· About Barbara Guttman

  " Have big dreams! Do 
    not have small dreams. 
    Small dreams do not come 
    true. Only big dreams come
    true. "               (Monique Block)

   When I started my school in spring 2011 I had a vision: to make my school a place where learning art is a fun and a meaningful activity. I wanted it to be a school that will be different, because in it people would simplly be comfortable enough to be themselves and where I could use the teaching methods (fruit of my doctorate research) to help students grow and bloom and learn with ease. And finally I wanted my place to be a place to learn and grow myself, as this is something I enjoy a lot and something that gives meaning to my life.

Barbara installing Kaddish for Michel
at Art Laguna Prize exhibition in
Venice, Italy, March 2014

    My doctorate research was in the topics of art education and nonviolent communication (NVC), and I guess it came naturally that my school would be based on NVC principles, too. NVC helped me learn how to facilitate groups in a way that need of each person matter and it gave me more tools to connect compassionately to others, to understad them deeper and to express myself honestly with more ease. I  noticed that if I contributed to a genuine, trusting and compassionate relation with my students they were able to progress faster, their creativity would flow smooth, creative blocks would melt and they enjoyed the lessons more. I have always believed that learning art can be a fun and meaningful activity, but NVC provided me with the tool  to do it. I also leared how to create a lesson atmospherewhere everyone (including me) feels comfortable and motivated and it now helps my lessons be fun not only for my students but for me as well.
(to learn more about NVC please go to this post or to http://www.cnvc.org) 

      About my training in arts

Barbara Guttman: The Milkmaid, 
video installation, 2005

   I feel grateful that my artistic training took place in several countries: Hungary, Serbia, Germany, Israel and Finland,  where I could experience a diversity of approaches to art making. I learned in schools with  more traditional approaches, where one needed to draw and paint from life and where acquiring classical drawing and painting skills and techniques was the main  goal. Beside this, I also learned in schools with a postmodern approach,  where materials and techniques taught were meant to serve ideas and self expression.  But it was only during my doctorate studies in Fine Arts here in Hungary, that I was finally able to blend the knowledge and experience I gained in these two, seemingly opposing educational systems, and apply it to my personal art work. Traditional painting and drawing skills gave me self esteem,  a solid base for drawing and painting from life and it deepened my visual sensitivity. On the other hand, the postmodern one helped me understand how much broader  visual expression can be.  It encouraged me to start using different, non-conventional materials and it gave me understanding about how contemporary art is made.

Barbara Guttman: Kaddish for Michael
installation 2013-2014

·See my portfolio

·See some more works of mine (  in Hun.)

·Read my CV

 Read my doctoral thesis: "The Change of Power Paradigm in Art Education, Art Education and Nonviolent Communication"

Read my abstract of the lecure: Understanding Difficulties in Learning to Draw, Visual Expression and Visual Learning Seen From the Perspective of Nonviolent Communication


Teaching experience:
from 2014 - Painting and Drawing, Contemporry Art,  Representation of space, Creative planning courses, University of Pécs, Faculty of Music and Visual Arts, Institute of Media and Applied Arts, Pécs, Hungary

from  2011 -  all courses at Art School in Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

2008 - 2009 Creative Art (in English language), Secondary School for Fine and Applied Arts, Budapest, Hungary

2007           Introduction to Contemporary Arts, Visual Arts Department, Dar al-Kallima College,  College,          Bethlehem, Palestine
                   Papermaking,   Dar Annadwa, International Center Bethlechem,  Bethlehem, Palestine

2006 - 2009 Drawing, painting, art history, Art High School , Nyiregyháza, Hungary

2006            Papermaking workshop, Center for Visual Culture, Sibenik, Croatia

2005            Painting technology, University of Pécs, Faculty of Music and Visual Arts, Pécs, Hungary

                   Experimental drawing and painting ,  University of Pécs, Faculty of Music and Visual Arts, Pécs, Hungary

2004             Painting, Oulu Polytechinc, Department of Media, Oulu, Finland

                      Papermaking, University of Pécs, Faculty of Music and Visual Arts, Pécs, Hungary

2000 – 2002  English language, Helen Doron method, Jerusalem, Israel
2000                Oil painting course, Dar Annadwa, International Center Bethlechem, Bethlehem, Palestine

1998 – 1999  Papermaking assistant,   Bezalel, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Jerusalem, Israel