Tamar Levi creating a one-line illustration alongside flute player Kalliopi Bolovinou. Photo Credit: Iris Haidau
Delphi is a multidisciplinary theatre play which combines art, music and acting to help children and their parents through feelings such as grief which many children experience growing up.
While Brussels is a dynamic city rich in different cultures and languages, with a large expatriated population, children process the new and changing surroundings of the city very differently – and often need help processing these feelings.
It was this notion that inspired writer and illustrator Tamar Levi to create Delphi. Originally a graphic novel and adapted into a children’s play, the idea behind it was to fill in the gap, where she felt children and families were not sufficiently supported on what she refers to as children’s “big feelings”. She noted that while love was a safe and frequent topic, heavier topics such as grief tend to be taboo for discussions in families with children.
On that note, Levi wanted to create something to help parents and their children navigate grief together. As she is primarily a children’s book illustrator and artist, her own art form became the medium to tell that story.
Photo Credit: Andrea Minoia
Although she now lives in Brussels, Levi’s childhood was coloured with the mythology from her home in Alaska. In discussions with her Greek husband, Levi noticed the differences in the mythology and folklore they both had grown up with. With a deepened curiosity of folklore, she wanted to tell the story of Delphi through the lens of different cultural mythologies.
Loosely based on the five phases of grief defined by psychology, Delphi tells the story of a little girl who travels the world and processes her “big feelings” through the cultures and myths of the different nations she visits. Levi wants to clarify that the states of grief are not prescriptive and may be experienced differently by individual people.
Delphi’s journey is illustrated live by Levi, who will portray the protagonist’s journey through one-line drawings. Actors provide verbal context in French, while flute player, Kalliopi Bolovinou, will combine contemporary and classical music.
When asked by The Brussels Times why she feels children in Brussels might benefit from Delphi’s story, Levi explained the context of living in a city like Brussels. “The grief we experience is not necessarily about death,” she explained. “I would say that the grief we process on a daily basis is the fact that we live far away from our loved ones.”
Children in Brussels often grow up without their cousins or grandparents, and are constantly having to say goodbye to friends whose parents find jobs in another country, leaving them and Brussels behind.
Processing these feelings can be tough on children. Levi hopes that Delphi, finding a way to cope with big feelings by writing her own story, will inspire children to do the same. “I would love if children recognise that their diversity is special, and that their parents’ cultures are special, but ultimately that they within themselves, are also special.”
“My art is a buffet”
Levi included many mediums into her play, which she affectionately called a buffet. “I keep telling the actors that this [play] is a buffet. It has art, music, dance, jokes, travel, anger, shouting, quiet time, and sleepy time; and a child might find the thing they are attracted to, to be a helpful method as they process their own feelings.” Her hopes are that children will see the elements of the play and try them at home with their parents.
For Levi, the point of theatre is to help the audience reach a catharsis, which she explained is a term coined during a lecture by Aristotle which refers to expressing emotions and finding acceptance by doing so. Levi shares Aristotle’s belief that theatre is an important tool to reach catharsis and think about one’s own journey through grief and other big feelings.
The creator of Delphi hopes that children will leave the play and want to try out one of the different art forms in it. She explained that sometimes, by doing art, people also reach a point of catharsis and parents can use these calm meditative moments to open up conversations with their children.
Photo Credit: Andrea Minoia
Theatres who have seen the play have suggested an age group of eight to 12 years old. However, Levi’s daughter is six years old and her friends range from five to eight years old and they have all seen the play with their parents, who have provided positive feedback.
Levi’s daughter said: “It’s good to teach kids how to hold their big feelings. If no one teaches you how to brush your teeth you don’t know how to brush your teeth.”
The illustrator believes that it is only a parent who truly knows if their child is emotionally ready to deal with topics like grief. For example, whether they are ready to watch Disney films Bambi or the Lion King. If not, she thinks that the child might not yet be ready to watch the play.
However, it is not only children who can appreciate the play. Levi has more than once been approached by a teary-eyed adult who was touched by elements of the play and she, therefore, does not want to limit Delphi to any one group – although her primary goal of assisting children through their big feelings remains firmly in place.
While the play’s script is French, Levi explained that through the music and live drawings, the audience will be able to follow in any language, and may only miss a few jokes made in French. The play will be performed on 26 March. The ticket price is based on donations between €8 and €25.
A performance will be held on Sunday 26 March at 15:00 the Columban Theatre, Chemin de Vieusart 162, Wavre. Future planned productions will be held in different locations in Brussels.
While producing this children’s theatre play all in one line, I need to illustrate the whole show in order to rehearse with a live musician and actors who perform the story in French.
Every time they need to rehearse I have to complete a massive long continuous line illustration. These draft performance scrolls are gifted to people who come to an atelier, schools where we do workshops, families in the audience, and the dear children of dear friends.
If they’re very well made, I’ve even sold a handful as tapestry style children’s bedroom decor.
My favourite thing in the universe is when I get sent photos of the kids colouring them in, and often illustrating their own imagination in between my scenes, making them even better than I could ever imagine.
