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I’m very much into my online art lessons this season, meaning I don’t currently go to my students’ houses, nor they come to me but we meet at a common place online. Where as you might be asking how is an art lesson so anchored into using art materials and a hands-on approach even possible to take place online? This is how I do it. Watch this short 3 minute video below the text and find out what it looks like when I teach online and how the image I’m transmitting appears on your screen. If you would like to have a free 15 min Zoom or Skype chat to try what my art lessons are like, and to see how we get on, message me on Instagram @silviakrupinska or leave a comment under the blog post, I’ll get back to you.
Next time, I’ll publish a post about the top ten things you need to do to prepare for an online art lesson with me and some of the rules to follow to achieve the best online art experience possible. See you soon. Thanks for coming back!
Art lessons have picked up again, I’m getting plenty of new enquiries so I bring this update on my blog to tell you what art tutoring I offer and how you can get a ‘satisfaction guaranteed or your money back’ on your first session and what is a ‘Haselcan’! But first things first.
I am a DBS checked art tutor. You are safe with me, I hold a public liability insurance which covers my art lessons and art workshops. I studied at Central Saint Martins, MA Art and Science and before BA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art, both part of the UAL.
It is easy-peasy to book a tutorial or a workshop with me. Please contact me on silviakrupinska(at)gmail(dot)com or use this link to a tutoring platform Tutorfair, where you can book me directly. My fee varies so please get in touch for more. And remember, if you book via the Tutorfair website or their app, your first lesson is satisfaction guaranteed. Each time you buy a Tutorfair lesson with me a small donation is made to the Tutorfair Foundation!
I absolutely love teaching which is a complementary part of my own art practice as a sculptor. It gives me a sense of reward and fulfilment. I love my job. When I was a girl I had, and still have, a deep admiration for my art teachers. Their patience, creativity, and utmost kindness inspired me to become one.
What art tutoring do I offer?
I specialise in one-to-one tuition, where I visit my clients directly, but mostly online these days. I also go to nurseries to teach my youngest art students, babies from 16 months up to preschool age. I conduct my art workshops in art venues, during art exhibitions, art markets and at universities for people of all ages, needs and abilities. To find out more about a spectrum of my teaching experience, please click the following link here.
Individual art tutoring, one-to-one (online 1 hour, in-person 2 hour sessions)
I offer art tutoring online via Skype, or where conditions and distance allows, I see my art tutees in person also. I’ve had over 30 private clients in over 300 hours of personal art tuition. I help with getting ready for exams or introduce some new art techniques to students that want to get better at their art, or just want to discover something for themselves. Whether it is learning a measured drawing technique or some unusual art and science explorations, we always have lots of fun.
Find me on a leading tutoring website Tutorfair and read some insightful reviews from my clients there.
Parent’s comments:
“Silvia also trained Eve in observational drawing which is an important part of the Art Scholarship applications for the 11+ entrance exams. She helped my daughter to record her ideas and processes in a sketchbook and helped her to put together her art portfolio for presentation in Art Scholarships.”
“Thanks to Silvia’s tutoring, Eve was invited to participate in four different art assessments which resulted in the offer of one Art Scholarship.”
Mariana, London (February 2020)
Early years art (groups up to 10, 30 min class time)
I have 3 years experience in early years art. My nursery and pre-school pupils enjoy our art lessons so far in four London nurseries for a weekly session. I plan, deliver and evaluate for these extra-curricular activities so teachers and parents can follow their child’s development. It is always sad to see the little ones move on to a big school, but some of them would have attended up to three years of the art explorations with me. I always miss them!
As always it’s been a pleasure to have you on my blog and other online content. Before you go, if you book with me and in the process you mention this code word ‘Haselcan‘ I’ll give your first 30-minute-trial-lesson for a price of 15 minutes.
What is a ‘Haselcan’? A haselnut and a pecan together, of course! Cheerio!
