Gönül Sen-Menzel: “She Is Like a Volcano!”

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Paderborn. What do Don Quixote, a rapeseed field and a piece of burlap have in common? All of them can be found in some form at what is now the 13th Summer Academy.

Creativity is once again writ large at the Neuhaus palace this year. A total of 72 artists are showing their talents in six different seminars under the guidance of renowned lecturers.

“The World in 2050” is the overarching theme of the seminar “Poster Painting and Large-Format Painting” with Dr. Eugeniusz Skorwider. Each participant tries to develop their own visions of the future and to depict them through concrete art. The highly individual way of working makes it clear that each artist is given creative freedom.

Things are lively and humorous in Gönül Sen-Menzel’s seminar “Large-Format Painting”. Inspired by the palace atmosphere, the largest course, with 17 members, learns all about contemporary art. The popular lecturer and her students are keen to experiment: they paint in a modern, colorful and expressive way, true to the motto “we are art”.

Concentration is especially high in the seminar “Painting – Free Design” with Béatrice De Buysscher-Möller. She praised the creativity and aesthetics of her students, who work with every conceivable material and devote themselves entirely to rather abstract art.

In Inessa De Vor’s seminar, the students tackle the three areas of “Watercolor Painting” (landscapes, still lifes, and nudes and portraits). When it comes to color combinations, they take the great Emil Nolde as their model, since “color is the be-all and end-all of watercolor painting”. For the lecturer, “it is important that everyone finds their own style, their own signature.”

“Drawing” is taught by Prof. Frank Ruddigkeit. After initial basic studies, the participants are now able to draw in perspective. One of the focal points is figures in space.

There is a family atmosphere in the smallest seminar, “Small Sculptures”, with five artists, led by Petra Ellert. The skillful participants create sculptural figures from plaster, wire, wood and string. By now a Don Quixote, a fencer, a griffin and many other sculptures adorn the studio windowsill.

Everyone probably agrees that the participants will remember these two weeks as an enrichment. (ib/eo/vk)

Original caption: “She is like a volcano!” – that is how Gönül Sen-Menzel is described by her enthusiastic seminar participants. Her fiery temperament visibly rubs off on the whole group.