Inkl. Steuern.
Exploring Pop Art, Visual Culture & Creative Thinking
Creative Workshop for Children (6–12 years)
Developed and led by artist Darina Mikityuk and hosted at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg.
This workshop invited children to explore one of the most recognizable symbols of contemporary visual culture the Smiley.
Starting with the story of the iconic yellow Smiley created by graphic designer Harvey Ball in 1963, participants discovered how a simple combination of a circle, two eyes, and a smile developed into a global visual symbol appearing across art, fashion, design, advertising, and everyday life.
Through selected examples from Pop Art and contemporary visual culture, children explored how artists and designers take familiar symbols and transform them through color, emotion, context, and personal interpretation.
The practical part focused on one central question:
How can we take a symbol everyone knows and make it our own?
Working on round canvases, each participant developed an individual interpretation of the Smiley. Rather than copying the classic yellow face, children experimented with color, facial expressions, patterns, symbols, and personal ideas to create their own visual characters.
The workshop focused on:
• Pop Art and contemporary visual culture
• The Smiley as a cultural symbol
• Color and emotion
• Symbols and visual communication
• Individual interpretation
• Creative thinking and experimentation
• Development of a personal visual language
The goal of the workshop was to show children that creativity does not always begin with inventing something completely new. It can also begin with looking at something familiar differently.
By starting with the same recognizable symbol and creating completely different artworks, participants experienced how individual ideas, choices, and emotions can transform a shared visual language into something personal.
Age group:
6–12 years
Venue:
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
Workshop Leader:
Darina Mikityuk
Pop Art Artist
