My Story

A participatory art project for children and young people

The cultural education course "My Story" has been taking place weekly at the Künstlerhaus since 2015.
In addition to art education, the focus is on deepening the linguistic and cultural knowledge of the constantly participating children with a migration background. Many children come from educationally deprived to illiterate homes and have little or no participation in communities in our society apart from school.

In 2018, "My Story" was awarded the "Dortmunder Löwe" sponsorship prize along with nine other projects by the jury of the Lions Club Dortmund-Rothe Erde headed by Mayor Birgit Jörder. In addition, Linda Opgen-Rhein was invited by the Department for Children and Youth to present her concept as one of several Dortmund examples at a two-day symposium of the Weimar initiative "Gutes Aufwachsen im Revier".

"My Story" has been cooperating with Lessing Primary School in Gneisenaustraße / Dortmund since 2019.
Head teacher Stephanie Kreutzkamp is keen to continue the cooperation in the future and says: "Our school is located in a district with special challenges. Outside of school, the children hardly know their neighbourhood, and joint family activities usually take place rather rarely. The cooperation with the Künstlerhaus offers the children the opportunity to build up trust in the neighbourhood. The activities with Mrs. Opgen-Rhein expand the social and personal competence of each child in a special way. Children are seen in their strengths and can perceive and develop them. This simply gives our children a good feeling."

A documentation brochure on the project can be requested.

Landart - Art and creative design in and with nature (since 2021)

In the second Corona-winter, in December 2021, "My Story" has started again in cooperation with Lessing Primary School. The topic "Landart - art and creative design in and with nature" is a welcome (learning) project as an "outdoor action" after the extreme pandemic restrictions. There is great demand from the children of all classes, but so far only a maximum group size of ten children is possible. 
The following pictures are the beginning of a process that will be constantly documented and, as always, summarised in My-Story-diaries as an independent work.

We are still at the beginning and need a lot of soil, flowers and patience, but we hope to find many supporters. Anyone who would like to visit or talk to us is cordially invited.

Who is Andy Goldsworthy and what does this artist do with natural materials? Here, children try to independently read and understand a caption to a Landart ice sculpture.
There is also space for nature art in the schoolyard of the Lessing primary school. But first we have to define it, conquer it and work on it.
We start with a leaf sculpture "à la Andy" ...
... and the construction of a nature fence to hopefully soon be able to plant beds for the insects and birds. It's not so easy to collect all the sticks and to pile them up in a halfway stable way. Besides, we first have to understand that the insects we encounter have a right to live in nature and can even become our friends and co-workers. To do this, however, we have to leave them alone.
We come up with the idea of creating individual "rooms" for children who also need quiet, e.g. to talk or read. For this purpose, we organise natural seating in the form of tree trunks made from tree saws. They are quite heavy, so it takes many hands ...
And here is the "reading hut". Weaving longer branches was not easy, and setting it up even less so.
But laying the gravel bed and planting was then easier again. And this is what the "reading hut in operation" looks like.
In the summer we already got to know the Künstlerhaus, but there was just an exhibition set up. Here we visit the exhibition "Game on" and there is finally something to see.
Art that you can touch - WOW.

From „LandArt” To „LandArtGarden”

Following pictures document the development from ‚LandArt’ to a ‚LandArtGarden’. The defined area in the schoolyard and the ‚reading-hut’ give the children an impression of space and a feeling for three-dimensionality. They gain from the practical work by hand in combination with careful treatment for plants and insects. ‚LandArt’ teaches our co-existance with other living creatures and organisms. And the best place living together can be experienced is a garden.

We designed posters to inform about our ‚LandArtGarden’-project.
We designed posters to inform about our ‚LandArtGarden’-project.
We are gardening and feel happy about the blossoming flowers - and so do the insects and birds.
We are gardening and feel happy about the blossoming flowers - and so do the insects and birds.
Furtheron we build another hut - a playing-hut with little gardens on the right and on the left. The hut is coloured by us with pleasure.
Furtheron we build another hut - a playing-hut with little gardens on the right and on the left. The hut is coloured by us with pleasure.
Furtheron we build another hut - a playing-hut with little gardens on the right and on the left. The hut is coloured by us with pleasure.
We also create some hut-decoration with news about nature.

Stories (2019 - 2020)

As an art workshop, a group of pupils from Lessing Primary School came to the Künstlerhaus every week and, after short relaxation and concentration exercises, worked there on stories read aloud or on exhibitions shown in the Künstlerhaus.

Exhibition visit, Photo: Linda Opgen-Rhein
Reading the award-winning children's book "The Visit" by Antje Damm, Photo: Linda Opgen-Rhein
Own apartment based on the book "The Visit", Photo: Linda Opgen-Rhein
Mail for Olchi author Erhard Dietl (who also answered afterwards), Photo: Linda Opgen-Rhein
Upcycling project "Sewing bags from old shirts", Photo: Linda Opgen-Rhein

Idea, concept & contact

Linda Opgen-Rhein (linda.opgen-rhein@remove-this.t-online.de)

Kindly supported by the Kulturbüro of the City of Dortmund

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