Did you know that clay is a very special type of earth that can be used to create real works of art?

This holiday course is all about trying things out, exploring textures and getting creative. You will feel the clay between your fingers, discover how the material reacts and learn how to shape your own ideas. Be inspired by the expressive sculptures and drawings of the artist Käthe Kollwitz. We take a closer look: How did she see the world? What feelings and stories did she express in her works? All of this inspires your very own ideas. You knead, shape, paint, print – and boldly create your own personal works of art. At the end of the week, your work will be displayed in a small exhibition.

Guidance: Diogo deCalle, Artist

on the exhibition “Käthe Kollwitz: Silent Forces – Works from the Ute Kahl Collection, Cologne”

The workshop is based on rarely seen, delicate drawings by Käthe Kollwitz from a private collection. The people portrayed in the drawings appear introverted – their eyes closed, covered or gazing away in the distance. A moment of silence has been captured in chalk and pencil.

These scenes seem like time has stopped for a moment. We ask ourselves: What happened before or after this moment? How do the people in the pictures feel? How might their story continue?

We also take a look at social conditions and living standards in Berlin – in the past, at the end of the 19th century, and today. Each participant chooses a picture that particularly appeals to and challenges them to tell its story. In the educational room, they work in small groups to develop their own narratives, which are recorded in drawings in a shared leporello.

ZOOM IN ON THE STREET

Drawing and animated film after Käthe Kollwitz

Let the works, themes and working methods of Käthe Kollwitz inspire you to create an animated film. The artist Käthe Kollwitz drew people on the street and also saw who is often overlooked: The poor, the marginalised and the hopeless.

What do Berlin’s streets and squares look like today? Observe life on Mierendorffplatz in the north of Charlottenburg, where bourgeoisie and decline go hand in hand. Here you will draw and write and make sound recordings. You will then process your results and impressions into paper claymation animations, write a script and create storyboards or backdrops. You will learn more about the work that goes into the films, animated films and comics that we consume every day. After all, telling stories requires not only creativity, but also craftsmanship and technical knowledge.

iPads will be provided during the course.

On Saturday evening, October 7, 2023, the Family Night will take place for the 13th time. Between 5 p.m. and midnight, there will be a colorful range of unusual and creative events for families in all districts of Berlin and the surrounding area that cost little or nothing.

The Käthe Kollwitz Museum is pleased to be involved for the first time and to offer a fairy tale evening in which lesser-known fairy tales are artistically told. It is about themes that also play an important role in the work of Käthe Kollwitz: War & Peace, Motherly Love, Cohesion, Community, Justice, Standing up for something. Strong, assertive female figures appear.

Fairy tales from Albania, Uzbekistan and Mongolia will be freely told at this cozy family evening, titled “What We Dream Of.” The stories are about the search for peace, community and cohesion. Käthe Kollwitz’s work is also about these deep longings that connect us humans. A mother waiting for her son’s return from the war, a cunning girl who stands up for justice, and a boy who turns the customs of his country upside down: Naemi Schmidt-Lauber and Sven Tjaben tell of such characters, accompanied musically.

Fairy tale storytelling in the framework of the 13th Family Night

Saturday, October 7, 2023

18.00 – 19.00, the exhibition rooms can be visited until 20.00

for children from 6 years

Admission free for children, adults pay 4 euros

Registration not required

Drawing workshop

The third Sunday in May is dedicated to museums. For over 40 years, the International Council of Museums ICOM has proclaimed International Museum Day once a year to draw attention to museums in Germany and around the world. This is a great opportunity for visitors to discover the diversity of museums and to visit the Käthe Kollwitz Museum Berlin on May 21, 2023.

Käthe Kollwitz was a great drawer, graphic artist and sculptor. Discover her impressive works in the permanent exhibition and then try your hand at drawing yourself in our drawing workshop. Let her sculptures inspire you to draw!

Drawing is considered a basic prerequisite for any artistic activity. The focus of the course is on capturing a bronze by Käthe Kollwitz. The complexity of the body requires not only basic anatomical knowledge, but above all a strong spatial imagination, which we will work on together in this course. Furthermore, the topics of composition and image structure in drawing will be discussed together. The workshop is aimed at anyone who likes to draw, regardless of age. The only thing that counts is having fun and the desire to be creative.

Admission to the museum and participation in the drawing course is free on the occasion of International Museum Day.

Käthe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945) – one of the most famous artists of her time – moved to Berlin as a newly married young woman. She found it exciting to observe life and the people around her. Sometimes she sat on a park bench and drew mothers with children, sometimes she accompanied her husband on visits to the sick and recorded the suffering of the poor. The artist developed certain themes over decades and implemented them in various techniques – for example, the motif of “mothers protecting their children” in lithography, woodcut and also as a bronze sculpture.

During a visit to the Käthe Kollwitz Museum, participants will be inspired by the works of the socially sensitive artist. Subsequently, the neighborhood in Charlottenburg-Nord will be examined with fresh eyes and artistic means. Which themes did Käthe Kollwitz find important, and which do we notice today? In the studio, participants will develop their own drawing messages and experiment with the effects of screen printing. The presentation of the results at the Youth Art School concludes the vacation course.