by subtracting from solid material or adding soft material, construction from ready-made materials. And what if the sculpture is a RELIEF? Can we circle the relief or just observe it from the front? You will be able to answer these and other questions while touring the Artistic Collection of Bishop Đuro Kokša, after which you can enjoy ARTIONICA’s workshops inspired by the sculptures at the exhibition.

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WORKSHOPS:

1. MAKING OF PORTRAITS modeled and based on the works of Robert. F. MIHANOVIĆ and Rudolf VALDEC

December 17^th 2022

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

ASSIGNMENT: we will use clay to model a bust of mom, dad, grandparents, brother or sister, a friend… it is their faces that we know best when they are angry, sad, happy, pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised, sometimes unhappy, frightened, or amazed. We will choose one of these expressions and convey it, first, on paper and then model it in clay. You can help yourself by taking a photo of your person’s expression before the workshop.

LEARN MORE: the first psychological portrait in sculpture in Croatia was a work by R. F. Mihanović titled ‘Roman man’. The bust of R. Valdec, ‘Cave criticum’, represents Vladimir Lunaček, writer and publicist, who published the first monograph on R. F. Mihanović in 1920 in Zagreb.

2. THE ARTWORKS OF IVAN MEŠTROVIĆ

January 14^th 2023

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

‘Study for prayer’ and ‘Young girl in prayer’ – two sculptures showing women in contemplation, diving into themselves, with hands closed in prayer, with elongated fingers, and eyes shut: in stillness.

In opposition stands the dynamic composition of ‘Moses’, who was chosen by God to deliver the Jews from the clutches of Egyptian enslavement and to declare his Law. Moses is in movement with his right arm raised high and a finger pointing at the stone tablet, full with anger for his people’s licentious disobedience to God’s law.

ASSIGNMENT: we know from experience that the mass of the human body is symmetrically distributed, but while in movement, this correlation and the equilibrium itself, is challenged. We will experience this by moving our own bodies, testing our balance and thus producing a dynamic, pleasing composition. After choosing one position, we will transfer it to a piece of paper with charcoal (in the form of a fast drawing – croquis). Next, we will model the same position in wire and (at the end) create a paper-mâché.

If someone is into a sport or a dance, you can use the movements you know to produce a dynamic composition!

LEARN MORE: People in Split named Meštrović ‘Čudo od Vlaja/Wonder Vlach’, and Rodin, who met him in Vienna, named him ‘čudo među kiparima/a wonder among sculptors‘. Thanks to Rodin, Meštrović moved to Paris. In the atelier at Montparnasse, he made around 50 sculptures, and already in 1910, he had an exhibition in Vienna. In 1946, at the invitation of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he exhibited at the MET in New York City. In 1956 he received the Golden medal for his life’s work from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1952, he signed a contract leaving all his works to the People’s Republic of Croatia. You will be able to find out a lot more about Meštrović at his exhibition on our premises in the fall of 2023.

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3. ARTIST JURAJ ŠKARPA – the most significant representative of expressionism in Croatian sculpture in the first half of the 20^th century

January 21^st 2023

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

When we wrote about the kinds of sculpture, we mentioned relief too. In this workshop, we will learn that relief is a sculpture shaped only at the front and the sides. We distinguish several types of relief based on the protrusion of mass into space: intaglio, low and high relief. We will learn the difference while searching for such artworks on site – at the exhibition The Artistic Collection of Bishop Đuro Kokša – The Seal of Faith, The Trace of Art.

ASSIGNMENT: Three reliefs by Juraj Škarpa: ‘The Virgin and Child’, ‘Descent from the Cross’, and ‘Resurrection’ will be the starting point for our own relief works in siporex. LEARN MORE: In high relief, the forms project at least half or more of their natural circumference from the background and may in parts be completely disengaged from the ground. In low relief, the design projects only slightly from the ground, and the space only slightly enters the volume of the sculpture. It is mostly used in the production of medals, badges, and money. Intaglio is a sunken relief and it is a product of carving an image into a surface, so there is no protrusion into space whatsoever.

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4. The works titled “Crucifixion” by Josip POLJAN and Lello SCORZELLI are examples of sculptures whose masses have been thinned, and remind us of a line. So here we will deal with thinned masses in sculpture.

January 28^th 2023

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

ASSIGNMENT: we will search for thinned mass sculptures at the exhibition – afterwards, we will create our own sculptures using wire and aluminum foil.

LEARN MORE: Thinned lined shapes have almost no mass or very little mass. They can be considered space drawings because they are a product of space lines – however, they are three-dimensional objects. There are a lot of lined thinned masses in nature: tree twigs and sticks, roots, wire buckets, wire fences, nets, fish skeletons, etc. Lined thinned mass is interesting in combination with flat thin surfaces, as many objects in nature have similar forms: leaves, pellets, shells, plates, bowls, jars, etc.

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5. PAINTING WORKSHOP

February 4^th 2023

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

ASSIGNMENT: Upon learning about Guercino’s style of portraying his characters after live models, we will try painting a portrait of a friend or family member and remodel the attributes of saints into a favorite toy or pet! By doing so, we will change artistic content as we wish. While painting, we will use strong contrast between light and dark (chiaroscuro), enlightening only particular parts: we will become real baroque masters!

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6. PAINTING WORKSHOP

February 11^th 2023

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

ASSIGNMENT: The workshop theme is inspired by the work of painter Jozo Kljaković, who oftentimes painted everyday life as can be seen in our exhibition! The theme will be centered around an everyday life scene, e.g. helping my mother with gutting the fish, mowing a garden filled with flowers, lavender harvest, planting fruits in the orchard or picking apples while my brother is holding the ladder…you will most certainly be able to come up with a similar theme.

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7. Graphics workshop

February 18^th 2023

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

ASSIGNMENT: To take part, you will be introduced to the woodcutting technique, and then undertake fairly demanding work that requires strong focus in order to avoid injuries. Considering Rottluff’s woodcutting theme, we could opt for a theme like ‘the teacher and his students on a field trip’.

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8. SCULPTING WORKSHOP (two Saturdays!)

February 25th and March 4th 2023

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

For this project, motifs from the glass painting of Franjo Klopotan, a well-known naïve artist, will be used as a template for our sculpture work! We will use clay to create animal figures that can be found in his paintings. For those who wish, they can also create a paper-mâché. In this workshop, a two-dimensional painting will be converted to three-dimensional art – by manipulating volume in space. While working with various sculpting materials, what is promoted is the development of motor skills and visual perception, as well as the sense of relation between volume and space.

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9. GLASS-PAINTING WORKSHOPS – naïve art

February 25^th 2023

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Since this will be our first glass-painting workshop, we invited Stjepan Ivanec, a well-known naïve painter who will help us learn the secrets of the trade. As you will discover, glass-painting is different from canvas or paper painting. We have gathered all the necessary material and are looking forward to learning more about this technique, as-of-yet unexplored to us. The topic of the workshop will be ‘winter’, since we’re in the midst of that snowy season.

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Original text in Croatian: Liljana Velkovski,

Curator, museum educator, Artionica workshop manager