Creative family workshops coming up at Majestic State Gallery

A series of new family workshops and creative performances will take place this month at Nicosia’s Majestic State Gallery, bringing young ones closer to artistic expression. On Saturday afternoon, a contemporary dance performance and creative movement workshop for families will take place titled Where Two Lines Meet.

The 3pm event is designed for families with children aged between four and 11, drawing inspiration from visual elements in the gallery artworks, such as repeated lines, geometric shapes and symmetry.

During the event, families will have the opportunity to watch a contemporary dance performance, following which the children will take part in a creative movement workshop. The participants will embody the visual elements they have observed, explore movement through improvisations and create their own kinesiological composition. The event, led by choreographers and dance educators Zoe Georgalli and Melissa Garcia Carro, will unfold in three parts and will take place on the ground floor and the first level of the Gallery.

On the following weekends, February 11 and 18, an art educational programme for children aged five to 12 will take place, exploring the different ways a museum space can be discovered and how a painting is understood. Titled The Paintings Have Escaped and led by visual artist Lenia Georgiou in multi-sensory reading, the children will become acquainted with the State Gallery space and with the selected artworks from the permanent exhibition.

Children will move around and activate both their imagination and all of their senses. They will come across a variety of concepts and textures and through experimentation will create their own sensory paintings. Two workshops will take place on Saturday 11, at 11am and 3pm and on Saturday 18 at 3.30pm.

Another creative session for families will take place at the Gallery on the morning of Saturday 18 with educator Eleni Piripitsi. The Paintings Become 3-Dimensional is an educational programme for families with children between the ages of six and 10 that uses paper as the main material to create 3-dimensional works inspired by the art in the Gallery. Children and adults will be given colourful paper, cardboard and glue to explore and create something new.

Participants will discover collage techniques with the aim of the programme being to offer kids and grown-ups the opportunity to experiment with paper and discover its properties. They will cut, tear, fold and glue it, creating their own compositions with different forms, shapes and colours.

Where Two Lines Meet

Contemporary dance performance and creative movement workshop for families. February 4. Majestic State Gallery, Nicosia. 3pm-4.45pm. Tel: 22-458228

The Paintings Have Escaped

Children’s workshop with Lenia Georgiou. February 11 (11am and 3pm). February 18. 3.30pm. Majestic State Gallery, Nicosia. Tel: 22-458228

The Paintings Become 3-dimensional

Paper creations inspired by art in the Gallery. February 18. Majestic State Gallery, Nicosia. 10.30am. Tel: 22-458228