On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 an art teacher who will go the extra mile wrote to me from Argentina:
“Hi Tamar! I’m sharing herein the questions the students want to ask you […] They are truly enthusiastic about your participation in the project!”
The distance between Brussels and Argentina is 7,008 miles or 11,279 kilometers
Here’s how I answer:
Hello! Hello! Let me answer the questions each in turn.
What would you like to know about TAMAR LEVI? 1. How did you start being interested in art?
I enjoyed playing with paints, mark-making and trying to build my own stories in pictures since I was little, but I became most fascinated around age 13 when I learnt there are lots of symbols in paintings.
You may learn to read a story in a painting the way you would read a story with words.
You can ask yourself some questions to help you read what’s going on:
What visual symbols are in this picture? (E.g. a skull, a rose, a goblin sitting on your chest while you sleep, and what might those mean death, love, a nightmare sensation… )
Any more complex symbols? (E.g. mythology will tell us what this swan is doing that he shouldn’t be doing.)
Leda and the Swan, Ancient Greek Vase Painting
What emotions are conveyed with that colour choice? (For Wassily Kandinsky, this blue represents his creative energy.)
The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter), Wassily Kandinsky,1903
What emotions are conveyed by these shapes? (For Salvador Dali both lobsters and telephones were erotic forms and he felt they achieved greater eroticism when put together like this.)
Lobster Telephone, Salvador Dali, 1936
What can we learn about the story behind the picture by the way the artist painted it (e.g. stabbing, splattering paint effects, a focus on the mother character, lots of yellow or dark red/black paint)?
The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893
What information can we get from the materials?(There’s a very interesting 12 metre sculpture in Athens, Greece made out of sharp broken glass. It appears to be running at a sprint. Does the chosen material/construction help with the impression of motion?)
Dromeas (The Runner) by Costas Varotsos 1994
I’m going to share the very first painting I remember being FASCINATED by! I saw the original in The National Gallery when I was that 13 year old visiting London, and the Art History student giving tours explained how one could “read” the story.
An Allegory with Venus and Cupid by Bronzino
This painting is absolutely STUFFED with symbolism. It’s very big but I chose this image because these look like the closest colours to the original. Sometimes called “Allegory of Venus and Cupid,” sometimes called “Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time,” the analysis describes it as a visual puzzle. When I understood some paintings are intended to be puzzles that help us unlock an artist’s worldview, I was hooked.
I remember the young enthusiastic tour guide pointing out the theatre masks on the floor next to Venus’s feet, the tortured face in the center left, and he made us lean close and see the angel Folly (the one with the rose petals). If you looked closely at the original, you could see that little angel is stepping on a dropped rose’s thorn, which reminded me that sometimes laughter is followed by tears, that we must enjoy joy while it lasts.
Allegory of Venus and Cupid, Thorn Detail
Why is Cupid’s mummy giving him a kiss while about to put an arrow in his back? Or is that mother’s love: something you cannot choose to be hit by, even if you wish to be in control.
Allegory of Venus and Cupid, Arrow Detail
The most amazing symbol I was impressed by is the symbolic act of Father Time pulling a big blue blanket over everyone enjoying that moment, meaning it will all be gone the next moment.
Time pulling his blanket over this brief moment.
The other thing that I learned looking at this painting was that you can twist your characters around and they can still look realistic. The artist Bronzino could make bodies look real when, really, he was making them do what he wanted them to do. Imagine how long this neck would unnaturally look if Venus’s arm were not right there? Try Cupid’s pose when you’re at home tonight.
Just try Cupid’s pose
2. Did you study at college? Where was it?
I studied Philosophy at King’s College London and then Psychology at the University of Cambridge. However I’m a visual learner so I wanted to illustrate the ideas from my philosophy books. That’s how I started out in children’s literature: I made my own little books illustrating big ideas like “Do flowers have feelings?” They were not picked up by publishers at that time so I went on to illustrate other people’s books before writing my own again later.
Thoughtings, authored by Peter Worley and Andrew Day, Illustrated by Tamar Levi
When I was in London I wanted to take an art class that taught some classical skills, e.g. glaze and paint mixing and varnishing skills. It was really difficult for me to find a class that taught the practical skills. There were loads of classes around about theory and history of art, but I realised the practical stuff was better found in books. I did a three day course at Camberwell college that was meant to be an introduction to oil paints but I think, at that time, I would have learnt the same amount of info from books or the internet.
3. How do you manage to live on art?
I don’t. Not anymore. You can be well known and popular and still not make a lot of money at this. It’s incredibly difficult to earn a living at the fun side of art and pay your rent and feed yourself.
Your salary is not reflected in how many interviews you do.
I’m going to be completely honest with you because I think it’s important to demystify the serious stuff. I cannot rely on full-time income from my art as of today because the global pandemic has changed the way people engage with galleries etc. It remains to be seen how I must adapt with these times. Maybe after the needs of my family become lower maintenance, maybe then I could return to producing more and earning more.
