Experience František Bílek’s studio differently / All-day workshops as part of Experience the City Differently in Prague 6

Prague City Gallery has prepared a day-long art workshop in Villa Bílek as part of the Experience the City Differently (Prague 6). There will be three interactive zones: František Bílek’s studio, a reading and study room in the basement of the villa and the garden.

At the first station, in the studio, visitors can try their hand at drawing sculptures and details, creating “living statues”, bookmaking and typeface – making designs for book covers, creating experimental texts, Lettrist paintings using Bílek’s typeface. They can also engage in applied arts, drawing ornaments inspired by the decoration of architecture, furniture, vases, etc.

In the reading room, publications from the library’s František Bílek collection will be available for viewing and study. Children can also complete small tasks by searching for information in the books. There will also be opportunities to create in the garden itself, where cushions, boards and drawing materials will be provided, and where it will be possible to capture interesting architectural details and fragments of the architecture of Villa Bílek or to design Art Nouveau symbolist decorations and ornaments inspired by the garden. There will also be an opportunity to create temporary small land art installations (using cones, branches, leaves, stones, etc.).

As a taste of the GHMP workshops at Villa Bílek and an invitation to them, boards, pencils and copied patterns of Bílek’s alphabet – a distinctive stylised typeface designed by František Bílek himself – will be available right at the Písek Gate. Visitors will be able to try to write their name in this style and complete it by drawing floral decorations and ornaments inspired by Bílek’s work. Promotional materials of the GHMP will also be available.