Subject: Arts

The Art Teacher Training programme is built on three pillars. Artistic studies are central to the programme. Collaborative work in the seminars is based on a willingness to pursue self-directed and independent study, culminating in regular exhibitions. The second pillar, art pedagogy, examines the conditions of artistic practice and the possibilities for art education in schools. The third pillar, art history, focuses on the history of art and contemporary art; as part of this, we regularly visit museums and develop action-oriented approaches for art education with children and young people.

An aptitude test is required to study Art. In addition to a practical test and an interview, applicants must submit a portfolio. We offer portfolio consultation sessions for this purpose.

Children and young people regularly visit our workshops to work alongside students from the University of Education and the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts. This opens up opportunities for the pupils that they often do not encounter in their everyday school life: they discover that tasks can be shaped to suit their needs, are largely able to decide for themselves how to approach them, and can use tools and materials independently. The art workshop is thus based on an educational philosophy that prioritises the active participation of children and young people. But the students, too, find this format an open space for experimentation, as it allows them to engage with the pupils beyond the constraints of school-based expectations and preconceptions. Each term ends with an exhibition – at the end of the winter term 25–26, we exhibited in the changing rooms of the Hebel Secondary School’s sports hall.

Together with students from the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts and pupils from Hebel Secondary School, we spent a semester working on architectural projects. The project culminated in an impressive exhibition at the Orgelfabrik Durlach.

In the ‘Painting in Tandem’ project, students from the PH (Israel Schmid and Lutz Schäfer) and the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe (Christina Griebel) worked alongside pupils from Year 5 at the Hebel Realschule (Ulla Thiele). Over the course of a semester, randomly formed tandems comprising one student and one school pupil created a large-format painting. There were no specific guidelines regarding the theme, technique or visual concept. The project culminated in an exhibition of the 24 resulting works in the atrium of the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts.

‘Ton Zone’ is a collaborative event organised by the Institute of Art (Prof. Dr Lutz Schäfer), the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Art, the Johann-Peter-Hebel Primary School, the Johann-Peter-Hebel Secondary School, the Pestalozzi Technical Secondary School and the Drais Comprehensive School.
The premises of the Majolika Ceramics Manufactory in Karlsruhe are made available for a whole term for ceramic work. The project takes the form of a sort of ‘Chinese whispers’. The primary school pupils begin: there is plenty of clay and a starting point – they shape whatever is on their minds at the time. The clay works they create remain in the room. The students from the Institute of Art and the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts build on the works that have been created.

Over the course of several weeks, the groups take turns, engage with one another’s work and inspire each other in their creative endeavours. The spatial ensemble, presented as a ceramic landscape, was on display at the final exhibition at Majolika.

For over 10 years, the Institute of Art has been running art workshops for children and young people. Primary school pupils and secondary school pupils regularly attend our workshops. These workshops open up opportunities that are often unfamiliar to them in their everyday school life: they discover that tasks can be shaped to suit their own ideas, are largely able to decide for themselves how to proceed, and can use tools and materials independently. The art workshop is thus based on an educational philosophy that prioritises the active participation of children and young people.

Engaging with art and its artistic and critical presentation in museums are central components of the teacher training programme in Art. In addition to visits to local exhibition venues in Karlsruhe, such as the ZKM | Centre for Art and Media, the Kunsthalle or the Kunstmuseum Karlsruhe, excursions to other cities are offered every semester. These take the form of both one-day trips within the region – for example, to Frankfurt, Stuttgart or Strasbourg – and multi-day trips to Paris or Venice. At these out-of-school learning venues, students not only gain an understanding of the breadth of contemporary and historical forms of artistic expression through a variety of exhibitions, but also test out educational formats they have developed themselves and apply these to their future work in schools.