Finding assistance in the family
As an artist/mother I find my art struggles to exist in the margins of my responsibilities. Those responsibilities are primarily keeping my family alive and well, while taking into account the domestic labour and house management side. I could joke that I’m Minister of Internal Affairs at our house. But it’s no joke. The emotional, physical and psychological burden of chronic fatigue and parenting while creating collections of paintings needs to be discussed with people who are looking at a possible career here.
Hey Tova Niovi, here’s a work of art by me called Hallerbos. Hey Hallerbos, here’s Tova Niovi, a work of art by me.
Choosing to have a family AND have a creative life is a constant time and energy juggle that needs a consistent discipline to return to the cyclical process of project completion and promotion. You cannot do it ALL unless you have a strong network of support around you (friends and/or family who will give to you as much as you give to them with regards to childcare etc), otherwise something will feel compromised. Someone wiser than me said it better, “it’s a myth that you can do everything at once. You can do everything, but not all at once.”
Here are the best ways that I know of at this time, however they might change as the world is changing a lot during this pandemic and more people are buying more things online. Ways I think you might be able to earn a living in or around the art world:
Teaching art at school or university, the practical or the theoretical side (treat your art teacher well, she’s your magic key to this whole world)
Artwork / storyboarding / creative thinking for advertising companies or fashion companies
Storyboarding for TEDx
Architecture / interior design/ furniture making /product design
Comic books / animation / gaming industry work
Building a niche following in social media and selling workshops and merchandise to them
Museum / gallery curation
Curating a show at the European Parliament
Series / film / theatre /live performance industry / costumes / makeup / storyboarding / choreography / music video making / film editing
Publishing graphic novels, picture books, photography for magazines or book jacket design
MY AUTISM BOOK: I co-authored AND illustrated this book AND designed the cover concept!
With regards to the latter: be aware of not selling your work for less than the value of your expenditure. Often funded by getting student loans, prizes, patrons or government subsidies or institutional support. Here’s a visual sketch I just did last week for a government application to take my live art performances into schools here in Belgium. It won’t be very much money, but it’s a useful stipend.
4. What inspires you?
When it comes to every day: a very yellow afternoon light often inspires me.
My painting of De Haan, Belgium
When it comes to portraits: super wrinkly and well-lived faces inspire me. Asymmetric faces inspire me. Characterful people inspire me. Beautiful people do NOT inspire me. Adorable curious humans inspire me. No matter their size or age.
Manolis Glezos, Tamar Levi, 2016
When it comes to landscapes: a sense of space, a huge view, a WOW moment in nature.
Santorini Volcano, Tamar Levi, 2020
When it comes to book illustration: a phrase or idea that is very tricky to understand inspires me to make a visual that will make sense of that idea.
When it comes to getting my big projects done: death inspires me. My best friend was killed and sometimes I remember her and am reminded that life is very short and there are lots of things to get done. I want to have completed DELPHI my graphic novel comic book all in one line before I’m on my death bed.
5. Do you work/ paint at special times of the day? Do you have a fixed routine for painting/ drawing?
I used to beat myself up for not doing things every day with a very rigid routine. Lately I’ve realised I’m a “burst of energy” kind of person, I work intensely very very quickly, sometimes for many hours of hyper focus, then not again for days. Once I accepted that’s just my way of working, I’ve stopped beating myself up so much!
Portait I completed in -3 minutes
6. Do you have any tips you would share about painting?
Tips on the theory behind painting:
Don’t compare yourself to too many artists or everyone that’s online. It can be overwhelming when we see how many people might be “ahead” in their process. We are all on different journeys. Also, don’t take advice from too many people, only a very limited few who have an aesthetic intelligence you admire. It gets confusing when you get notes from a wide range of people who all think and feel different things. Everyone can discuss how they experience your art differently, but you don’t need to take it all as advice. Be selective.
Tips on the practice of painting:
Clean your brushes. Look after your favourite ones. Mix your own colours. Don’t just work from the tube. It looks elevated when it’s your own palette of your own favourite colours you’ve mixed yourself. Use the best quality materials you can afford. You can sell things for more money when done with better quality materials and you will improve faster because your tools will not be slowing you down. Also: USE YOUR SKETCHBOOK!
Image by Anja Strelec for BRUZZ
7. How did you feel when you were invited or you had your first exhibition?
I was excited and worried because the exhibition was in the UK and I was living in Greece, so it was a complicated journey!
For my last performance, for TEDx’s international platform on YouTube, I spent all my time and physical energy preparing the show, but too much mental energy worrying about how I looked on stage. I wish I had done more work on unpacking body positivity before I had to stand in front of so many cameras and such a massive global audience.
Myself and Flautist Kalliopi Bolovinou
8. Do you only know how to draw in this style or have you tried different styles and techniques?
I’ve tried so many styles.
In black and white:
I do these zenlike continuous line, mostly contour, drawings and paintings in a nearly-abstracted minimalistic form of portraiture.
In colour, I use hand mixed acrylic paints in a classical realism style with a mixed media of oil pastel on the top.
Hallerbos, from my IMMENSITIES Collection 2020
In my sketchbooks I use watercolour and ink.
