Anna Kawczynska
Hi, my name is Ania Kawczynska. I have been working for BISC Wroclaw for two years. Last year I was a primary assistant and this year I am also teaching art to secondary students.
As far back as I remember, the greatest passion of my life was always art. Even as a child, I loved to spend time drawing pictures, modelling clay dishes and expressing my emotions through different art techniques. Unfortunately, the results weren't always as perfect as I had expected and when I grew up I decided to forget about my 'first love' and try something more practical.
When I think back on my work experiences, I see that they were always strongly associated with art and teaching. But this was not always the case. I trained firstly as a mid-wife. For a short time I was working with future parents, teaching women how to give birth and then take care of their new born babies. Even today, I remember this time in my life with great sentiment and pleasure. But if you have a real passion in your life, you can't just forget about it. I decided not to work in the hospital as I'd planned before, but to study art. Today I can say that I was really lucky because I had the privilege to study sculpture and learn from very talented and good professors at ASP Wroclaw. They taught me not only how to draw, make sculptures and paint but also how to look at the world around me, to notice beauty in all creation and to take inspiration straight from it. They also taught me how to speak about art and also how to teach other people art, which is not always a simple thing.
At the same time, I was practising and developing my teaching skills working at my church's children's club. In this work, I linked together teaching art with Bible stories. I still love working as a Sunday school teacher.
As well as this, I was working also in some Polish schools as an art teacher. One of the most interesting experiences was co-operating with Middle Art School where I was the teacher of Sculpture. I could work with talented young people and help them to develop their artistic skills. I also had experience working with international students teaching IB art before I started my work for BISC.
As for my family, I'm a mother of two boys. The oldest, Achim, is twelve and the youngest, Natan is nine. When I'm not teaching, I enjoy spending time with them. Unfortunately, they seem not to be so interested in drawing and painting. Their interests seem to lie more in the latest issues of Star Wars! They are growing so fast and I want to spend my time with them.
In later years, I hope to be able to devote more of my time to art.