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In this edition, we are continuing with our feature introducing pedagogical support, which is an important driving force for future generations. Today we would like to introduce you to the teacher Erik Michalčík, who teaches at ŠUP Hlohovec.

Erik mainly teaches theoretical art subjects such as the history of visual culture and contemporary art. Paradoxically, he has actually returned to the school where he previously studied promotional graphic design. Later, he also studied pedagogy of fine arts at Trnava University.
He has known “Gut” for some time, because his colleagues had been taking part in this competition for several years. The motivation to get involved in the platform Do You Have an Artistic Gut? arose in 2022, when students from his class entered together with a colleague and made it to the final, to the selection of works that were exhibited at the SNG, which made him very proud as their class teacher. Already then, a group of students from Erik’s class wrote in the visitors’ book “see you in a year,” which they also managed to achieve together with the theme Network! At present, “Gut” is actually continuing in the same way as in previous years. They tell the students about it at school, and they also attended the opening of the most recent edition. So they have passed the baton on to the younger ones. Erik considers this year’s theme Share to be excellent and very current. He feels that it is “important in today’s society to share more with one another. The question is what and how, but that is also why it is a topic that is open and interesting. And for the ‘artistic gut’ it is quite essential, since in a team you always work with sharing ideas and things that often need to be adjusted with regard to the other people in the team. In our own creative process, we shared hours of time spent on online calls, where, after so many hours, things unrelated to art and the work also began to enter into the sharing. In the end, however, it created a better team and actually a better work as well,” Erik assesses.

We thank Erik for the interview and look forward to the projects from ŠUP in Hlohovec!

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We also see the importance of pedagogical work in the current social situation. That is why, through the educational platform Do You Have an Artistic Gut? we try to introduce outstanding male and female teachers who support diversity in the way their students view the world, for example also by taking part in an art competition. Today we would like to introduce you to the teacher Paula Maliňáková, whose teams take part every year and are part of the final exhibitions.

Paula teaches at the secondary art school in Prešov, teaching subjects focused on the beginnings of creative work, from the first lines, through means of expression, to final works and practice. In Spišské Podhradie, she also works at an elementary art school, which allows greater freedom in focus, choice of techniques and themes. She tries to use her time effectively so that she can devote herself fully to art and be in contact with people who want to be artistically active and at the same time be able to pass something on to them. She became involved in the study of art already in childhood; Paula even dates the exact moment when The Lion King visually enchanted her so much that she created several drawings. She began to devote herself to pedagogy by studying at a secondary pedagogical school, where she focused specifically on the fine arts field. At the same time, she attended art classes at an elementary art school. At university, the decision fell on art studies and history, as she considered these fields to be related. At one point she even traveled to Spain in the footsteps of the painter Goya. She completed supplementary pedagogical studies while already working as a teacher. Paula continues to try to develop her education, because she sees it as an important process that never ends.

She takes part in the competition Do You Have Artistic Guts? every year. She sees the competition as a very interesting platform for interaction between the contestants and the jury. The first year of the competition was won by a team from Spišská Nová Ves, which at the time she only followed from afar and only joined in later. The initial motivation was hers, but on the other hand, the students fondly remember the competition and this name comes up several times over the course of a year. “Right after the competition, the kids ask me whether we’ll enter again the following year. Understandably, whenever I involve new teams that have not yet experienced this competition, they are full of expectation and don’t know what they’re getting into, which on the one hand is sometimes a good thing,” Paula comments with a smile. Thanks to taking part, she sees the positive impact participation has on strengthening relationships within the group, the opportunity for constructive criticism, as well as gaining presentation experience and accepting different opinions.
Paula sees the theme Network as similarly challenging to last year’s theme – Food. “Both are demanding in ensuring that the idea is not obvious, but authentic. With the word network, there are certain areas that come to mind immediately, and those are precisely the ones we did not want to deal with. At the same time, it is an art to present the same things in a different way or to look at them from another angle. That is why, with this year’s theme, we sometimes really got tangled up, even over-tangled, and searched for the right starting points. To be honest, it is not always that simple, and sometimes there are and were days when the direction was not clear and I tried to motivate the teams with various inspirations from the art world, conversations, and so on – in short, we were networking,” she explains the creative process. “The theme Network offered many directions, but also detours that sometimes led the mind in the wrong direction or seemed unclear and confusing. I think that the theme was nevertheless inspiring, because the students looked at it through fiction, life opportunities, and narrative identities – life stories, and in doing so they created truly diverse networks. This was followed by many conversations, expressions of attitudes, observations, and visualizations, which ultimately led the individual teams to creation. The most difficult task sometimes, with beginning teams, is to be able to process failure as well, and sometimes it takes a certain amount of time to understand that the time devoted to the project was not wasted, but enriching. That, too, is what pedagogical work itself is about,” Paula adds in conclusion.

