With the support of the Dynastic Orders of the Royal House of Savoy, through AICODS, the activities of Mus-E in Italy are continuing successfully: the charity aims to combat child educational poverty, particularly in the suburbs of our cities, through a series of artistic and creative workshops in schools. The initiative lives on thanks to HRH the Prince of Piedmont and Venice, Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, who has the difficulties and problems of children at heart.
Fantastic Animals: Creativity spreads its wings! is a Mus-E project to express emotions through art and talk about hope, courage, happiness and fear.
Animali Fantastici : la creatività mette le ali! è un progetto Mus-E per raccontare le emozioni attraverso l’arte, per parlare di speranza, coraggio, felicità e paura.
The source of inspiration for the artwork are mythological tales, local legends and heraldic shields with their symbolic animals. Through words and drawings, the boys and girls are taken on a journey into the past and present, discovering stories and images that emerge from the walls of buildings or from paintings or history and literature books.
Under the guidance of the artists and teachers, the children tell us a new story made up of unexpected combinations. The end results will be extremely varied: artist’s books and silent books, art exhibitions and dance, music and theatre performances.
The project is involving more than 150 children every day, thanks to the long-standing support of our Dames and Knights.
From Medieval Bestiaries to the Harry Potter saga, this is a world made up of fantastic creatures with a bizarre look and magical powers. Most of the mythological creatures with a thousand shapes look disturbing and gruesome. We find them in Greek and Roman legends, but also in those of Nordic and Asian cultures. We encounter Sirens, the Minotaur, we get to know the Centaurs, the Harpies and the Faun.
In the 4th year class at the Salvadori school in Fermo, the children created their own fantastic animals, giving them special powers and identifying their weaknesses and strengths. Soon they will also have a name and a talisman to assert their belonging to the world of fantasy.
In Verona, in the 4th year class at the Forti primary school, the children let their imagination run wild and created some fundamental items for every traveller: passports and maps. The passports contain, in addition to the self-portrait “photo”, an acetate sheet, which transforms them in a few moments into the animal that everyone has chosen as their alter-ego. The maps were made from large sheets of paper painted collectively, and became the pretext for telling about faraway and exotic places, populated by imaginary creatures whose features were illustrated and narrated by each child. These illustrations will later be collected in an “encyclopaedia” of animals. Each session is made special by a warm-up phase that serves to stir the children’s imagination, with the reading of an illustrated book whose protagonists are the imaginary animals and faraway places.
In the 3rd year class of section M of the G. Falcone school in Copertino, part of the Don Bosco primary school, these fantastic animals helped the children explore their emotions and fears: thanks to courage and self-confidence, many hurdles can be overcome by using “our hidden powers” that make us unique and special. Drawing inspiration from heraldic shields from the area, the children chose their own fantasy animal and made it unique. This will be the shield they use to face every emotion.
In the 3rd year class of the Gandhi Comprehensive School in Rome, the children are working on building a fairy tale and this process goes hand in hand with teaching. Teachers and artists are working together to develop a common learning path.
In the 3rd year class, section A of the Gualandi school in Bologna, the children are surprised with unexpected new things: after creating their own animal, their artwork is cut out and the parts are mixed up to create new fantastic animals made from the parts created by their classmates. This helps them overcome stereotypes and break down the barriers that may exist between children who are not used to expressing themselves with colours and who tend to hide their creations while others finish their work quickly because they are more used to creating images.
In the 2nd year class, section D, of the Perotti primary school in Turin, drawings came to life in a wondrous dance (you can watch it by clicking here), starting from everyday topics, such as the neighbourhood we live in, through mythological creatures and different cultures.
In Milan, the adventure has just begun in 5th year class, section A of the Manara school, and the children are preparing to be surprised by observing and marvelling at the wonder offered by these fantastic animals to everyone who knows them closely and is carried away by their imagination.
The seven Mus-e classes are carrying out their activities thanks to the enduring support of the Dynastic Orders of the Royal House of Savoy, through AICODS, and are engaged in an incredible journey that keeps them involved by gradually discovering new points of view and stimulating new forms of artistic and emotional expression.
