Education

silent healing of art

Expressive Arts Education for All

VISION

Engaging both adults and children in real-life conscious artistic and design processes is a powerful way to cultivate an open, joyful, and multifaceted perception of reality. True artistic education teaches us not only to acquire new practical skills and to compose forms, but to reflect meaning, to manifest our visions and to respond creatively to challenges of life. As we learn to feel, to express, to understand hidden narratives of the world, and to let go, as our minds start to serve our hearts, we are ready to surrender to the energy of creation itself. Artistic interdisciplinary literacy is an embodied practice. It brings a recognition of true beauty and mysterious interconnectedness of objects, beings, concepts, and things. It fosters a higher intelligence across multiple dimensions simultaneously – physical and emotional, intellectual and intuitive, transpersonal and spiritual, individual and collective. Working integrally on the edge of creative practices – through architecture, visual arts, poetry, movement, sound, photography or film – Mauna's goal is to touch the creative essence, the living force of creation itself, that blissfully rests at the source of human nature. I am currently developing a new educational framework based on the multimodal essence of the Expressive Arts, as part of my PhD research at the European Graduate School.

ARCHITECTURE AND ARTS FROM THE EARLY AGE

So far, having focused primarily on architecture and arts education for children and youth, I started to observe undeniable change in our students from 4 to 16 years old – weekly engagement in design, building and artistic work fostered greater confidence, focus, passionate engagement, cooperation and motivation. This observation was grounded in Young Architects Society – architecture and design school for children and youth, based in Saint-Petersburg – that I co-founded (and directed in 2013-2020) with dear friends, architects, educators and artists. Through all challenges and changes of the method, our sole purpose has been to continuously support the liberation of the creative expression of each child and each educator. As architects, we have been interested in exploring the qualities of playful, lively and interactive public spaces, and the possibilities of participatory design that incorporates children – true professionals in play. As educators, we have been motivated to investigate actual educational and psychological benefits for children who are involved in an artistic and built-environment education from an early age.

METHODOLOGY

Methodologically, Young Architects Society focuses on active learning techniques and design-based hands-on learning approach. Through studio work, collaborations, performance, play, participatory design and construction processes, mentors (all practicing artists, architects and designers) create a safe engaging environment that motivates children to explore, experiment, design and complete projects. Narrative is at the core of our qualitative research. We regularly gather and analyse interviews, field-notes, spoken and written observations of students, parents, and professionals. Believing in the power of education, we never stop learning, building valuable personal and creative relationships, and evaluating our impact.

PLAY

Play is not about simplicity, but about interaction and communication between people, objects, spaces, visible and invisible forces. It is a spontaneous experiential process at the source of every artistic expression – whether it is a drawing, a model, a dance or a game. Once, we created an exhibition called "Play" presenting children's architectural and artistic work, aiming to celebrate education and craftsmanship, merging traditional exhibition space with playful interactive landscape for both children and adults. Visitors explored the exposition through creative engagement, tangible interaction and play.

I

"Play": Young Architects Society Annual Exhibition, 2019

Saint Petersburg, Russia | 2019

II

Studio work

Young Architects Society, Saint Petersburg, Russia | 2015-2019

Semester-long studios and single workshops in design and architecture:
inventing, building, drawing, filming, collaborating, exploring concepts, experimenting with materials and techniques

III

Participatory design and story-telling: Octopus Kraken

Sevkabel Port, Saint Petersburg, Russia | 2019

Octopus "Kraken", a mythological creature, arrived to the shores of Saint Petersburg through the cold waters of Finnish Gulf and invited children and their parents to create his new home.

IV

Participatory design: Festival Arch Dacha

lake Otradnoe, Saint Petersburg region, Russia | 2016–2018

Leading a festival while exploring design–based education and advantages of collective design of public spaces, we discovered explicit outcomes: children are actively engaged in learning and environmental-awareness; professionals find new perspectives on design; construction process is very efficient; built spaces promote social interaction and generate an emotional response from its users.
Read full research