Take a look
Józef Brandt Art School Complex in Radom
The idea behind the concept is to work together and promote pro-environmental thinking through artistic interdisciplinary activity. The vast spectrum of arts exercised through the project is represented by the paintings of the project leader, teacher and artist Edyta Jaworska-Kowalska, graphic arts, sculpture and textiles.
The project is an artistic manifestation aimed predominantly at drawing the viewers’ attention to “zero waste” activities at both a national and international level. The main means of expression and artistic thought is interdisciplinary action ranging from painting to textiles using recycled materials. The variety of tools with which the students have become familiar through the project is an innovative endeavour that goes beyond the school core curriculum. The students were able to develop competences related to the management of an artistic project, which requires a unique blend of knowledge, craftsmanship and skills. The common goal became the basis for a special concern for ecology and the natural environment.
The project comprised: a lecture on ecology and the “zero waste” approach, which was meant to provoke reflection on the relationship between man and nature; the design of the project’s logo and “Take a look” labels, plus the formulation of a manifesto in Polish and English; mobile stickers promoting the performance designed from recycled materials; and the final presentation of the works held at the Centre for Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, the Radom City Centre – Antonio Corazzi Square, the Communal Cultural Centre and Library in Wolanów, the Józef Brandt Fine Arts School Complex in Radom, the Załuski Municipal Library in Salem - Germany, Brussels/Etterbeek - Belgium.
In September 2022, a meeting was organised to inform participants about the project’s underlying idea. Lectures on art, ecology and zero waste were scheduled. In October and November, the project team prepared preliminary sketches and designs around the theme “Man and Nature”. A stencil with the Starak Family Foundation logo was also made. In December, the project logo was selected.
Once the sketches were approved, the project participants proceeded to make large-format stickers, as well as linocuts featuring the Starak Family Foundation logo and the project logo; they also wrote the motto in Polish and English. From May, selected works were displayed in public spaces, and on 15 June, the school’s gallery “Contrast” hosted the final of the “Take a look” project - an exhibition of sketchbooks, artifacts and photo-reportage.
The aim of the project was to engage the local and international communities in the artistic activities of young people, which are a reaction to the lack of, or negligible, adults’ concern for complex issues of ecology - consumer responsibility, interpersonal relations, or the reception of a broadly understood concept of art. The starting point is the humanitarian and ethical goal behind ecology and a zero waste lifestyle, and the motto is a text by Katarzyna Marta Wiśniewska:
(...) Naturally: the possibility of an island
The second decade of the 21st century. The sixth mass extinction of species is underway. It is accelerating. In the past century more than 500 species of terrestrial vertebrates irretrievably disappeared off the face of the earth, with many more approaching the brink of extinction (including 74 species of mammals, 335 species of birds, 41 species of reptiles and 65 amphibians); scientists estimate that just as many species will become extinct in the next two decades.
Coral reefs, mangroves, jungles and deserts depend on the species that inhabit them. Ecosystems are becoming unstable. Man is expanding, pushing the environment to the edge, destroying, clearing, draining, flooding, trading, urbanising, dethroning, exterminating. He is sawing off the branch he is sitting on, but the only thing he sees is prospect of harvesting another portion of timber. (...) Extract from the introduction to the catalogue by Katarzyna Marta Wiśniewska.
On 15 June, a ceremony was held to conclude the “Take a look” project - sketchbooks, packages (stickers, mottos, logos) and photo-reportage were showcased in the school gallery, Elżbieta Staniszewska, PhD gave a lecture, and works of the teachers involved in the project were displayed.
Edyta Jaworska-Kowalska – project scheduler and painter; in 2002 she graduated with honours from the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, majoring in easel painting. In 2001-2002, she studied in Italy under an artistic scholarship awarded by the University Council. She has received a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and has won numerous competitions. She currently lives and works in Radom. She has displayed her paintings in a number of national and international exhibitions, including in Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, the USA, Belgium, France, Canada, the UK and Italy.
