Sculpture Courses / Creative holidays in the Mediterranean

What art is and can be can only be fully experienced in ones` own artistic work. Deep joy, but also clarifying and sometimes even painful processes in dealing with the material and with ones` own soul, lead to the gate, where art can become existential. In the sculpture courses free, but also thematically bound work is offered, such as volume and space, torso, figurative, abstract.

It can be worked in soapstone, alabaster, marble, wood, plaster and clay. Material and craft knowledge are taught. The process of creating ones own work is in the foreground of the course, along go playful exercises to develop the powers of imagination, the sculptural theory of forms by W. Reichert, art history studies, artist biographies and biographies of works. The courses are for beginners and advanced. They should appeal to people who want to get involved in developing artistic proceses and discover their creative urge.

Sculpture Courses in Alella, Barcelona

These courses take place on a 24-hectare property of ​​the Catalan country house Can Bernadas with direct access to the nature reserve "Parc Serallada Litoral". In addition to the beautiful view of the turquoise Mediterranean there are two swimming pools, a small lake, pine forests and many hiking trails in the surrounding nature.
In this beautiful and inspiring environment you shape your chosen stone into your individual sculpture. Most participants choose alabaster or soapstone. With these stones, it is possible to come to a nice result also within a short time. Playfully you enter into a "dialogue" with the stone, entering an artistic process that reveals your hidden imagination.

Both, the material and the tools are relatively easy to handle, so that the form aspect is in the foreground. The courses are suitable for beginners and advanced, as a good individual advice is guaranteed.The daily course attendance is 6 hours. You are welcome to go on working beyond this time. In the immediate neighbourhood you can take a cortadobreak or even eat a delicious menu to a very reasonable price.

You can live in the guest house (Can Bernadas) or in other accomodations nearby at various prices (e.g. Airbnb).

The course fee for the 4-day course is 390 €, depending on the stone is added 3 € / kilo to 5 € / kilo (usually a stone is chosen to 5 kilos), for the 10-day course you pay 620 €. Not included are personal accident-, travel-, cancellation-, or travel insurance. In addition, weekend courses (once a month, Saturdays and Sundays) are also offered at a price of 150 € plus material. For further questions and booking please contact me on the contact page.

Please contact me on the contact page for bookings and further information.

Arts and education

Waldorf education tries to realize the ideal of an “educational art” in a holistic approach. All education should be artistic in the way of teaching, according to the motto of Goethe: “Consider what to do, but consider more how to do it”.

Thus, artistic creation as such has been elevated to a pattern of learning and teaching and the basis of personality development. This includes the teacher's self-education, which should not only be characterized by professional competence, but also by biographical and social competence. In artistic transitions, the educator can come closer to the ideal of the art of education by learning perception and reflection, authenticity, courage, communication skills, etc. in a healthy rhythm. At the same time it strengthens the energy balance in a harmonious way, in the sense of salutogenesis and the balanced work-life balance.

In special courses different artistic activities , such as formdrawing, working with clay, woodcarving, stonecarving (1st to 12th grade) are being offered.

Art Therapy

Often we are alienated from ourselves and yet feel the yearning to be authentic with our deepest inner being. From strangeness and lostness, from negative emotions such as doubt, envy, greed, hate and slipped longings, congestion arises in the soul. When the soul and the human I can no longer hold these energies together, they express themselves as cries for help of the soul and can also turn into the corporeal. They then express themselves in physical illnesses.

Illness is then the obvious advice to make our way towards our lost inner self and to gain consciousness. We are asked to get our soul moving again. Artistic work can become a bridge, to find us again at heart and to recover health.

Why does art have this healing power?

Art, beyond the glamour, can only become art if it is created from the very core. It can only be created individually and authentically. In the process of creating, I come closer to me than ever. I keep practicing to build the bridge to my self over and over again. I learn to be confident in the process with myself and this can be a practice for all my life situations. I start to get rid of false identifications. Thus, in the work led by the art therapist, I contribute with self-activity to my own recovery.