My watercolour sketch of Piraeus, Mikrolimano, Athens
Sometimes I used pencil as a child but it never felt bold enough. I tried a dip pen and ink jar, but the quill wouldn’t move in the circular motions my “handwriting” in art likes to move.
So that kind of pen was not ergonomically correct for me. I ended up using Sharpies and uniball pens to go with my deep black line’s flow faster.
I’ve had to start using big ones so larger audiences (700-1200 people) could see the line develop.
I really like a certain illustrator named Shirley Hughes who uses gouache to paint her books, but every time I use guache the colours feel too matt for me.
Anthology of Shirley Hughes’ children’s book illustrations.
I used to work with felt tip markers a lot. They were great for my publishing work,
Image “Identity is Like a Puzzle” from MY AUTISM BOOK, 2013
but didn’t like how they fade away in the sun when I want to display them.
Portrait of my neice that faded in the sun 🙁
I did a LOT of photography as a child and teenager and that helped me understand how I align my perspective on the canvas.
My one line drawing of Marie Antoinette
I used to make A4 sized illustrations.
One line portraits, from the GREAT MINDS collection
And A4 sized portraits.
Then miniature landscapes.
Lately, I’ve realised that there’s something portable and giftable in miniatures.
My miniature landscapes at the European Parliament
Yet giant canvases are truly liberating. They satiate a need for freedom during this pandemic.
Portrait of Countess Golovina, ÉLISABETH VIGÉE-LEBRUN, 1797/1800
I first saw it in a book when I was 12 and I was so impressed by the warmth and dynamism. She was painted in such a lively way, a nontraditional pose, and her direct look at the camera gives me a really clear feeling that this is a very good likeness of a kind and intelligent woman. It was historically unusual for women to be painted as individuals rather than objects. Perhaps it was because she was a female artist painting a friend, and that’s what gave her subject an individuality and unique sensitivity that was so uncommon at that time.
Red pops next to yellow #colourtheory
I also liked the rich red cloth which popped visually against a huge gold frame. Maybe I identified with the artist, maybe I identified as the subject, but I’m sure I’ve been doing variations on this theme for my whole portraiture career.
My favourite painting by my own hand is this picture of a wave which was the first oil painting I ever painted in my life! I did it with only one palette knife and I still enjoy the wave’s movement and how thick the paint is sculpted. Look at how I couldn’t even sign my name properly in the corner! That’s how wobbly my coordination was with a brush right at the beginning!
Lefkada, Tamar Levi, circa 2000
10. Who is your favorite artist?
For portraits:
I spent a lot of time looking at David Hockney’s early works and sketchbooks when I was a kid. I’m not in love with his current work, but definitely got influenced by the casual portraiture of his friends and family in his early sketchbooks.
David Hockney, Sketchbooks, 1970
For landscapes:
I’m a little bit obsessed with an artist called Ori Reisman who worked hard to represent the shapes of the landscapes around where my father grew up. I don’t know how he layers colour, I wish he was still alive so I could ask him.
Ori Reisman, Cabri Collection
For illustration:
There’s a French artist called Joann Sfar I met in London.
Joann Sfar’s sketch of me, 2008
His early work of pen on watercolour influenced me hugely.
His early work
I haven’t explored his recent work, but I love the humanity and eroticism in his inky wiggly lines.
Joann Sfar’s sketches of my then-boyfriend, now-husband Vasilis Katsardis, 2008
I used to be very into this niche cult figure Edward Gorey, then realised I enjoyed consuming his books but they didn’t galvanise me. I wasn’t engaging with them in a non-academic, passionate way that moved me forward in my own practise.
The Doubtful Guest, Edward Gorey, 1957
I think that’s an important distinction: I like Ernest Hemmingway and his very direct and unadorned prose style, but I shouldn’t waste time trying to emulate him in my writing, my way of writing is closer to the style of Anthony Burgess… very descriptive and playful.
Similarly, when finding an artist I admire, I need to check in with how they make me feel. If they make me feel othered, alienated from their practice and make me feel like giving up, then I need to turn away from their work. If they make me feel like I want to dance with their themes and bring my own ideas into a dialogue with the discussion their works instigate, then I need to remember to reach for them when I need motivation.
It’s kind of like friendship. If someone is negating you, negging you, pulling you down, then don’t waste time, rise up and move onwards and away. If someone applauds you and celebrates you for who you are and sparks your interests in a positive direction, you invest in that friendship to keep them around you.
11. Are you interested in and willing to take part inother types of art expressions such as music, for example?
I wish I could sing. There’s a narrative movement in the journey of these one line drawings that I’m doing.
Dr Eugene Feygelson brought his neuromusicology expertise to an improvised classical music and continuous line collab
So I’ve asked fantastic musicians to collaborate with me.
A super short timelapse of our performance on the stage at Clique Art, Belgium, 2018
They play music while I do live painting performances.
Live art and music collaborations with Kalliopi Bolovinou for TEDxULB, 2020
I like to dance. I think there’s something primal and communal in circular folk dances. I’d love to engage with fashion more. A collaboration with a fashion company to put my art on their clothing and bags feels like an exciting step into another realm of artistic expression.