Borranco – made by water flow is an art exhibition and interactive clay event. Borranco presents a new series of clay prints on paper and drawings I made in collaboration with Almerian forest ants. You’ll be able to get your hands dirty and make your own clay prints, other small objects and contribute to a large-scale wall piece as well.
Borranco, inspired by Spanish word ‘barranco’ (ravine in English), is a geographical term describing a very deep, narrow valley with steep sides which have been produced by flashes of water during flash-floods. ‘Barrancos’ have been a huge inspiration for me during my summer art residency at Joya AiR set in an alpine desert of Almeria. Come and learn more about my experience of this environmental art residency in an informal setting of the Unit 3 Projects gallery.
If you have any issues with finding the gallery, call me on 07941006264. I recommend taking a District line tube to Bromley-by-Bow, all other routes are suspended this coming weekend, unfortunately.
#art #exhibition #event #interactiveart
A summer spent in Spain, in the heart of a national park, removed half an hour drive from any nearest town and shop! It was like a dream. But it wasn’t a dream but a reality! I went to Joya: AiR, an environmental artist residency set in between the ravines of white sedimentary rock walls full of fossils and fields, almond trees, and bee-eaters. Oh boy, I had some space to breathe! I love London, but I was a happy bunny to be away from it.
I was asked to write a little summary of what I did at Joya, at the end of my three weeks there. Here is a little excerpt, please follow up the link to continue reading.
“I’ve flown to Joya: AiR from London with an open mind. I wanted to relax, refresh and escape from my city life. Having done an art residency at Walthamstow Wetlands in London which stores around 40% of the water that will arrive in peoples’ taps after cleaning I wondered, what the landscape could be like in a desert environment? I wanted to know how the land and its’ habitat is affected by the driest spells of Andalusien summer.”
Following two images are taken by Jaron Rowan. Thank you!
Travel portrait/lifestyle photographer Kazumi Sakurai and I enjoying the sun.
Cryptic takes place from Friday 24th to Monday 27th of November. A discussion around the subjects of creativity, intuition and process in art and science, organised by Ben Murray and CLOT Magazine, will take place on Sunday 26th November at 2pm. The discussion panel is conducted by Ben Murray with guests Adam Peacock, Professor Arthur I Miller, Dr Max Reuter, Natsai Audrey Chieza.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS:
Tere Chad ; Juan Covelli ; Helen Farley ; Silvia Krupinska ; Meri Lahti ; Julie Light ; Mark Andrew Lowman ; Jill Mueller ; Yun Peng ; Lisa Pettibone ; Marta Pinilla ; Dave John Rosewell ; Rania Schoretsaniti ; Hannah Scott ; Virginie Serneels ; Olga Suchanova ; Neus Torres Tamarit ;Michelle Von Mandel ; Bekk Wells
For the first time, I use my garden as an art studio and create two ink drip paintings for Cryptic 2017 exhibition. Cryptic is a celebration of a process in art and how art and science can work together on many levels from an emotional to technical. Thank you to artist and curator Neus Torres Tamarit for inviting me to take part in this exhibition! Thank you to Sparkle, the cat featured in the images, for helping me with making the paintings. You can spot a couple of paw prints on the Reversed Waterfall I painting.
Reversed Waterfall I in Crypt Gallery, St Pancras, 2017
Reversed Waterfall II in Crypt Gallery, St Pancras, 2017
Reversed Waterfall I and II in Crypt Gallery, St Pancras, 2017
90 years ago, a fossilized cast of a skull (endocranium) was found in Ganovce, Slovakia. The most important Slovakian treasure of similar kind, dating back 120 thousand years. I’m from Poprad near Ganovce and I’ve always been interested in this story in connection to the local mineral springs. The story describes a Neanderthal female getting dizzy breathing poisonous gasses from the Hradok Spring and dying.
Two of my artworks in One Country Three Worlds exhibition at Embassy of the Slovak Republic in London (20 Apr-27 May) celebrate the fossil and the place. The article link offers some further reading in the Slovak language.
