A group of talented young people bring new life into our team’s workspace. On a completely voluntary basis, they painted, in a very beautiful way, two of the walls in our Youth Center. The idea came to fruition after Donika and Michaela applied for a project for youth initiatives at the Youth International Center – Burgas. In an interview for our website, the two girls who are the project leaders shared why they decided to participate in this activity, which took them a lot of time, work and effort. The activity ended with a beautiful final product, of which we all are very proud .
– Hello girls, could you briefly introduce yourself…
– Hello, my name is Donika! I’m 18 years old, from the city of Burgas. I study at NUMSI “Pancho Vladigerov”. We are the leaders of this nice project, which we named “Sunny Corner”.
– Hello from me too! My name is Michaela, i’m also 18 years old, from Burgas. I study at PPMG “Acad. Nikola Obreshkov”.
– How long have you been involved in fine art, how did you become passionate about brushes and paints?
(Michaela): We have been involved in fine art as amateurs since the beginning of our lives. I was 4 years old when I started drawing horses in a childish way. For any artist, drawing is a way to relax and express themselves. What we do as fine art is a mirror of our inner world.
(Donika): Yes, we have been doing this since we were very young. Personally, my first works were in the field of abstract art, and to this day I am still involved and interested in it. And as a child, I also loved to draw animals, specifically wolves .
– What inspires or motivates you to draw?
(Michaela): I’m in a Mathematical Gymnasium, in a Maths and English class, and to be honest – it’s not my thing and it’s stresses me out a lot. That’s why I feel and perceive painting as an outlet and way to enter my space and my comfort bubble, to relax and be myself. For me, fine art is also related to poetry, since I also write. And with poetry, everything is in the image and everything is very abstract.
(Donika): For me, it’s more like existence: the clash between the inner world and the one outside. If I have to be honest, the subconscious and those moments that I dream are my source for absolutely everything.
– How did you learn about the youth initiatives of the Youth International Center -Burgas? Why did you decide to participate?
(Donika) We found out about the initiative itself from the team of the Youth International Center – Burgas, as they contacted me through acquaintances and introduced me to their idea. After I found out about the possibility of painting these two walls, I immediately jumped into it. It seemed extremely pleasant to me and it needed to happen. We started by writing the project, preparing the sketches, applying to the funding competition. To our delight, the project was approved and then we set to work finding the specific materials that needed to be purchased. They had to be of the highest quality as possible, so that our final product turned out the best.
Personally, I’m extremely happy with what we did because we really chose the best tones and best quality paints. We definitely encountered the biggest difficulties when we had to paint the sketch on the walls, because everything had to be as accurate as possible.
– How exactly did you decide on this idea that you painted on the two walls – on them we see a girl, and plant details around her?
(Donika): I had a lot of ideas, I’m basically an extremely idea person and all kinds of ideas come to me all the time – while I’m bathing, while I’m cooking… In the end, I decided on this one because I was inspired by one thing, which is very important in the Youth Home – the huge fig tree. This is what inspired me, because it is precisely the heart of the Youth Center and is extremely characteristic of this space. That’s where I got the idea for this design, which is more plant-based. At first I thought of including the very elements of the fig as a tree, but then a more tropical wave swept over me. I decided to depict the girl as a character who surrounds herself with nature.
The whole process – from the origin of the idea, to the preparation of the project, the application and approval, and then the purchase of materials and the completion of the walls, took us about one month.
– Apart from you, during those days when you were painting here with us, other young people came and joined your activities. How many people included the whole group?
(Michaela): There were different numbers of people coming on different days, but that’s completely normal since it’s summer and everyone has other personal commitments. But we are grateful for everyone who got involved and helped us!
(Donika): About 15 of us were volunteering. We are infinitely grateful to the people who gave up their time and came not out of obligation, but to have fun, to have a good time while creating! It was an extremely artistic and enjoyable experience!
– What do you like to do in your spare time? Is painting your passion?
(Michaela): We both doing a lot of things. One of them is painting. My personal ambition is to become an architect. For me, drawing and being involved in the project, more specifically the measuring and the rest of the tactile work, is an opportunity to see if this is something I would really like to do and develop skills into.
Apart from painting, I also play guitar purely as an amateur, as well as doing many other activities.
(Donika): I am also very active. But for me painting/fine art is the main thing I want to do as a profession. This is my main direction in life. At NUMSI “Pancho Vladigerov” I study “Advertising graphics”, which is more or less directly familiar with the preparation of the project, where the sketch itself needs to be prepared digitally first, and then scaled to the wall. In my spare time I am interested in pyrography. Like Michaela, I also like to play guitar in my spare time. Photograpfy is another big passion of mine.
– Are there any other projects you two will work on in the future? And what is ahead of you personally, very soon you will be in the 12th grade?
(Michaela): What we have heard is that the opening of your new International Youth Center is about to take place. We are inclined to embark on a similar project again in order to visually build the building of the center.
Specifically for me – I want to stay in Bulgaria and work in the direction of cultural enrichment. We are young people and it is our job to make the situation in our country a little bit better.
(Donika): Michaela is very inspired this time to prepare the sketch and paint on our next project in the building of the new Youth Center. There will be plenty of room to perform and we are certainly in the mood to work together with you on joint projects.
Personally, I want to pursue a career in the fine arts, specifically graphic design or photography. I have definitely decided to study in Bulgaria for my bachelor’s degree – either Sofia or Plovdiv. And then for the master’s degree, I can continue my development abroad. There is a lot of potential in our country and if we, the young people, do not contribute to the better development of our country, then no one else will.
