“Because there are more bright colors in life” |
- The idea to implement Kiboko Projects in Russia, – says Mark Scheflen, - came up on the anniversary celebration of United Nations headquarters in New York. There was USA Olympic Committee spokesman who proposed me to work in Russia. Masks made by St. Petersburg students were exhibited in America and Africa and came back only by the 300 anniversary of their native city.
After successful beginning in St. Petersburg the project was invited to Veliky Novgorod where it runs in the V. Soroka First University Gymnasium.
- Now we are making masks which will show what we think about the issues that we want to discuss with the children from other countries, - says 10 form pupil Maxim Drozdov. – It could be issues of health, ecology or environmental protection. Maybe masks will help adults understand that these issues are very important for us, children.
Maxim shows his work and explains that he depicted on mask house of prejudices in which people are trapped.
- Mark came 2 weeks ago and we started the project, - says 9 form pupil Erica Grebe. – Extending my English word stock I learned many new things about other countries’ culture. Now I hope that we won’t stereotype USA and Kenya anymore. I like music. Communicating with children from other countries I can learn about new music bands and the music they listen to. I want to show through my mask that you always have to look for good moments in life and have positive attitude to it.
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8 form pupil Nastia Diomkina says: “First of all it is language practice, self-expression and an opportunity to give your point of view about global problems. I spoke to many children from other countries. It is my first opportunity to work myself up so rapidly and fascinatingly. I painted my mask in black and white colors like it is in our life. I think that even black stripes should be offbeat. The white color prevails because there are more bright colors in life. The most important moments of my life symbolizes sparkling stars appliqué”. |
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9 form pupil Veronica Bashlakova says: “I like drawing and looking at star life. When communicating I want to learn about other countries’ culture. It is nice to know that our works will be exhibited in galleries. I depicted on mask all my interests and it is done in my favorite colors.” |
Soon the Youth project will be launched in Vietnam, China and Latin America. It also aroused interest in Stuttgart Art School.
Project’s success depends to a large extent on school enthusiasts. In First Novgorod Gymnasium the project’s idea was taken right off the bat by English teachers Natalia Zhogina and Tatiana Bondarenko and art teacher Ludmila Borovykh. “School life will be much more interesting and children will broaden their mind”, - think teachers.
- You can not bound children’s education with lessons only, - says coordinator of Foreign Languages Department Irina Shirina. – Children participating in project have changed for the better in front of your very eyes. Now they run to English lessons because they want to know the words they need for communication with Americans and Kenyans via Skype. They want to tell many things but at times they feel lack of English words. So their eyes kindle with interest and they feel creative demand for language learning. Children aspire to do more than they have to according their school curriculum. Is that bad?”
Masks attracted interest even those children who never keep brush in hand before. But children understood the very core of the project, they took interest not only in mask-painting but also in the process of making plaster face. Project participants are not only children who study advanced foreign languages. Future financiers, mathematicians and social scientists study in this gymnasium. And they all come to Kiboko classes. They look forward to the next web-conference with America and Kenya, they want to see films, review books, learn about health and ecology problems in other countries. And the main thing is that in communication children learn more about their counterparts from other continents.
Every single mask is really unique work: small and bigger ones, ornamented with beads or painted with tea, full of love to the world or with deep repressed grievance. All masks are very diverse and very humane.
You can see the exhibition “Faces of Youth” in Small Hall of Town Exhibition Center. Over 100 showpieces are waiting for you.
By: Dmitry Ivanov |