The image below is the place where the Neanderthal fossil was found by stonemason Koloman Koki – Ganovce near Poprad.
Neanderthal Memorial 2014 by Silvia Krupinska (Digital print 1/1)
Dried flowers in this piece were collected at Hradok in Ganovce. The outline is representing the size and the shape of the fossil. Thanks to Podtatranské múzeum v Poprade who generously helped me in the research for this project.
DATES: Wed 20th April – Fri 27th May 2016
LOCATION: Embassy of Slovakia, 25 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 4QY
OPENING TIMES: Monday–Friday 13:00–15:00| 25–27 May extended 9:00–15:00, 20 May closed due to an event taking place.
FREE ENTRY
PLEASE RING BELL ‘RECEPTION’ TO ACCESS THE EXHIBITION. THANK YOU!
#1country3worlds
A year ago Mira Varg and I created a sculpture for Embassy of the Slovak Republic in London. This post from earlier describes it. On Monday 11 May a very interesting invitation arrived from the same Embassy. Artists Mira Varg, Mandy Hreus and I, all taking MA Art and Science and Slovakian, were invited to exhibit there, with a little over a week till the opening! How could we refuse such a challenge? Those had been amongst the most exciting days this year for me. The planning, the install of the show has given us a pretty good boost and practice for approaching Unfolding Realities degree show in May.
To view One Country Three Worlds images on Facebook, follow this link.
One Country Three Worlds (20 April–27 May 2016) is an exhibition by three Slovak artists living and creating in the UK. Hreus, Krupinska and Varg met while studying for their MA in Art & Science at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London and show their work at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic for the first time, while simultaneously preparing for their degree show in May. One Country Three Worlds is a celebration of three different interpretations of the world by three creative minds originating from the same country – Slovakia.
While embracing their differences, the three artists have something in common. They are intrigued by the individual and collective perception and experience of our surroundings. Varg is reflecting on variations of realities and how we humanly observe them, Krupinska is focusing on the texture of landscape and hidden places, and Hreus is investigating the visible and invisible electromagnetic spectrum in relation to consciousness and pure expansive awareness. These interpretations unfold in a palette of media, ranging from photography, print to sculpture and installation.”
DATES: Wed 20th April – Fri 27th May 2016
LOCATION: Embassy of Slovakia, 25 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 4QY
OPENING TIMES: Monday–Friday 13:00–15:00| 25–27 May extended 9:00–15:00, 20 May closed due to an event taking place.
FREE ENTRY
#1country3worlds
PLEASE RING BELL ‘RECEPTION’ TO ACCESS THE EXHIBITION. THANK YOU!
Over past months, a lot of exciting has happened. I’ve dived into Walthamstow Wetlands research and met some fantastic people in and outside of my MA Art and Science at CSM. One of which is my valued collaborator Dr Johanne Orchard-Webb, Research Fellow, Lee Valley Team of Hydrocitizenship – arts and humanities project funded by AHRC. It has been a true pleasure to exchange ideas and experiences with Jo. She has written a fantastic post about the ways how our collaboration has developed and what it has entailed so far.
Dr Jo Orchard-Webb wrote:
“While we have used different approaches to exploring ideas around what we call ‘hydrocitizenship’, there is a good deal of common ground in our thematic findings, and this ongoing process of research collaboration has for me highlighted the importance of multi-disciplinary teams working together to explore and understand hydro-social relations.”
To read the full post and find out more, please click on the following link.
Many thanks
‘Fisherman’s Flies’ by Silvia Krupinska. Image taken at Walthamstow Wetlands, on one of the orientation walks organised by London Wildlife Trust.
It’s been now six months since I’ve discovered Walthamstow Wetlands. The place has become my research and relaxation hub. I normally announce most of my news on Twitter (@silviakrupinska), but it’s about time I touched down here, on my blog. The truth is, apart from my MA Art and Science dissertation (pictured below) which I handed in early February, I haven’t done much other writing lately. On the other hand, I’ve been focusing on my sketchbook and thinking about my degree show concept.
