Art Gallery and Anniversary

Last week during some of our classes, we were discussing current events, and of course here in Slovakia, the situation in Ukraine is a topic of local interest.  Some of our students had seen video clips on the internet indicating significant ignorance on the part of Americans concerning geography.  (For example, in one survey, only 14% of Americans knew where Ukraine was located.  And in another video, the graphic on an actual TV news program showed "Czechoslovakia", which hasn't been existence since the two countries split in 1993!)  Therefore, I decided to include a couple of maps so that all blog readers will be familiar with Slovakia and its neighboring countries in central Europe!  (There may be a pop quiz on a later blog post.)    ;-) 

This map shows Slovakia in relation to its surrounding countries, including Ukraine, the center of much media attention recently.  To give some perspective in terms of size, Slovakia is roughly the same width as Iowa, but not as large north-to-south.

This map is too small to see very well, so I'll add a link to Google Maps, so you can click  to see a better image on your whole screen and move it around to see everything:
Click here for a link to Google Maps: Europe
You'll have to use the little  +  and  -  boxes to zoom out and in to see the whole map!!  :-)

Thursday right after school we were picked up by Michal and his parents.  (Michal plays basketball with Tim, and his mom sings in our church choir.)  Michal's sister is an art professor in Banská Bystrica, where we had just gone on Saturday with Marian and Susan, and this sister, Eva, was having an opening for an art show of her work in a gallery there Thursday evening, which we were invited to attend with the family.  

This is the gallery, an old building on the main pedestrian walk-way in Banská Bystrica.  

When we first arrived, Eva, MIchal's sister explained a little about the process used to create the art works in the exhibition.  It involves heating actual photographic images (copied on paper), and turning them to carbon and ironing them onto fabric.  Another process involved carbon paper, and we weren't absolutely positive exactly how she created everything, but it looked interesting!!  

Tim with Michal and his sister, Eva, the artist.  

During the official opening ceremony for the exhibition, everyone was in this room for speeches, which we think included explanations of the artistic process as well as accolades for Eva.  The event was very well attended!  There were refreshments served after the formalities concluded.  

Michal and Eva's parents, with some of the displays.  These were hanging strips of carbon paper in different colors, with images on them.  

The topic of the exhibition and all the art works was Human Suffering.  Many of the images were very dark and depressing.  

This wall was covered in photocopies of black-and-white photos, presumably all from the internet, many of which were used in the various processes of creating the displays.  There were colored pens for people visiting the exhibition to draw or write on the photos.  

I thought this hand was interesting, and it shows the style of Eva's current exhibition, which was much different than the lighter, more uplifting paintings we had seen in her parents' house when we had dinner there one Sunday.  

Eva also displayed some sketches from her five-year period focusing on human suffering.  

After spending about an hour at the gallery, Michal took us out for a walk on the town square.  The late afternoon light lit up the buildings beautifully, and we could clearly see why the clock tower in Banská Bystrica is called Slovakia's "Leaning Tower".  It really does tilt to the left!!  The tree on the left was also decorated with colorful Easter eggs!  

The Barbican (once the entrance to the castle gates), is behind Tim and Michal.  On Saturday, we had tea on the little terrace under the awning at the bottom right of the structure, and Thursday we had tea inside looking out the window onto the square, because it was a little too cool to sit outside.  

Friday morning the alarm was set for 4:00 a.m so that we could walk to school for our ride to Košice for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Lutheran high school there.  The pastors from the high school and the elementary school, our headmistress (aka superintendent), and the deputy headmistress at the basic school (aka elementary principal) made up the rest of the Liptovský Mikuláš delegation going to the festivities.  

The first event was the church service, during which their school choir sang.  It's the first school choral group we've seen here that is similar to our choirs in U.S. high schools.  

After church, there was about an hour before the anniversary program, so Tim, Saška and I split off from Vlado, Vlado, and Janka, and spent some time at a café with Jacob and AJ, American teachers in Košice.  Though he is from Texas, AJ's aunt was Lute's pre-school teacher in Boone.  (Remember Mrs. Haase, Lute??)  

Sprint-walking to the anniversary celebration location, which was a former Jewish synagogue remodeled into an auditorium and banquet facility.  

After many speeches, introductions of dignitaries including the Lutheran Bishop, the MInister of the Slovak Education Department, the director of an international organization of Christian schools, and former headmasters of the school, and then several formal presentations of certificates, etc., there was a program presented by the students.  Since it's a language school, these three girls represented the study of French, Russian, and German languages.  

There were also several musical performances, some dances, and skits, including this one.  It was a lovely parable that I've heard before about three trees dreaming of their future uses.  Whether you've heard it before or not, it's definitely worth a couple of minutes to read this story which was told by these young students in Košice.  It tells us that God has a plan for each of us, a plan that we may not have planned ourselves, but God's plans are always perfect plans!   Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Please take time to click on this link and read this short parable about God's love for us, and His amazing plans for each of us!  
Click here:    The Story of the Three Trees

The school choir sang a mini-concert at the end of the program, and they did such a nice job!  The boys were hidden in the back, but there were nearly as many boys as girls, and everyone sang well.  

Next, we all moved to the banquet hall area where we were greeted with 'welcome drinks' for the toasting, after more speeches of course!  

There was a hot food buffet, tables with many kinds of hors d'oeuvres, an area with pre-poured beverages, and this gorgeous dessert tray.  It was really tough to choose!!  

The hors d'oeuvres were all served in/on different shapes of cute little ramekins and plates.  YUM!!  And it was such a clever idea to use picture frames with mirrors as serving trays for the desserts and starters!!  

Our group from Liptovský Mikuláš on our walk back to the church where our vehicle was parked, with the famous St. Elisabeth cathedral behind us, the largest in Slovakia.  
M., T., Janka, Vlado, Saška, and Vlado.  

St. Elisabeth's (Dóm svätej Alžbety) takes my breath away each time I see it.  Some of the other great Gothic cathedrals we've visited in Europe are surrounded tightly by other buildings, so you can't get a full view of them, but this one is in the middle of the square, so you can see it in all its magnificent grandeur from every side!  

Friday night Tim played basketball, and I rode my bike with him as far as the grocery store where I picked up a few items before returning home for a quiet evening at home.  This morning we caught up on sleep a little before Tim went to school for the monthly basketball tournament, and I did laundry and some other things around the flat that I've been too busy for lately.  

Just in case you skipped the link to the story of the three trees ---- remember to go back later and read it!!    :-)   God bless!!