Stanisława Wojda-Pytlińska graduated from the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Gdańsk (now the Academy of Fine Arts), specializing in preparation for art education. She worked at the Youth Cultural Centre and the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre. Today, she runs the “Academy of Art” art studio at BOK-MCC.
Her students’ works win top prizes at international competitions. The children’s paintings created under the artist’s guidance successfully compete with works by their peers from the European Union, India, Iran, Cuba, Kuwait, Brazil, Bangladesh, Armenia, Mexico and Japan.
One spectacular victory was the award given to seven-year-old Ida Paluszczyszyn at the 11th International Art Competition “Paul Klee – A Walk with Colour”. Ida’s work was selected from among 7,377 others submitted to the competition from 31 countries around the world.
Works by Ida and eight-year-old Joanna Ośko were also selected for the exhibition concluding the 16th International Competition of Children’s and Young People’s Visual Art “Always Green, Always Blue” (23,000 paintings and graphic works from 51 countries).
Joasia Ośko also received an honorary distinction at the 12th International Art Competition in Japan. The competition, devoted to environmental themes, received 18,738 works from around the world. Joasia was the only artist from Poland among those honoured.
I choose inspiring competitions
Stanisława Wojda-Pytlińska does not focus on winning, but on working with young artists. She admits that, knowing her students’ potential, she chooses prestigious competitions with interesting, thoughtful themes.
“We take part in competitions whose themes are inspiring,” says the instructor. “Children like challenges. When they win, I emphasize the individual winner’s work, but I also say that it is the success of the entire studio. The children form a team and influence one another. They inspire or encourage each other, and there is also an element of competition. A person who works persistently creates a piece they are completely satisfied with. Such works win.”
The artist is selective about art competitions. She chose to enter the international competition “Paul Klee – A Walk with Colour” for educational reasons. While working on the theme, the instructor can introduce information about colour, styles in art and a particular historical period.
“The next competition we want to enter will have a musical theme,” Wojda-Pytlińska says about her plans. “The subject is painting inspired by early music. I asked the children to listen to selected excerpts of classical works and brought materials about musical instruments to the classes. First, we gradually explore the subject, and then it is time to work,” she adds.
For neither the children nor the artist does it matter whether a competition is international or nationwide. What matters most is that it fires the imagination and teaches. “The Youth Cultural Centre in Wrocław organizes very interesting competitions, which we also enter,” says Wojda-Pytlińska. “The themes are exceptional, such as ‘Long Live Colour’ or ‘Long Live the Line’. That is a real challenge for the imagination and practical skills.”
Self-awareness and partnership
Children who are fortunate enough to come under Stanisława Wojda-Pytlińska’s guidance are treated with respect for their skills, sensitivity and creative pursuits. No bad work comes out of the artist’s studio. Once a young artist has completed a work, they are certain that they have done it well and beautifully. It is a great pedagogical skill to build in a young person a sense of their own artistic value—one based on skilfully expressing themselves through learned techniques and acquired knowledge.
“I approach a child as I would another artist,” says Wojda-Pytlińska. “And I talk to them as I would to an artist. Children have extraordinary imaginations and an appetite for creating worlds. At the first meeting, if a child wants to paint, I give them a simple subject. I ask them to paint a portrait of their mother. I often hear: ‘I can’t do it,’ so I explain that it is simple, that every portrait consists of a head, eyes, ears, lips, a nose… The child quickly grasps this and begins to paint. During the classes, I walk among the students and talk with them about colour, contrast and composition. These are classes with professionals, even though the masters are only a few years old,” the instructor smiles.
Adult students and a way of life
Hundreds of Bolesławiec residents have taken part in Stanisława Wojda-Pytlińska’s workshops. The artist does not want to list names, so as not to offend or overlook anyone. “It is an army of people I taught,” she says. “They get in touch, visit; I follow some of their creative work with pleasure. They are painters, architects, decorators and photographers, but also people who do not create works for galleries, although beauty accompanies them in everyday life—in their clothing, the way they move and their choice of entertainment. Young people should be raised so that they can appreciate art and feel its absence in their lives.”
Among the well-known Bolesławiec residents who attended Stanisława Wojda-Pytlińska’s classes, photographer Janusz Moniatowicz, sculptor Czesław Matyjewicz, designer Katarzyna Hałas and painter Zbigniew Zieliński certainly deserve mention.
“Among my students is a man whose surname I will not mention, who fell so deeply in love with painting that, despite graduating from a military academy, he later passed the entrance examination for the Academy of Fine Arts,” the artist recounts. “Through my own creative work, I want as many people as possible to want to surround themselves with art—to visit exhibitions, see beautiful places and create their own worlds according to aesthetic principles. A child leaves my classes with the feeling that they have done something worthwhile, that they succeeded in creating a beautiful work. Later, it is easier for such people to create beautiful lives.”
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)