February and March have been very dynamic, indeed. We’ve done extremely successful degree show fundraising art and science themed workshops.
Another bit of big news is that Government Office for Science invited us, CSM MA Art and Science, to collaborate with them on a report about waste. Five of us gave a series of 5 min presentations about our work and what we get to do on our MA, at GO-Science offices in London. My contribution was a presentation from my journies in Walthamstow Wetlands, as a taster really, there is so much to tell. The slideshow below is a selection of images from that presentation. It’s rather early days for this collaboration. I’ll bring more details in another post as it develops. One thing assured, it is very exciting!
Meanwhile, there is another event coming up this Friday, 18 March 2016 at Vestry House Museum in Walthamstow. Organised by Love the Lea, Thames 21 campaign to save the rivers of the Lea catchment, who invited me to participate.
I’ll bring a large map drawing of Walthamstow Wetlands to the event, and with it, I’ll create an installation to lead people on my journeys. I’ll have collected specimen samples, lots of printed images for visitors to browse, and I can give you tips on what are the most interesting corners to explore in the wetlands, the way I see it. If the weather permits, I’m also going to install my thorny stick ladder in the garden.
It would be great to see you there. Come for a chat and I’ll tell you the ladder’s story.
Until then, take care. S.
When I saw a public call for stallholders at #TransActing: A Market of Values by Critical Practice, I thought it looked like a very unusual event. It wasn’t an art fair, nor an exhibition, it wasn’t a normal market either. A new concept of re-evaluating, transacting, exchanging, and giving sounded like something I’d love to engage with.
You can read about the thrill of being chosen to participate at TransActing in my previous blog here.
I’d like to say a big thank you to Joey O’Gorman, Research Affiliate, MA Art and Science at CSM, UAL. Joey introduced me to a social scientist, geographer Richard Bater with whom I collaborated during the #TransActing: A Market of Values event. Richard’s work focuses on (as he described it) “research and the intersection of scientific (watery) knowledge and artistic interventions, so he very much approaches water less from a natural scientific perspective than from a shape-shifting transdisciplinarian one (undergirded by anthropology)”. Compared to Richard’s, my interest lies in rivers and water more from an angle of sculpting, art, and physical geography. I find movements of sediments, fluvial forms and processes inspiring and fascinating. I look at them as a metaphor to artist sculpting, building objects. (Question of conscious sculpting and process comes up at this point).
Our stall named The Rivers Project was painted white and The Flowing Roots sculpture grew right through it. The aim for this one-day collaboration between Richard and I was to create discussions about rivers, water, and ecology. We traded water for words into our Water Word Harvest. We asked two questions. What does water mean to you? Do you have your own nature, a place where you go to relax outdoors? Thank you to all people who engaged with our stall! Thank you for the debates and chats. They were indeed very inspiring, interesting, and useful.
What’s next for The Rivers Projects? Richard and I will work together again and I’m beginning to write a dissertation, which will be drip-fed by the Water Word Harvest, critical thinking, evaluation, and partly by amazing River Thames cartoons by John Leech (1817–1864), who was an English caricaturist and illustrator. Check out this amazing piece on Wikipedia.
I have one regret looking back at the event. 60+ amazing stallholders had lots to offer and engage with. We were in our water-bubble all day and didn’t have enough time to speak to all the others. Just look at the variety of projects on the day here.
TransActing happened on Saturday July 11, 2015, 12 – 5 pm, at Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground, located between Tate Britain and Chelsea College of Arts. Thank you to Critical Practice, who organized it! Check out this photo to see the stalls on the day from high above.