12. What is your perspective of art?
There are few ways I could interpret that question. Either you are asking my perspective on the art industry, my perspective on the history and direction of art as a practice, or perhaps you mean what perspective do I apply in the themes I employ within my personal art practice.
My perspective on the art industry:
There are not enough government grants or academic awards to support early career artists. Therefore mostly only people with capital (i.e. financial freedom) have the support at the beginning. This is a problem in our socioeconomic system as a whole, not just for artists.
Oxilithos, Evia Greece, Tamar Levi, 2014
The gallery and auction system is elitist by necessity. It has to be selective to judge what’s good, and be able to value it for the higher price tag. I’d like there to somehow still be a standard of quality maintained while providing egalitarian accessibility online as well as still in beautiful museum spaces but I definitely need an economist or director of monetisation to step in and explain how that could possibly work!
My perspective on the history of art/journey to present day art:
Artists are made famous when they move the game forward, provide something people haven’t seen before, become collectable brand commodities or do something better than others or provoke and make “woke” the audience in a compelling way.
My most affordable products, made accessible by mass printing and international shipping
I’m curious to see how the accessibility of more affordable art-transcribed products, as well as the transparency of social media will unveil the art industry’s elitism, and hierarchy of art collectors, and how the information revolution will change how non-dynastic collectors and public individuals engage with art for their homes and art for public spaces. What art is “good” for galleries is very different than what the internet consensus deems “good art.” I can’t wait to see where this is going.
My perspective in my personal art practice:
The perspective I bring to my art is the belief that I wouldn’t want something gruesome or depressing on my walls. We’ve got the news on tv for that. So I try to make sure my artworks provide a positive uptick in people’s moods when they walk into their homes.
I couldn’t stop laughing at how much pleasure and emotional power this viewer took from one of paintings.
13. How long does it take approximately to write a book?
It depends how good you are at returning to your manuscript to get it done! The autism book I co-authored and illustrated in 2011-2012 took about 18 months to get to publication. That might be because there were people involved who are not easy to work with. They were not good communicators. Before that and since then every other project was and has been much more pleasant and gone more quickly. When people respect and credit you appropriately, without exploitative agendas, it’s amazing how much you can accomplish together.
18 months to get to publication yet with ongoing problematic communication patterns, still to this day!
A few years ago, I noticed that I was using too much visual description in my writing. I needed to move from traditional high literary works towards graphic novels in order to cut a lot of the text and represent it more in illustration. So this DELPHI publishing project has taken me 15 years! And it’s still not done!
An early draft of DELPHI
I have moved countries 3 times and given birth to a human and lived a very full life in between though, so it’s almost excusable!
14. Do you frequently attend social events?
I used to, before this pandemic! One problem with moving countries too often is that my network gets chopped and changed so I lose a lot of connections with every move.
Socialising today
However, here in Brussels we’ve met some INCREDIBLE new friends that are very similar to us and it’s made socialising much easier.
15. Have you studied something else which may not be related to painting?
I studied Philosophy in London and Psychology in Cambridge, but I bring themes from both those areas of research into my painting work, so I think they are related. For Philosophy, I make sure my art engages with the big ideas that excite me. For Psychology, I learnt a lot about what happens in the brain when we see clear faces, when our spatial reasoning witnesses certain shapes, what happens in the brain when certain colours are prioritised over others… it has all been very useful.
An illustration I did for MY AUTISM BOOK, 2013, called “Every Brain Is Different”
16. Have you ever had a gap year? If not, would you like to have one?
I was really lucky to work for a year before going to university. Among many small jobs that year, I was an Au Pair in Barcelona. Growing up in Alaska I spent a lot of time painting portraits, but in Barcelona the architecture was so special I started painting buildings for the first time and I was shocked how fun they can be… and they don’t fidget like people-subjects do!
I can’t find an early Barcelona sketch so I found one that was made about 3 years later in Moscow, inspired by that same series.
Here’s a sketch of architecture done in Athens 10 years after the Moscow sketch above. You can really tell how much my style changed in that time.
17. If you weren’t an artist, what would you like to be?
I would probably be a Psychologist. In fact, I’m wondering whether I should develop an Art Therapy workshop based on my research at Cambridge and my experience as an art teacher, because I feel there are a lot of calming benefits to be had through this continuous line drawing method I’ve been developing. Paul Klee said drawing is “taking a line for a walk.” It’s very relaxing. There’s a lot of anxiety going around nowadays. Perhaps therapeutic art practices could help with that?
Portrait of Simone Weil painted in one continuous line. Let your eye take a walk along the journey of the line.
18. How would you define you?
More deeply, I would define myself as a recovering Perfectionist, renegade Philosopher, erstwhile Psychologist, suffering from chronic Trying-To-Do-Too-Much, sparked by Childlike Wonder in curious people and places.
Photo by Iris Haidau
Slightly more simply put, I’m a triheritage, multilingual, bisexual positive-thinking human who just likes to get better at playing a long game with paint.
