ReGenerativa Kickoff Event 2025

Future Platform ReGenerativa

2025 | Kickoff Event

How does an initial idea become a picture book of your own? As part of the AK Kids holiday programme, organised in cooperation with AK Niederösterreich, the KinderKunstLabor became a studio for young picture-book makers for an entire week. They were accompanied by illustrator, art educator and picture-book author Fulya Gezer Bachmann.

Together with Fulya Gezer Bachmann, the children explored a variety of artistic techniques, including monotype, mixed-media collage and action painting. Playful exercises helped them develop ideas for characters, images and stories. A randomly selected word could become the starting point for a visual story, while pieces of paper glued onto the page developed into characters and entire scenes. Little by little, the children created their own picture books – each in a completely individual way. Some began with images, others with text. Some already knew at the beginning which story they wanted to tell, while others discovered their stories through the process of making. At the end of the project week, the books were shared in a group presentation. The children presented their own books and read their stories aloud to us. It became both visible and audible just how varied the ideas and approaches to storytelling had been throughout the week – and how artistic experiments had developed into deeply personal picture books. In the interview, Fulya Gezer Bachmann talks about what surprised her most during the week, why images can sometimes express things that are difficult to put into words, and what adults can learn from children.

Fragen an Fulya Gezer Bachmann

How did you experience the week with the children? What surprised you most?
The project week at the KinderKunstLabor was an intense yet inspiring experience for me. The participating children experimented extensively with artistic techniques and created their own picture-book stories. What surprised me time and again was the originality of their stories and the visual solutions they came up with. For example, one child created a scene in which the emotional transformation of the protagonist was represented using a folded piece of paper that could be opened and closed, similar to a pop-up. In another book, which was about making art, a wide range of materials and artistic techniques were combined. I was also impressed by how focused the children were when they were fully immersed in their creative flow. Sometimes they even wanted to keep working on their books without taking a break. I also found it remarkable that, during their holidays, the children came to the workshop at eight o’clock every morning for an entire week and remained so engaged. I think the KinderKunstLabor itself, with its opportunities for play and movement during breaks, played an important and appealing role in this.
How did the children go from an initial idea to creating their own book over the course of the week? Did the images or the story come first?
Before the children began developing their own picture-book stories, we playfully experimented with a variety of artistic techniques, including monotype, mixed-media collage and action painting. We also did short exercises designed to spark ideas for images and stories. For example, we developed a short visual story starting from a randomly selected word. In another exercise, the children used pieces of paper they had glued down to create figures or illustrated scenes. These kinds of associative practices, together with all the experimentation, helped them develop their ideas. There is no single answer as to whether the images or the story came first. For some children, images and words developed together; some books consisted entirely of images, while other children preferred to write the story first. A few already had a particular story in mind at the beginning of the workshop and wanted to bring it to life. For most, however, the story emerged through the creative process. As with any creative process, each path was different and highly individual.
What can an image convey that might be difficult to put into words?
That is a complex question and one worth thinking about in greater depth. An image contains many layers at once: form, colour, material, composition and much more. It can evoke emotions immediately upon being seen. Words can do this too, but in a different way. Images created by children in particular often contain very complex layers. Experience is not necessarily always an advantage, because children already possess a broad range of possibilities for visual expression. Experience with artistic techniques and knowledge about art can sometimes play a secondary role and may even become limiting. What matters more is something highly intuitive – a kind of hidden knowledge within human beings and nature. When children express themselves in writing, they need certain tools and experience to do so. Creating images, by contrast, offers them – particularly at a young age – a great deal of freedom and a wide range of possibilities for expression.
What can adults learn from the way children think about and invent stories and images?
The creative connections children make so quickly are inspiring. They approach a subject playfully and are often very willing to experiment. In my view, this uninhibited approach is essential to inventing stories and images. Children also have a remarkable ability to overcome uncertainty or creative blocks relatively quickly. When they reached a point where they did not know how to continue, they did not give up easily. They kept going for the sake of the story, rather than because of external influences. Their intrinsic motivation was what mattered. These observations are, of course, specific to the process we shared, but they can also apply to other creative processes. The children also remain true to themselves in what they do. That is what makes their stories and images authentic. And ultimately, what seems particularly important to me is that the children enjoy the process and have fun with it. All of this – and much more – is something we can learn from and with children.

As part of the AK Kids holiday programme, organised in cooperation with AK Niederösterreich, the KinderKunstLabor became a studio for young picture-book makers for an entire week.