57^th CHILDREN’S OCTOBER SALON

Authors of the catalog and exhibition: Milica Cukić, museum advisor and Lea Zei, art teacher

Organizer: The Museum of Applied Art

“Journeys, ah those journeys” is the slogan under which the 57^th Children’s October Salon of the Museum of Applied Art is being held from 1 to 29 October 2022.

The Children’s October Salon event consists of an exhibition and an accompanying workshop and educational program. The exhibits have been meticulously selected and prizes are to be presented to both children and teachers. The Association of Fine and Applied Artists and Designers of Serbia (ULUPUDS) is to present two awards: one for the finest children’s work in the field of applied art and another one for the teacher who has brought applied art closer to children in the most creative way.

This year, 98 establishments, including pre-schools, elementary schools, studios and art workshops have applied for the public art competition announced by the Museum and according to the competition’s propositions, children aged 4 to 14 years have contributed.

The jury, consisting of Marija Labudović, assistant professor at the Department of Textiles, Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, and Lea Zei, museum art pedagogue and teacher, has selected around 600 works for the exhibition.

It seems that this year there was an equal participation of two- and three-dimensional works of applied art. The most common motif is sailing vessels or sailing and pirate ships, which undoubtedly ignite the imagination and are associated with long journeys. There are also themes from ancient Egypt, including two mummies. Various landscapes have inspired the children to travel, namely: maritime, rural, highland (with cable cars), safaris, but also city settings, especially those with well-known toponyms such as the Eiffel Tower or the Moscow-based Saint Basil’s Cathedral.

Once again this fall, we are preparing a special workshop program in which children will be taken on inspired journeys, above all by artists and other experts. The special guest from abroad will be the Jordanian painter Suheil Baqaeen. Mr Suheil is a brilliant painter who in 2011 came up with the extraordinary idea of ​​adding diverse scents to artist paints and thus, by binding each color to a certain smell, to enable children who are blind or visually impaired to paint on their own and thus prevail over the darkness in which they live. This artist will share his singular experience in working with the visually impaired pupils attending Dragan Kovačević ES at the workshop of the 57^th Children’s October Salon.

57^th Children’s October Salon – Journeys, ah those journeys