I’m pleased to add another newspaper article to my press. Pri šálke čaju so Silviou Krupinskou is written in the Slovak language, sorry to those that don’t speak it. The Full text can be found on this link. Here is an excerpt:
” Silvia Krupinská je rodáčka z Popradu, ktorej pomaturitný jazykový pobyt v Londýne trvá dodnes. Žije a tvorí tam už takmer dvadsať rokov. Táto umelecká výtvarníčka má za sebou viacero najmä zahraničných výstav a vlastný ateliér. Inšpiráciu hľadá v prírode a keď sa vo februári 2014 dozvedela o prírodnej katastrofe v rieke Poprad, veľmi sa jej to dotklo. “Išlo o nález kyanidu, 20-krát vyššie množstvo, ako je dovolené. Stalo sa to v industriálnej časti Popradu, v Matejovciach. Tisíce rýb zomreli a otrávený bol úsek asi siedmich kilometrov, kde sa ekosystém bude zotavovať viac ako 5 rokov. Je to smutné. Rieka Poprad pre mňa reprezentuje miesto, odkiaľ pochádzam, moje domácke korene,“ vysvetľuje emotívne. Preto začala pracovať na soche z ocele. Ide o veľmi trvácny silný materiál, rovnako ako jej city k slovenskej prírodnej krase. Chce týmto spôsobom vyjadriť rešpekt rieke Poprad. „Nikdy predtým som sa nad ňou poriadne nezamyslela. Škoda, že to tak často je. Niektoré veci si uvedomíme, až keď sa stane niečo negatívne…“
Napriek smutnej inšpirácii je socha s názvom Tečúce Korene (Flowing Roots) oslavou rieky a jej krásy. „Bola to veľmi zaujímavá robota. Prvýkrát som zvárala oceľ a naučila som sa pritom množstvo nových procesov. Keď som o tom rozprávala ľudom, čo nikdy na Slovensku neboli, a videli vtedy ešte len polotovar sochy, páčil sa im organický tvar diela. Teraz sa o tom, čo si myslia, dozviem ešte viac. Tečúca rieka bude aj s nahrávkou zvuku rieky vystavená na Interim Show v Londýne. Pri výskume a zhromažďovaní dát o rieke, keďže socha tvarovo presne zobrazuje tvar jej toku, mi pomohli v Slovenskom vodohospodárskom podniku, š.p., Správa povodia Dunajca a Popradu. Chcela by som sa im takto za to poďakovať.“ “
Autor: Petra Vargová | 25. 3. 2015
FLOWING ROOTS – Metal sculpture and sound piece
Steel might not be the first material to be associated with a river or its flow. I see it differently, as for me it became a medium for a sculpture inspired by a river I grew up nearby in Poprad, Slovakia – the 167.4 km long Poprad River. “She” is for me a kind of symbol representing my roots, my belonging and the natural beauty of the Spiš Region.
This river story starts when I discovered a disaster struck in February 2014. Twenty times more than allowed amount of cyanide was found in the Poprad River’s flow, starting in an industrial area of Matejovce. The poison caused deep damage to the effected ecosystems. Thousands of fish died and the habitat on the seven-kilometre-long stretch will take years to recover. However, and there is a big pause here. I choose not to cry over spilled milk and run around in anger, but I choose in this sculptural installation to celebrate this river-flow, its ongoing splendour and the healing it’s going through. I choose the steel, I choose the lasting strength and I choose to look ahead and show how important she is to me. All rivers deserve attention, admiration and appreciation; this is what my sculpture and the sound piece are about.
I’d like to thank to SLOVENSKÝ VODOHOSPODÁRSKY PODNIK, š. p., Správa povodia Dunajca a Popradu for their support and help with gathering research data and materials about The Poprad River. I hope our collaboration can continue to grow in more future projects!
Flowing Roots, Silvia Krupinska 2015, detail
Flowing Roots, Silvia Krupinska 2015, detail
You can see FLOW sculpture and sound piece and many other artworks by other artists in UAL CSM Interim Exhibition – You’re the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly – works of MA Art and Science, MA Photography and MA Fine Art at The Laundry E8, 2-18 Warburton Road, E8 3FN London, UK.