We thank Paula for an immersion into the world of a teacher and team leader of Guts teams. You will see several projects under her guidance at the exhibition at the SNG from May 2!

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In the second half of the school year, we are also bringing you an inspiring interview with secondary school teacher Barbora Kaľavská, whom we know well from the context of the Do You Have Artistic Guts? competition! 

Barbora teaches at Gymnázium Metodova in Bratislava the subjects Art and Culture, History, and Ethics, currently as many as 18 classes! She came to teaching, unexpectedly, by studying teacher training in History and Aesthetics at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University, but she has also completed one semester of Art History in Trnava. She could not decide at the time…  Her relationship with art grew gradually. “I had been drawn to art since childhood; I attended a primary art school for art classes and violin, and leisure centers for various clubs, e.g. ceramics, and we also created a lot at home. It felt natural to orient my studies in this direction.” During university, Barbora also worked part-time as a lecturer at the SNG, as well as at the SNM, in the department of gallery or museum education. “From a practical, professional, and especially human point of view, it gave me a great deal. Somewhere there, the desire was born in me to lead others toward art or knowledge. (Greetings to Evka and Marcela.) And at the same time, it confirmed my vocation as a teacher,” which makes us very happy, because Barbora’s teams often make it to the finals.

Barbora takes part in the Do You Have Artistic Guts? competition every year. She is driven by inner motivation, because she feels that most subjects taught in schools have their established competitions and Olympiads, but creativity is somehow forgotten. “The Do You Have Artistic Guts? competition is perhaps the only larger, meaningful art competition for secondary school students that has a well-thought-out system of work as well as a schedule. You do a great number of activities around the competition, which is a great thing. External motivation usually also comes from me, but a few times it has happened that the students themselves came to me saying they would like to enter. If I see creative potential in them, I approach them personally,” Barbora explains. That is why last year we decided to recognize her efforts with a special award for pedagogical support

In addition, we were curious about how Barbora perceives this year’s theme, Network, and whether it is sufficiently inspiring for her teams as well. “I admit, I wasn’t at the methodology meeting for this year’s theme, which I regret, because the theme Network is one of the more difficult ones to grasp. But I believe the students will pleasantly surprise me at the semifinal!” We are looking forward to that too! The semifinal is just around the corner.

We thank Barbora for the interview and wish her good luck in the competition!

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Support from teachers can have a great impact on young people. That is why we continue introducing female and male teachers. Today, the inspiring teacher and artist Marianna Mlynárčiková!

We have known Marianna for several years now, because her teams surprise us every year in the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? competition with interesting ideas. Marianna works at the Secondary Vocational School of Information Technology, where she teaches the fundamentals of drawing, which can help with “thinking” or initially capturing ideas. She tries to show pupils how to combine the analogue and digital worlds. In addition, she also teaches the subject of image and text processing, which involves designing and working with a computer in creating packaging design and the graphic design of a book. She also supervises fourth-year students during their professional practice, who
are working on their graduation topic.

Marianna studied teaching philosophy and art education, as well as fine art, in the field of (classical) printmaking. However, she was most influenced by meeting Anča Daučíková in Vladimír Popovič’s KR.E.S.BA studio, which was more multimedia- and conceptually oriented; there she worked with photography, video and installation. Life led her to teaching, because on the one hand she likes teaching and considers it a meaningful profession, but then there is also the economic reality and the problem that it is difficult in our environment to make a living from fine art alone.

