Kids Atelier is a platform for children (age 6–11) offering regular classes or one-off workshops focusing on visual art and/or movement. Our mission is to create a safe and warm environment in which children can express themselves through various disciplines such as drawing, painting, writing, dancing and movement in flow. To enhance the benefits of the visual art and movement techniques in terms of a child’s development we have created ‘two in one’ workshops where the visual art and movement techniques are mutually intertwined.
Johanna Bilak:
As a small child she dreamed to become a book illustrator and was fascinated by letters and fantasy illustrations, which became the inspiration for her first artworks. Later, she pursued studies in graphic design, type design and typography in art academies in Slovakia, France and the Netherlands, blending her interests in art, craft and technology. Since 2002, she has been working with her husband Peter Bilak in their design company Typotheque.com. When their daughter was born in 2008 she became inspired by the spontaneous and expressive world and was drawn towards creative explorations with children in her own studio space.
Valentina Scaglia:
From a very early age she was busy with her body, movement and all types of dance and techniques from classical to modern contemporary. She danced for three years at the Hamburg Ballett and for thirteen years at the Nederlands Dans Theater. After seventeen years in a professional career as a dancer Valentina specialised in and was certified as a Gyrotonic® and Gyrokinesis® trainer, a movement method that helps strengthen and lengthen the spine and the entire body in a naturally fluid and healthy way. She loves combining those different techniques and seeing how the body and mind can expand and benefit from it. She has two daughters who awoke her curiosity and excitement in working with children.