27th-29th March, 11-5, PV 26th March 6-9pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/1560148757576767/
ourkidsareugly.co.uk
csm.arts.ac.uk
@ourkidsareugly
I have great respect for metal. I have even greater respect for hot metal. I think it shows on my face in these photographs by a friend. All this in preparation for The Poprad River sculpture which will be exhibited in our March Interim show at the end of the month. Details announced soon.
Sunday evening experiments bring some Prussian blue pigment and steel together. Sprinkling of icing sugar on top?
This is a recent progress gif of Poprad River sketch drawing. I quite like it being in a J shape, I now translate it into J for JOY! I am indeed having lots of joy making this sculpture. I’m looking forward to tackling the welding and bending of the metal. I hope to have this Job finished for our March Interim show. A3 segments of the new work in progress, 5 m long when the line in the drawing is stretched.
I’m going to work in the metal workshop from now on and I’ll bring you more images of the work in progress, when I have them. I’m so pleased to have the access to the metal workshop. Yesterday I began to practice the welding techniques.
After eight years since my graduation from the BA Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art and Design in London, I’m returning to study at The University of the Arts London. I’m thrilled to be accepted to the MA Art and Science at Central Saint Martins. I’ve been feeling settled for many years with my BA, having the best times in my studio doing various projects, but somehow this year something has changed, I’ve become even more hungry to learn. It all happened so suddenly, and now I’m a student again, beginning a two year full time MA at the end of September 2014.
For super curious, a virtual tour of CSM here. http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/about-csm/facilities/virtual-tours/granary/
How do I feel? Well, I’m very excited and terrified at the same time. Do I know how to be at UNI after all this time? Saying that, I’ve a good idea about what I’m interested in and Nathan, our course leader reassured me, it’s very different than being an undergraduate student. We all will be very keen to learn, serious about our art and science path, and we will have lots of opportunities to link and network. I’m very happy about my decision to do this. I can’t wait to meet my 19 class mates now, and explore the art & science angle in my practice!
So my art studio will be moving to a different location. I had been interviewed perhaps for the last time in my long term art studio at Unit 3 this August. Lovely team from online TV skcz.tv wanted to know where my inspirations come from, and they asked me about my transition from Poprad, Slovakia to London in January 1999, when I became a Londoner. I’d like to say a big thank you to SKCZ.TV! The document is in Slovak only, if you don’t speak it but you’re curious about my studio, soon to be moved to CSM, you might like to watch?
Until next time!
S
I love growing flowers and anything that would grow on my balcony. But this post isn’t about an ordinary plant, it’s a “Plant Transplant” I want to show you. It began on my research trip in Slovakia, where we visited a famous site in Hradok – Ganovce near Poprad. The Stonemason Koloman Koki found an endocranium (skull segment filled with travertine) in 1926. The skull supposedly belonged to a Neanderthal female, whom I’m guessing, was drinking from a mineral spring and fell into the well or some kind of a mini cave below, poisoned by the gases, never recovered from the fall and died there. The minerals fossilized and preserved her body, which was never found but the only travertine segment. (Ref. Exhibition catalogue Ganovce – The Neanderthal Man and his Living Environment, Podtatranske Muzeum Poprad, 2009)
Above: The samples found around the Hradok – Ganovce site, then in SLovakia waiting to fly to the UK.
Above: Transplanted plants growing in London – June 2014.
During my visit of the site in spring 2014, I’ve taken some plant samples which are a part of the research and exploration of the Neanderthal topic, in collaboration with Podtatranske Muzeum Poprad. To my delight, I was able to bring the samples to the UK and grow them in a planter on my balcony. This Plant Transplant is work in progress and I’m looking forward to bringing you more about it later.
Until next time, have a great summer!
Silvia
Silvia Krupinska - Organic Contemporary Sculpture Blog 