THEMATIC PROGRAM
A traditional livelihood for the Roma ethnic group in the city was the making of wooden dishes and household items. In the clans of the diggers, techniques, tools and decorative elements handed down from generations have been preserved to this day. Nowadays, the craft is in decline. Young men and women lack the interest and incentive to build on the ancestral tradition and practice the craft of their ancestors, resulting in a loss of their identity. The work in the Workshop will be aimed at:

1. Wood carving as art and craft: what are its possibilities? Specifics and features.
2. Building primary skills for processing wood using traditional methods.
3. Research, presentation and preservation of existing traditions.
4. Building a sense of self-esteem and discipline when working with wood.
5. Upgrading of the traditional methods of processing wood with the application of the modern technological base.
    Strategic objective

• Preservation and study of the craft of coppersmithing in the area.
• Building craft skills in children
• Building a self-assessment system
• Presentation of the Workshop within the framework of PG practice. Hr. Botev – “Play and learn”
   Pedagogical practice
• the training will use both the traditional craft order and sequence of knowledge transmission, as well as the “Play and Learn” methodology applied in the Professional High School “Hr. Botev”-Dolna Banya.
• The material base and the 125-year teaching tradition will help to create a sense of empathy among the graduates towards the aesthetic values of their lineages and will build bridges to their future development as original artists and craftsmen.
• Exhibition of author’s works of the participants in the gallery of PG “Hr. Botev” and evaluation of the works by their peers, as well as by old master carpenters from the city will build self-confidence and criteria for self-evaluation.
• Participation in Plein air of arts in the village of Dazhdovnitsa, Eastern Rhodopes will provide an opportunity to present and work in a new environment with young talents who are also looking for their way in the applied possibilities of art in the modern world.
• The art workshop “Applied Arts: Wood Carving” will end with a symbolic initiation of the graduates into the status of a journeyman, according to local customs inherited from the clans of farmers.
  Curriculum /When allocated 8 hours per month and duration of 6 months/
  June’2023
• Formation of the composition of the workshop and presentation of the participants, discussion of the program of the workshop.
• Meeting in the Gallery of PG “Hr. Botev” with masters from the Kopanicar families, prominent carvers from the town of Dolna Banya.
• Talk about the history of wood carving, types and trends in its development, modern forms of applications of wood carving in public and residential spaces.
• Tour of the State Forestry, Dolna Banya, to learn about tree species and their characteristics, collecting materials. Game method for collecting lianas and fibers of plant origin, cones, dry branches and leaves.
• Presentation of the history of shepherd carving and familiarization with models made in the spirit of tradition.
• Getting to know woodcarving tools and working with them. Instruction in safety techniques.
• Launch of individual projects of group participants.
• Discussion and talk about the history of ornaments and the tradition of ornamentation. Basic and primary symbols and their meaning.
  Note. Each class begins with a 10-minute briefing on occupational safety and hygiene techniques.

July’2023

• Consulted session to discuss individual projects. Goal – formation of skills to express the idea and the way of working to the final product in front of a craftsman from the local clans, to listen to criticism and advice, and to develop the project according to the advice. Consultant: master craftsman Georgi Georgiev from Dolna Banya.
• Practical work on the projects.
• Lecture and practical lesson for those who have developed technical skills and work with specific tools.
• Practical work on individual projects.
  August 2023
• Consulted lesson for correcting the production of practical woodcarving tasks. Getting to know the possibilities of using the modern technical base, advantages and disadvantages of machining. Consulting technologist: engineer Vasil Toroshanov.
• Practical work on the projects.
• Conversation with game elements “Nothing less than a world” – an excursion into the adjacent forest above the city to observe plant symbioses, to apply this knowledge in practice and to collect natural supplies and materials.
• Presentation of finished projects and/or projects in progress and discussion of the results.
• Participation in Plein air of arts in Dazhdovnitsa village, session 2 “Stories with dance and wood”, August 25-30.

September 2023

• Consulted session for presentation of the finished projects, discussion of the possibilities of addition or correction.
• Finishing and final works and preparation for exposure and participation in an art bazaar. Group preparation for behavior during the art bazaar and communication with users. Consulting psychologist S. Dimitrova – pedagogical advisor of PG “Hr. Botev”.
• Art bazaar within the square in the town of Dolna Banya, the premises of PG “Hr. Botev”.
• Analysis of the results of participation in the Art workshop, introduction to the rank of journeyman of those who have successfully passed the journeyman exam. And a symbolic “baptism in the river of those newly admitted to the ancestral guilds”.
• Exhibition of the group’s projects in the exhibition hall of the PG “Hr. Botev”, if there are any left after the art bazaar.

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

№	Участник	Възрастова група
1	Велин Сонев Георгиев	03.06.2007
2	Давид Василев Кънев	29.09.2006
3	Живко Стоилов Златарев	19.02.2007
4	Росен Георгиев Борисов	26.03.2002
5	Таня Ангелова Колибарова	12.05.2008
6	Кирил Светославов Кьосев	10.05.2004
7	Васил Владимиров Георгиев	25.06.2004
8	Ани Любомирова Стоименова	30.12.2004
9	Борислав Василев Лечев	27.04.2006
10	Росен Стоянов Славев	10.08.2007