Let me know if you have any more questions! Good luck with your exams!
I was invited to join the TEDx stage only 17 days before to our performance.
My previous musical collaborator was half a world away. To develop this global stage performance during a pandemic, I needed some closer award-winning talent. Enter Kalliopi Bolovinou. I text messaged Kalliopi, who at that time had only briefly begun teaching our young daughter eurythmics. She was curious to engage with my project. We learned how to work together at a rapid pace thanks to her incredible ability to communicate clearly in multiple languages (both human languages and musical languages). I, too, quickly learnt her ability to express wisdom, humour and empathy in speech and harmony is utterly unparalleled.
This is appropriate because in Greek mythology, her namesake Kalliope is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the harmony of her voice. So I might just take this precedent as an excuse to wax lyrical with some eye witness report of her epic skills.
It took barely any time to onboard her with regards to the scope of my DELPHI project and we began rehearsing together, building our live art and music performance, developing it at record speed and finessing it as we went.
Kalliopi understood the educational elements immediately, the complex meta levels of the theory, philosophies, bereavement therapies and feminism at core, and was able to adapt her music style (classical training rehearses elements of a score) to a more immediate method (rehearsing the entirety every time) to fit with the unique continuity of my continuous line art performance.
She was inspired by the people we interacted with and the content of the storyline and developed her own bespoke response to the art with a gradual crescendo from Debussy’s Syrinx to a modern segment of a composition called “Ascèses” for solo flute (1967). The composer is André Jolivet. The original publication has 5 parts. Kalliopi performed No3 and No4 during the 8 minutes she developed for our show.
This is how she describes the music she developed, in her own words:
“Music is one of the most powerful forms of international expression; it breaks down all barriers by overcoming languages and transcends national borders. [I’ve] chosen classical and contemporary music for solo flute, inspired at the same time by composers, traditional dances and songs from key countries on DELPHI’s route: the Celtic points of Brittany, the islands Greek, African plains, Russian winter… to create a living narration of traditional tales. The music chosen comes from eminent composers, but also segments meshed and recomposed […] on traditional themes accompany the emotional journey of the story, the flute blows air into the lungs of the illustrated story, giving it life.”
We worked hard to make sure our collaboration mapped the music onto the art and the art supported the flow of the music and that our entrance onstage would be in synch with the theatricality of a live storytelling performance.
Kalliopi even taught me how to illustrate a stage direction diagram with French subtitles!
We struggled to offer flexible solutions to the never ending changes that occurred during the preparation of this event. The global pandemic cause the audience numbers to decrease, tickets to be returned, a livestream video option to be brought in and the venue to be changed three times! We had to rearrange our lives and our family’s lives and our children’s schedules and our work schedules, all in the name of our art and music.
We were not welcomed to rehearse on stage until the day of the TEDx event and even then the producers didn’t give the time to do a full 8 minute run through. We had 3 minutes to check out microphones and our stage positions and check the audio and lighting etc was all in place to our professional standards.
Please note all the mask wearing and even the hand sanitiser on the table. The precautions necessary to make this event covid compliant were incredibly stressful. I’m so lucky I had such positive professionals on all sides.
I will share Kalliopi’s biographical history here while also sharing images of her incredible performance on the global stage we shared.
Kalliopi Bolovinou began her music studies early in Ioannina, Greece and Athens and then trained abroad. She holds the Superior Diploma in Flute and the Superior Diploma in Musical Writing from the Athens Conservatory with the highest distinction.
She obtained her Masters at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Mons in Belgium in the class of Marc Grauwels with great distinction.
Then her Superior Diplomas in flute and piccolo at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris in the class of Mihi Kim.
In addition to her flute studies she also studied Musicology at the University of Athens.
She is also interested in the practice and expression of contemporary music.
She is studying Contemporary Music at the Conservatory of Gent with the Belgian contemporary music ensembles “Ictus” and “Spectra”.
As a teacher, Kalliopi trained at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and at the Dalcroze Institute of Rhythmics in Brussels. She teaches flute at the International School of Brussels (ISB).
She won 1st Prize at the Lions Club National Flute Competition in Belgium and she represented Belgium at the Lions Club International Flute Competition in England.
During her studies, she had scholarships from the Greek state, the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Thessaloniki (Megaro Mousikis in Thessaloniki, Greece) and the Onassis Foundation.
She has worked as an orchestral musician in Greece and Belgium in different orchestras and has performed as a soloist with the National Orchestra of Greece, the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Athens, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Athens and the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia. In the contemporary scene, she has collaborated with several ensembles, notably the French ensemble “Multilatérale”, with which she recorded at IRCAM in Paris works by the French composer Jacques Lenot (disc Chiaroscuro).
She participated in the creation of works by composers such as Yan Maresz, Matteo Franceschini, Mark Applebaum, Jacques Lenot, Yiannis Kyriakides and she participated in several festivals and workshops in Belgium, UK, France, Greece, Italy.
