After the successful start of the plein air workshop last fall, this year from August 30 to September 4 students of the HfBK Dresden and for the first time students of our EU4ART partner academies Budapest, Riga and Rome met for the second plein air workshop in Geierswalde*. The workshop was organized and led by the head of the workshop for painting technique Maja Drachsel and the artistic assistant of the orientation phase Felix Lippmann.
Armed with sketch pads, the participants explored the peculiar landscape of Lower Lusatia with its man-made landscapes, rudiments from the time of open-cast lignite mining, old building structures of villages from earlier times. The mixture of tourism, modernity and everyday life provided a variety of image ideas.
In the first days of the plein air workshop, the students were encouraged to work with a reduced color palette but with strong light-dark contrast. Only gradually were they allowed to use more colors. The painting was done with casein tempera, the use of casein paint as a casein glue-bound paint is a traditional painting technique in the field of art - since the development of acrylic paints it has lost importance. Painting was done on chipboard, which was cut to size and primed by the artist himself. The colors used in the early days were limited to earth tones such as ocher, umber, green earth or iron oxide red, which were used in combination with synthetic-bright tones such as turquoise and magenta. This limited scope required a lot of creativity and was meant to inspire courage in decision-making.
"Gradually, more colors may be used. On the last day, everyone is free. The formats get bigger. Actually, on the last day you can say again, now it's really just beginning ... we'd have to stay longer." (Maja Drachsel)
The program also included a bicycle tour to the open-cast mine in Welzow, where they also drew and painted for several hours. The community spirit and the exchange between the students of the universities were not neglected. Every evening they cooked and ate together. Later, they sat around the campfire and made charcoal for the next day.
Anastasia Norenko (Student ABARoma):
"The experience was positive from many points of view, the most obvious and immediate positive aspect was certainly that of spending a week together with a community of artists who all had the same pictorial interests and shared artistic obsessions. The natural and silent context of Geierswalde was very important for ensuring the harmony and relaxed attitude of the whole group. Looking back at the experience now, I would say that the biggest positive point for me was actually the presence of the two teachers who shared the experience with us. Their approach was crucial for firing up my pictorial passion, in the sense that the expressionistic roots of the currently predominant German trends in figurative art are the opposite of those that I would identify as the main Italian concerns and approaches. Maya and Felix completely lifted me out of my normal creative comfort zone and so I was able to lose myself in an unexplored new chromatic dimension. I remember how my brain suddenly clicked after Maya's theoretical lesson on color theory - I had finally discovered colors!!!! I feel like Paul Klee must have felt after his journey to Morocco. Now that I am back in Rome I feel artistically waaay wiser and richer than I did a week ago."
Isabella Candiloro (Student ABARoma):
"I am so grateful for this opportunity I had, cause because of the lockdown, it had been such a long time from the last time I could exchange opinions and have dialogues about art in real person. And the fact that it was with people from other countries made it even more special. Felix and Maya were amazing, I really enjoyed the little lessons on Color Theory that Maya gave us, and found them very useful. The first days I actually found it very challenging to paint, cause Maya and Felix told us to practice painting with just two or three colors at first, to practice what kind of contrast we could get out of it. And In my personal works, colors are the most important thing, and I use so many of them!!! So I had some troubles at first, but in the end, I found the exercise very helpful. The place was amazing and very peaceful, we ate great food and the company was amazing. I made so many friends between both the students from Dresden and the ones from other countries as well."
*About the region:
The Koschen open pit lignite mine was opened up in 1952 southeast of Senftenberg. The first coal was mined from 1955. Some villages were over-excavated during the mining years. In 1972, the open pit was closed and flooded to form a lake. At today's Geierswalde Lake in the village of Geierswalde, Sorbian "Lejno", Sorbs live together with Germans. At the end of the 19th century, the Sorbs made up 98% of the population. In 1956 it was only 49,3 %.
