Arts Lab 6.0: Sona Tamrazyan - Month 3

Week 1

School day 1. We had more participants than we expected. They were 8 very energetic but very fun teens. Me and Luca immediately came up with a plan on how to divide the days and hours in the workshops. It was still challenging as we didn’t know how to settle down the “teenage” energy and how to keep them interested in one workshop for a long time. So we decided to do as much crafting and painting as possible. We came up with the most random but interesting ideas. For the first day we played some folkloric “truth or dare” then they created their own mythological creatures and made up some legends for them. After the very tiring hours at school we rushed to a kindergarten to do some workshops with little kids. It was quieter than at school, our group did face painting and I was enjoying it. Kids were really cute and interested in all the workshops.

School day 2.  For the 2nd day Luca taught them to braid bracelets and I decided to do some folkloric face paint on the faces of some participants, surprisingly they were really involved and wanted to try both. We were happy with the results and felt like we are becoming friends with them. I knew it was going to be challenging and the most difficult part of these workshops was getting exhausted fast.

The next day we were invited for the event at the school. We introduced ourselves during the event, it was fun, in the end Rahaf sang “Made in Romania” . It's becoming a ritual :). After the event we had the very awaited Jemom exhibition in Moldova school. Nikola and I missed our students and couldn’t wait to show them the results of their work. It was emotional, especially for me. I realized the personal artwork that I made was felt better by visually impaired children, they were trying to touch the installation and their reactions were incredible. 

During the free days Luca also taught me to braid the bracelets, honestly it became one of my favorite hobbies.

Week 2

School day 3. Some of the guys continued the bracelets they started the last day, some of them did drawings and paintings. We were still struggling with keeping their attention on something specific. They were walking around and exploring other workshops but ended up coming back and doing what they needed to do. We decided to use their interest in everything.

School day 4. Luca had an incredible idea. We brought some old CDs, vinyls and paint, and showed them some references of CD paint art. They surprised us. Everybody was really into it, trying their best. I felt how attached I was to them. I knew I was going to miss them when we finished. After one week of this energy boost they gave us, it was going to be very calm and boring.

Last day. On the last day they did some more paintings of characters and patterns that we were missing for the cards. Finally we learned how to control their energy and use it for the workshop, but it was too late (We will use those techniques for the next residencies). We promised our guys to go to a cafe together after the last workshop so of course we kept the promise. I felt like I made minor friends, I felt responsible for them but also enjoyed every moment and learned how to deal with “teenage energy”. Thanks to Petru Rares School for this group of youngsters and the full week.

We woke up with a lot of snow outside. Trip to Rugionasa. More folklore, more inspirations. We visited the Museum of Folklore, the Palace, a church and made a looooot of snowmen that day. We are still kids deep inside.

A lot of work. Me and Luca started making the cards, also the whole team started their personal artworks. And again artistic mess in the house, lovely.

Egyptian night was just in time, incredible food, emotional music, fun games. Thank you to our big Egyptian family.

We closed the week with a Folklore caravan in Iasi. The Youth Center of Justitie pentru Minori welcomed us with great love. The students were so smart and talented. I think it was the smoothest and the most enjoyable workshop in the whole project so far. Me and Sinem made a drawing workshop with mythological creatures. They were asked some simple questions about animals they chose and they had to draw them, after we sent them to the next workshop to Nikola and Ziad where they needed to create the same creatures with clay. It was so much better than we expected. 

Week 3

For the free days Nikola and I made a small ritual to grab our books and spend the whole day in a cafe. Very relaxing. I’m glad we found a way of recharging our energy. It was a very stressful week full of personal artwork. At first I could not come up with any ideas, eventually I decided to do what I wanted to do for so long but didn’t have an opportunity. I made 3 masks using different techniques and materials. It was like a meditation for me, but the deadline was stressing me out. Ella and Katrina cut Luca’s hair on a random Thursday. I still can not get used to it but it suits her :) 

Luca organised the funnies and the most energising Hungarian night. Kahoot quiz was the best. That night we decided to party and forget about the week full of work. At the club we met someone special - Christian, later he became an unforgettable part of Arts Lab 6.0 

Week 4

The free day was spent as usual - in the cafe with our books.

I finished the masks and started the catalogue. This time everybody tried to help with it, I felt touched and was happy to show everyone the process of making it. Ella learned doing doodles on the tablet, she did great. Nikola made the covers, Luca was next to me 24/7 and was helping with anything she could. I’m proud of my team and thankful I have them.

Photoshoot in the hills. We planned a very quick photoshoot for the catalogue in the hills with all the masks we had. It went smoothly and organised. Nikola did great pictures and edited them. 

I spent the rest of the week working on the catalogue and the playing cards. 

Pre-Exhibition day. This time we were more chill, we knew what we were doing, planned the artwork places very quickly. I sent invitations to all our friends and networks, also Christian who we met at the club last week. and went to sleep with excitement.

Exhibition day. We had a lot of visitors. I felt so happy when I met everyone I invited. We were surprised to see all our friends from Iasi. Socializing and networking is not really my thing but at that moment I felt very proud of myself. It was a very successful exhibition, even when it was finished we still had a lot of guests. Of course we needed to celebrate this night. We didn’t care about the time and rushed to Iasi to spend the night dancing.

Week 5

Katrina turned 20, and we had the best karaoke session at home. Did you know, in Latvia on your birthday you are raised with the chair your age +1 times?

The director of the French Institute visited us with a lot of gifts and offers. It was a productive meeting with a lot of event planning. 

This week was a bit different, we had a lot of long meetings. Mihaela started the 2028 project and of course involved us and made another “mission impossible”. We had to make fundraising projects and bring them to life, and of course it is going to be a competition between teams. Game with almost no rules. The only rules were “Don’t do anything illegal and don’t sell your artworks for the exhibitions”. So our team - me, Sinem, Saleh and Ziad came up with a lot of ideas like playing music in the streets, selling souvenirs, renting some VR games, offering professional photoshoots, doing portraits and we decided to invite our friend Christian, as he is a very talented and creative individual who is already a part of our project. Tomorrow some of us will go to Iasi, Christian will play saxophone and we will try to sell the souvenirs and do photoshoots or portraits. Others will stay in Targu Frumos and be responsible for the VR renting and also selling souvenirs. Wish us luck :) see you in a month.

Report written by Sona Tamrazyan, she's from Armenia and she's one of the 14 volunteers participating in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.