Applied Conference of the Faculty of Specific Education, Alexandria University, 22-25 / 5/2017, at UNESCO's invitation to celebrate the International Week of Artistic Education under the theme "Women in Peace and Sustainable Development"
The workshop was held at the Arts Center - Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The workshop was attended by seventeen children from the drawing class of the BA School of Arts under the supervision of Dr. Asmaa Barbary.
“Woman” is the theme of this year’s workshop. Each child will choose a woman’s form and a synonymous symbol of women, demonstrating the relationship or connection between both. The child will choose a form that reflects his own formal or imaginative vision of a woman, whether as a little girl, or a mother, or any other real or imagined form based on the meaning and significance of the woman from the child’s point of view.
The activity will be based on the questions: “What is a woman?” and “How to visualize her?” at any stage the child chooses. Is the woman a mother, a girl, or a legendary form? The child then selects the formal symbol of the woman; is she the Earth, the Universe, the Sun, a flower, the sky, a circle, a heart, a girl? After that, the child explains the significance of the selected symbol. For example, the heart signifies a woman’s compassion, the Sun signifies warmth and light, a girl flying a kite signifies freedom and joy, and so on.
It is, thus, a relationship between three variables. The first variable has to do with the imaginative visual form of a woman at the stage the child chooses. The second variable is the signifying relationship between the symbol and the significance. The third is the symbol associated with the meaning and the formal visualization of that symbol, which is also associated with the chosen stage.
Accordingly, this work would reflect the visions of children aged 6-10 years about the concept of women. It would also unveil how they feel about women, and the meanings associated with the synonyms they pick for them. Moreover, it would shed light on their conceptive, social, and imaginative worlds. The artwork would emphasize their symbols and enrich