Art and Personal Development

The aesthetic sense and the artistic expression lie as a seed and a potentiality in man, and it depends on whether this sense is cultivated by socialization, by education, or whether it leads a stunted existence. In any case, it is present as a need and longing in man, if only as a desire to cover the table with a nice tablecloth or stick an appealing wallpaper on the wall. The inner wealth of man is measured by this sense of aesthetic and creative sense. Promoting and cultivating this sense through one's own artistic creation contributes to personal growth.

Often the power of imagination of many people has been silenced by a false and thoughtless sentence of a former teacher or parent, “... you can not draw ...”, “... you can not sing ...” These blockages created in childhood often prevail a whole life in the soul and do not foster the self-confidence in ones own creative possibilities.

What can art do? What demands and encourages the artistic work process? Let's take a look at sculpture or painting for example. Before me lies an undesigned, raw material, whether paint or stone. The observation, the suggestion that I suddenly see possibilities of design in it, the ignition of an impulse that urges me to touch and to do, makes me do the first brush stroke, the first chisel strike. The first action changes the material, demands a retreat, observation and a rhythm of figures and contemplation arises. And so gradually a work of art develops, in its own individual rhythm. I always make new decisions, always need courage, overcoming again and again, I work without a network and trust my intuition. When is the work done, when do I feel that something has been created, that it is rounded? - Individual work, while contemplating. Courage, decision-making ability, ability to interact with the material, to be present in process-oriented work, to record partial steps and the whole. All of this is constantly practiced and translates into my everyday existence as power and ability. Art creation, contemplation of the arising and biographical reflections alternate.

Goetheanism / metamorphosis

Goethe, through his way of perceiving and investigating the world, has given us a key to understand nature and the context of nature more profoundly. He was convinced that e.g. the plant can not be grasped by cutting it apart and then examining the individual parts. For him, the essential would be missing, which ist that life, that holds the plant together and determines its organism. One can not study life in the dead part. That was his deep conviction.

Thus, by observing, drawing, and putting in order, he came to develop the theory of metamorphosis, which methodically became the key to the exploration of all natural phenomena. Any form comes from motion, and we can understand the form as we learn to perceive its origins. We become the inner co-creator of processes, because we carry within ourselves the forces that have e.g. created our body, organs, etc. These living forces are in us, so in our own nature, but also in the surrounding nature. Creative and dismantling forces, becoming and decaying determine and organize life and this is what needs to be learned.

Through the practical practice of the theory of metamorphosis, whether by drawing, painting, or plasticizing, we are able to progress from the conceptual to the imaginary comprehension of the world, and then to carry it out in practical professional life. This course is apart from those who are purly interested, intended especially for therapists, doctors and educators.

Art and Business Coaching

The thinking and actions of yesterday can not shape the world of tomorrow. New meaningful and efficient structures can only be developed in an open, process-oriented way. This requires an animation of thinking and a holistic understanding of contexts. Old ideas have to be let go so that old things are not reproduced time and again, so that sclerotic or over-inflated structures impede development. However, this does not happen with the push of a button, but requires practice processes in the individual and in the community.Through artistic work, mixed with other playful elements, the “old head is emptied” and new impulses can develop. Decisive, courage, imagination, self-responsibility, authenticity, perceptiveness, mindfulness, and teamwork are required and practiced.

Art and stress management / work-life balance

Many people today find it difficult to find a healthy balance between work and free time. Likewise often lacking a self-directed handling of stressful situations. Being present, where I am at the moment, completely devoting oneself to one thing and not getting bogged down, doing one's affairs with inner balance and joy, etc., that is what many people want to achive, because they realize that they are losing their joie de vivre. Concentration difficulties, being determined from the outside, losing oneself more and more .... Then it is not far to the point of depression and burn-out.

How do I learn live better, more balanced and harmonious with myself?

In artistic creation I experience myself and learn to actively regulate myself. So it's not just mental intent to be more harmonious, which puts me even more under pressure. Self-regulation and authenticity will no longer be a foreign word. Balance and more joie de vivre are the result. The courses want to contribute to that.