This is not her first time taking part in the competition; every year she reaches out to students and supports their motivation through joint discussions, experimentation in creating work on the assigned theme, and overcoming established patterns of thinking and understanding of what art is, or what it should be. “I am happy when they are curious; I like it when they surprise me and move projects into other areas. When we inspire one another. What I greatly appreciate about this competition is that it provides participants with professional feedback, and also that they have the opportunity to experience all phases from concept proposals, through project presentation, to the final installation in a real exhibition space. It is an invaluable experience for them, as several participants from previous years have confirmed to me. So thank you for this opportunity, and I recommend everyone to get involved,” says Marianna. 

Thank you for the short interview, and we look forward to meeting you, since Marianna has not disappointed this year either, and we have already registered two applications. 

Motivate your students too! You can find the application form here.

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We bring you another of our interviews with teacher support. This time we decided to approach the teacher who led last year’s team to victory in the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? competition: Katarína Jahnová!

Katarína works at SZUŠ Ateliér Médea in Nitra, where she focuses on the visual arts department. With her female and male students, she goes through all the basic forms of artistic expression, such as drawing, painting, printmaking, modelling and their overlaps. Katarína studied painting at VŠVU in Bratislava; she came to teaching, or working with children and people who like to create, naturally, “it is like sharing my experience with similar people,” she adds. She entered the competition again this year because “after the excellent experience from last year, it was obvious.” Which we greatly appreciate!

Katarína describes the process of taking part in the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? competition as an experience, because she likes going through the whole process, including webinars, consultations, and working with pupils. „Seeing their way of thinking, and at the same time trying to guide them sensitively, to think and see the project differently, was adventurous and fun. So I would wish it for everyone who is even slightly considering taking part.“ If you are still hesitating, we will broadcast the semifinal live on our YouTube channel, so you can take a look and see for yourselves.

Katarína also added her works on the theme of food to the interview, and we thank her for the interview and wish her good luck in the competition!

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Being a teacher today is very challenging. That is why we feel it is important to appreciate their uniqueness.
Today we would like to introduce you to Tomáš Picha, who is a teacher at the Tokajícka Combined School, where he teaches specialized subjects such as artistic practice, video production, and the history of visual culture. In addition, he is also the class teacher for the advertising design department.

Tomáš first “got a taste” of art in secondary school, then continued in the Studio of Contemporary Painting at the Faculty of Arts in Košice and the Department of Fine Arts and Intermedia. He therefore sees the intermedia overlaps that are a central element of the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? competition as very close to him personally. He got into teaching by completing supplementary pedagogical studies, but at that time he did not yet know exactly what he would do after school; he saw it as a certain asset for the future. After several positions in culture, the private sector, and at a private primary art school, however, he realized that teaching was exactly what he wanted to continue doing.

He entered the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? competition with a team in its first year, and they advanced to the final. Later entries also produced several finalists; most recently, Tomáš’s team placed 3rd in the Butterfly effect year. And what is more, he also has an artistic gut – alongside his work, he devotes himself to independent art practice and presenting it not only in Slovakia, but also around the world.

He does not think that entering from an art school is an advantage, because at the beginning it is difficult to guide the team’s thinking and reflection on the assigned topic in such a way that, to a certain extent, they detach themselves from the established applied work they deal with as part of their studies. It takes them some time before they start trying to approach the topic more conceptually, interactively, and intermedially, using all available means. Since they do not yet have sufficient experience with independent art practice, Tomáš tries to convey to them relevant examples from art history related to the topic and, through brainstorming, to make them think and look at the issue from a completely different angle.

He sees taking part in the competition very positively. „Each time, I incorporated the themes of the individual years into the time-and-topic plans of the subjects in which the students worked on them. It was therefore a welcome enrichment of the teaching content, and at the same time all the necessary standards were met, so the pupils had the opportunity to learn and find out more about the given topic than under normal circumstances. I definitely recommend that other colleagues also try to involve their students in this competition and offer them the opportunity to grow creatively and gain experience through group work, sharing thoughts and ideas.“

We thank Tomáš for the interview, and since we have extended the registration period for the competition, we are still hoping for some last-minute entries!

