Gönül Sen-Menzel: Discharged Cured from the Picture Clinic

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Paderborn-Schloss Neuhaus. Over, done, finished. The Summer Academy 2008 is history. But the experiences and results of the twelve-day event outlast its end.

64 amateur artists successfully tried their hand at five disciplines, acquiring knowledge and finer points under the expert guidance of their course leaders in the areas of Art Construction Site, Painting for Advanced Students, Creative Photography, Sculptural Figure and Stone Casting, and Serigraphy/Screen Printing. The results of the well-attended courses could be viewed on Thursday on the palace grounds, where the interested public was given an insight into the skills of the busy amateur artists.

Reinhold Zühlke from Büren filled no fewer than three large canvases during the practical phase; the 59-year-old experienced being together with like-minded colleagues as “uplifting and inspiring”. “Painting in a group is better than working alone in a quiet room, especially since art is a kind of therapy in which you can let your inner self flow outward.” Therapy was also on the agenda in Gönül Sen-Menzel’s painting course for advanced students; she even set up a “picture clinic”. Works that needed improvement – in other words, that were sick – were analyzed and treated “until they were considered healthy”. Proportion, composition, rhythm, contrast and balance of the individual works were put to the test. By her own account, the Cologne art educator gave the 21 female participants “a new view” of their paintings, placing “breaking old habits and the courage to see things differently” at the center of her work.

There was also a lot of work for Wolfgang Brenner, head of the Serigraphy/Screen Printing section, as most of his group were newcomers who had to learn the technique from scratch. Nevertheless, Brenner was pleasantly surprised by the results: “The participants made great progress over the twelve days, some even worked overtime.” The visual artist described the diligent screen printers as very committed; they went through a development “that amazes even me”.

Remarkable in this context are the works of Wolfgang Stratmann from Himmighausen. The 59-year-old Beatles fan created a serigraph titled “Strawberry Fields” that resembles a comic-like collage. “I draw my influences from literature and music and from my own biography,” said Stratmann, who was taking part in the Summer Academy for the second time. “The result is a diary in art form, complemented by the photography skills I acquired in my first year.”

Original caption: Advanced painters: Heike Schnittker, Doris Langenbruch, Renate Köhler, Uschi Bracker, Gönül Sen-Menzel, Renate Temme, Christiane Vahle, Elisabeth Angermeier, Petra Wagener, Heidemarie Ritter, Gisela Blaha, Klara Maria Uhle and Birgit Voss (from left) with some of the works created.