His interest in chamber music led him to collaborate with Belgian and foreign artists in flute and guitar duo, flute and piano, flute quartet. Within the Kaleidoscope association of which she is a founding member, she works in the multidisciplinary show “Balkan Project” which combines the arts of music, storytelling and illustration around the culture of the Balkan countries together with the storyteller Belgian Bernadette Heinrich, Spanish illustrator Teresa Arroyo and Greek guitarist Yiannis Efstathopoulos.
My favourite moment was in the dressing room after our event when Kalliopi said to me, “Thank you for letting me develop something creative with my altoflute.” In case anyone was wondering, all this has clearly been on big excuse to let us hear her altoflute’s voice ring out!
We thought it would be pretty rockstar to use the opportunity of this TEDx stage to practice our stage performance while developing a collaborative show together and in the short time of our rehearsals for this performance we ALSO built an English language AND French language application and dossier of the project to share an educational performance for schools here in Belgium.
You can see the development of that project on Kaleidoscope, Kalliopi’s musical theatre production company webpage here.
This is the best! Many, many messages from families who watched my art performance; their kids are inspired and excited to explore continuous line art themselves now. Inspiring the next generation? I call that a win
“Mummy, will you perform in a museum? “
“It was meant to be in the Museum of Belgium, but NOW it will be in a theatre.”
“How many people are going to clap?”
“There will be millions watching online, they might smile not clap, but only a few in the theatre, to keep everyone safe.”
“How many chairs are there?”
“250 tickets were sold then returned. Now only tech crew will be watching in the theatre. Everyone else in the world can watch on their screens.”
“So…. the theatre is 250 bigger than us!” (She throws her arms wide.)
We are happy with the pen’s ink, with the music chosen to inspire, with the quality of the chosen paper, with the quality of the chosen ink’s friction on the chosen paper, with the illustrations chosen to map onto the story, with the way my voice does the storytelling, with the way the music we chose goes with the emotion of the story telling, with the choice of using both alto flute and flute, with our idea of what positions might work on stage, we are happy with the entertainment/engagement levels of the philosophical and pedagogical themes, we are now mapping our reading + drawing onto the timing of the music in advance of our first stage rehearsal for TEDx on Thursday.
. . . @kalliopiBolonivou #soloflute @tamarmaganlevi #artist #inthepress #Brussels #Belgium #TEDxULB #TEDx #tedtalks #DELPHI #exhibition #allinoneline #continuousline #singleline #art promo code TEDXULB2020 on tickets Maison Du Bois, Vrijwilligerslaan 2, 1040 Etterbeek on OCT 22nd. https://www.tedxulb.org/event-details/tedxulb-misfits #music #flute #animation #classical #forkids #storytelling #interdisciplinary #pluridisciplinaire #illustration #artplusmusic @tedx_official @TEDxULB2020 @tedxulb ULB @ted
Educational tool on the different dynamics of consent.
I contributed this illustration to a super important card game that helps young people/adults explore the concept of consent. It can be used in classrooms and workshops and even therapy.
The Fédération Belge pour le Planning Familial et l’Education Sexuelle (FCPPF) serves Belgium’s Francophone community. It runs 42 centres, where it conducts training in family planning for health personnel, and an information and documentation centre. The organisation is prominent in the promotion of women’s sexual and reproductive health rights, and has organised a solidarity campaign for migrant women.
L’Estime do training and workshops for psycho-emotional health through awareness of and communication with the body. They propose group and individual support to people living with the somatic consequences of (psycho)trauma. Their bodywork and care for pain, anxiety and trauma centres consent, body positivity, social justice and inclusivity.
On behalf of these amazing spaces, Macia and Borcard approached me because they knew I’ve illustrated big ideas in the past (philosophy for kids, abstract maths, physics, asthma, Autism, political dialectics…). They liked my continuous line method and the way it can visually illustrate the necessary continuity of this topic.
I illustrated over 130 visuals and they chose this one for this part of a bigger educational project that begins here. This card game explores the different dynamics of consent through personal expression, debates and collective creations. This support offers an understanding of consent at both the relational and societal level and allows us to collectively appropriate a definition and courses of action to set up a culture of consent on a daily basis.
Target audience
This tool is intended for all professionals wishing to address the issue of consent with their audiences, young people from 15 years old or adults. It is also aimed at work teams who wish to question their posture: as a team and / or with their audience. More broadly, this tool is also intended for any adult who wishes to question the topic of consent.
Content
The 56 cards are separated into two main themes of 28 cards each identified by a color code:
the yellow cards deal with consent in its interpersonal aspect;
blue cards in its societal aspect;
In each theme you will find talk , challenge , roundtable and group creation cards .
The Parole Cards offer a question on consent and a speaking time for the person who drew the card. The Challenge cards , tour de table and group creation offer instructions for an activity to be carried out in a group on the subject.
Goals
Talk about consent in terms of practice and not just in terms of concept;
Encourage listening rather than debate to enrich individual reflections and representations;
Consider consent in all relational spheres (not just sexual);
Deepen a non-binary vision of consent;
Approach consent from the perspective of power relations rather than as a single issue of individual responsibility;
Highlight the influences of our social and cultural environment in relational and romantic models;
Promote awareness that inequalities and gender stereotypes are obstacles to consent;
Raise awareness of the relational benefits of a culture of consent.