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In addition to artists, we have decided to bring you interviews with teachers who repeatedly enter the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? competition with their teams!

Today we would like to introduce you to Jana Gamcová, who works at the Private School of Applied Arts in Zvolen. She teaches photographic design, design, the basics of photography, figure drawing and computer graphics. Her current work is a reflection of her university studies – a teacher-training program focused on art education. For a long time, however, she worked as a gallery educator, and she also knew the project Do You Have an Artistic Gut? from the other side – as a co-organizer.

Jana sees participation in the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? competition as a space to free students from well-worn tracks, which move within certain limits set by the field they study and the related subjects. They gain a new experience of thinking more conceptually and freely, going beyond the range of possibilities that are usually offered to them, and accepting that the creative process is just as important as the result they gradually arrive at. She tries to guide them to open up to the opinions of others and accept them as inspiration and enrichment. And finally, to give them the courage to present their work in an unfamiliar environment, in front of strangers. What she values very much in her teams is that they overcome themselves.

Her teams take part in the competition regularly. Jana feels that the competition offers the kids a different form of cooperation. Even though the theme is given, everyone can find, within that spectrum of possibilities, the position they enjoy most. Also, no one is there “on their own”; they work as a team. Jana assesses participation in the competition very positively: “Personally, I really like the format of this competition because it is not a finished work that is submitted, but a project that develops and takes shape over time, while other possibilities are gradually sought. Another advantage is the opportunity to consult projects with gallery educators and take part in workshops, which also offers them a different view and the chance to see the problem from another perspective. The time spent together in a small circle also gives us the opportunity to get to know each other better and build a relationship. And in the end, of course, the reward for the work is seeing one’s own creation installed with dignity in a gallery environment. Thank you for giving them the opportunity to realize themselves in this way and to mature into women artists and men artists.”

We thank Janka for the interview and we are curious to see whether she will take part with a team again this year!

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We have decided to also bring you interviews with teachers whom we have met thanks to the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? project. One of the first we would like to introduce to you is Jakub Michel from the Secondary School of Applied Arts for Stage Design, where he teaches all subjects related to photography: practice, technology and the history of photography, as well as the history of visual culture.

Jakub studied design, which is how he got into photography and art history, and somehow it stayed with him. Already at school he enjoyed consulting with his classmates on their outputs, and when his studies were ending, he was a little sorry that much of what he had learned would remain unused, so he began to think about teaching. Although the truth is that what really pushed him into teaching was the reality of life as a freelancer and the need for stability in life. But he absolutely does not regret it; according to him, teaching is the best thing.

In addition to teaching, he is also actively involved in creative work (he has an artistic gut!), though he describes his path as very thorny – “endless drill and the disgust tied to it.” But after a while it passes and the disgust is replaced by the desire to express himself again and say something. That is precisely why he continues; it comes naturally to him.

This is not the first time he has entered the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? competition with a team of students. 

He learned about the competition from colleagues when he joined the school. He offered his students the opportunity to take part in the competition, and they themselves came to him saying that they wanted to participate and that they already had a topic, which excited Jakub because they wanted to work with their own experiences.

Jakub considers the Do You Have an Artistic Gut? competition absolutely unique. “The fact that students work on a project over a long period of time and are not bound to any medium really broadens their horizons and shows them what real art can look like. That it is absolutely not about painting or other techniques, but about creating something that makes sense.” (We did not pay Jakub anything for this praise! Honest.)

Taking part in an art competition sounds like the domain of art schools, but several editions have shown that this is not the case. Jakub sees it as an interesting phenomenon, which in his opinion is related to the fact that at art schools, children in a given field are usually taught about the medium. Fortunately, he does not have this problem. Photography can handle a lot, and if the kids come up with something outside his field too, then why not. What matters more anyway is what it is about.

Jakub sees participation in the competition within the teaching process as very beneficial, because it is an excellent opportunity to broaden children’s horizons within contemporary art. They have the chance to meet women and men artists and to get to know the opinions of experts. “Fantastic.”

We thank Jakub for the interview and look forward to his teams’ projects!