Video by Kristian Irgl, Reflection by Clarissa Schmitt
A week, a family of 22 people coming from 10 different countries, all eager to create, and a beautiful Croatian island in the early autumn times. What else could one wish for to learn about art and morals?
It is Ji Suk Baek, a Korean painter and 1st generation living in Croatia, who gave us the opportunity to focus and deepen our understanding on this topic by organizing the Art Camp Croatia 2018. Reflecting about today’s art and culture we are confronted with a lot of different opinions. It can be hard to see clearly what God’s vision is and what a heavenly culture of heart could be. To create space for 1st and 2nd gen artists to learn about it, share and support each other, Ji Suk brought this art camp to life.
This year it was held from the 22nd of September until the 1st of October. We started the camp in Zagreb with opening speeches held by Armando Lozano Hernandez, Ji Suk Baek, and Kazuha Canak. From there we set off to the island Rab, where the magic was about to unfold.
“Art doesn’t belong to the artist anymore. Art belongs to everyone. Everybody is an artist.”
— ARMANDO LOZANO HERNANDEZ
The program was a good mixture of lectures, creative time, presentations from participants and outdoor activities around the island and the beach. We were very happy to have Armando Lozano Hernandez (Director of Espacio Ronda Cultural Center in Madrid and Barcelona in Spain) as our main lecturer, for his experiences and insights about art and artists were very inspiring to hear. As he said, passion is an absolute necessity to be an artist and passionate he was in teaching us. Next to him Ji Suk Beak and Goran Petrinić (a Croatian artist and 1st gen) also talked about spiritual aspects of art in the context of the divine principle.
Supported by the town’s cultural center, we could spend time working with ceramics and forming our own cups, plates and imaginative figures out of clay. Ji Suk taught us how to perceive objects and paint with watercolor, while others could also learn how to bind their own sketchbook.