My Favourite Questions
This card game can be used to initiate group discussions in safe educational/therapeutic spaces. Some of my favourite questions include:
What to do when there is doubt about consent?/Que faire lorsqu’il y a doute sur le consentement d’une personne ?
How / where can we practice consent outside of sexuality?/Comment/où pouvons nous pratiquer le consentement en dehors de la sexualité ?
How to initiate a conversation with a partner about your own limits?/ Comment initier une conversation avec un.e partenaire au sujet de tes propres limites ?
And importantly:
If a person says ok once for something, will it be ok for the same thing every other time? OR If someone says yes, does that mean it will be yes every other time? / Si une personne dit ok une fois pour quelque chose, est ce que ce sera ok pour la même chose toutes autres les fois ? OU Si quelqu’un.e dit oui, cela veut-il dire que ce sera oui toutes les autres fois?
Sharing
I received a flat fee so don’t get anything when promoting this project, but I hope every young person engages with this topic. We might just consent to make a better world.
Like all the books in the award winning Philosophy Foundation Book Series, this edition is a beautiful hardback book with content that is tried and tested in the classroom.
Provocations is a set of philosophy sessions designed for secondary school and predicated on pedagogical methods. These sessions are mature and challenging, exploring (amongst other things), Wagner and desire, Shakespeare and madness, Joan of Arc and gender, Faust and temptation, Nostradamus and time. They span the curriculum and provide an opportunity for teachers across a range of subjects to introduce a philosophical approach to their lessons. There are tips and suggestions throughout on how to use the book in the classroom. There is also an extensive reading list for those who wish to explore the topics in greater depth, as well as an introduction to basic logic and guidelines to help students write their own sessions.
Author: David Birch. Illustrator: Tamar Levi.
Provocations was shortlisted for the Educational Resources Award 2015 in the Secondary non-ICT section.
Review of Provocations by Michelle Sowey of The Philosophy Club Review of Provocations by TDRE (Andy Lewis) Review of Provocations by UKEDCHAT
Once Upon an If comprises a treasury of tales, old and new, to get young audiences thinking actively about the deeper issues within. Guidance notes, lesson plans and questions are included with every story, which have been tried and tested in the classroom inspiring children’s imaginations and developing critical engagement, speaking and listening skills. Written by Peter Worley and illustrated by Tamar Levi.
Once upon an If was a finalist for the Education Resources Award, Educational Book of the Year 2014 and was awarded the Bronze Prize for Primary Teacher Update’s Annual Awards 2014.
My Autism Book is a carefully illustrated picture book that helps parents to explain an autism diagnosis to their child in a sensitive, positive and accurate way. When a child is diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) parents often feel overwhelmed and uncertain about how to communicate the diagnosis to their child.
This book is designed to be read with the child as a simple introduction to their diagnosis. Written by a doctor and a children’s author, the book is tailored precisely to the needs and experiences of the child with ASD aged 5 and up. It explains what an autism diagnosis means and encourages an exploration of the child’s likely strengths and differences using clear language that speaks directly to the child. The colourful pictures throughout show how the world looks from the child’s perspective and the book ends with a summary checklist to encourage the child to record and discuss how autism affects them.
Concept, design and illustration by Tamar Levi. Co-authored by Dr. Gloria Dura-Vila and Tamar Levi. £9.99 You can buy this book directly from Jessica Kingsley Publishing or Amazon.co.uk for deliveries within the UK. For global deliveries you can buy this book from Amazon.com.
Using Homer’s epic tales as inspiration, this book offers lesson plans and storytelling tips to facilitate philosophical discussions with children aged 8-16. The If Odyssey draws out the philosophy that lies behind each story in Homer’s epic tale to introduce children not only to the exciting fables of Odysseus but also to that other great Ancient Greek tradition, philosophy. Explore with Odysseus the value of happiness, non-existent entities, moral dilemmas, the philosophy of prophecy and the nature of love among many other philosophical issues.
Online you’ll find maps of Odysseus’ journey, and the words of Tiresias that provide clues for the children as to Odysseus’ progress and an Ancient Greek language workshop with accompanying worksheets. You can use the ‘Storykit’ section, which provides hints and tips on storytelling skills to bring the tales of The Odyssey to life and stimulate independent, critical thinking with your children or class.
The If Odyssey was shortlisted for the Education Resources Award, Educational Book 2013 and was awarded the Bronze Prize in the Primary Teacher Update’s Annual Awards 2013.
Concept and content by Peter Worley. Cover by Tim Bradford. Content illustrated by Tamar Levi.
You can read about how I researched the illustrations using Ancient Greek artefacts at the British Museum in my blog here. And you can buy the book here:
Educated in London and Cambridge, Tamar has published as an author, illustrator and editor of multiple award-wining books designed for families, classrooms and doctors. Her prized artwork is highly collectible, commissioned by private collectors, sold at private auctions and exhibited in galleries around Europe.
