Academic artist Goran Ćetković is known to the Montenegrin public as one of the most prominent contemporary expressionists and authors of his generation, but he also has an extremely respectable and pedagogical career.
For the past 14 years, that Ćetković has been teaching fine arts at the Sutomore Primary School "Kekec", his students have received as many as 80 awards for their fine art works at municipal, state, regional, European and world competitions!
"The last in the series is the second prize at the traditional art competition CDPR in Podgorica 'Fight against smoking', which was won by Nasirova Anelj, a student of the XNUMXth grade of Elementary School 'Kekec', in strong competition. By the way, we always had notable results at this competition - Tatjana Gagović was first, we were several times second and third, several times awarded for the best collection of competition works... This year, we received a total of five prizes for art works - in addition to this one , two more at the regional and at the municipal competition", the distinguished Montenegrin artist and pedagogue told "Vijesti".
The most significant prize received by one of his students was the first place at the world art competition in Lidice in the Czech Republic in 2013, on the subject of puppet theatre. The awarded work was the work of Daria Yegorova, who is now a successful architecture student in Podgorica.
"Daria was one of the winners of this big competition in which children from over a hundred countries from all over the world participated. On the occasion of this award, we attended a reception at the Ministry of Education, and we were also welcomed by the ambassador of the Czech Republic", continues the interlocutor of "Magazine".
In addition to the elementary school "Kekec" where he has been working since 2005, Ćetković was for several years a professor of art history at the Secondary Economic School in Bar, where his students also won several awards, and Bogdana Tijanić won the first prize at the regional art competition "Mir je IN and violence OUT”. The first prizes won by his students, he recalls, were at the municipal competition "Mothers with love", and the first three places went to students Jaramaz, Lukić and Pajović".
"Those were my beginnings at school. In any case, it's a really nice feeling after each of these awards, it's satisfaction for the dedication to work with the students, and it's primarily important to me because of them and their talent, dedication, that it is eventually immortalized with some awards and recognitions that mean a lot to them ", points out Ćetković.
Commenting on the teaching of fine arts in the modern education system, he notes that it is "certainly not" in an adequate place, although according to the analyzes of experts and psychologists, fine arts is generally one of the most important subjects in elementary school, along with music and physical education.
"The attitude towards this subject is not at a high level, but we art pedagogues are here to contribute to the results by our involvement and work, with the help and dedication of the students, so that fine art is in the foreground", notes Ćetković.
When asked how difficult it is to get children interested in fine arts today, when they are surrounded on all sides by screens of the most different dimensions from which all possible content reaches them, Ćetković says that the most important thing for him is to see desire and desire in students. "Then the results will certainly come".
"However, what sometimes makes me a little dissatisfied is the situation where you see a student who has incredible predispositions, but simply does not have the will or activity to develop them. I try to engage and motivate such students, but there are cases when I fail to do so. They simply devote themselves to other subjects and, unfortunately, do not see themselves in this despite the great potential. These are things that are difficult for me", admits the successful pedagogue.
When he chooses the students who will go to the competition, Ćetković says, he tries to make sure that they solve art problems and themes "in an individual way".
"The role of an art teacher is great and important, they are still young people who need to be guided in the right direction. I always aim to ensure that the final product - a finished drawing or painting - has a certain strength of artistry, expression... I insist that the students present what they want to say with their work as convincingly as possible", adds Ćetković.
For "Magazin", he paid special attention to the impact of digital technologies on the development of children's art.
"At their age, I was educated in art with comics, with my brothers I was constantly buying comics of then famous heroes from the famous Zlatna series, thanks to that I got into the art problem, and here I am today as a painter. Each time has its own characteristics, students grow up in this age of high technology, a good part of them base their work in accordance with some conceptual solutions and aspirations from the Internet, they cannot imagine themselves without a smartphone, but today we also have those raw talents who possess the what an artistic individual should have, who are not unencumbered by those technological achievements and devices, but present certain topics in a sincere, honest way, and in a high-quality way", indicates our interlocutor.
In the classroom, his students are always interested in hearing details from the history of art, how an artist moved in his creative path through art, and as for the creation itself - drawing and painting, Ćetković emphasizes that he pays the most attention to their expression.
"An expression must have a certain strength, it is the same in my work, and I convey what interests me to them. That is the essential thing, how something looks - to make it as artistic, strong and convincing as possible", adds Ćetković. Pupils in Sutomor are well versed in his work, they often tell him that they saw him on TV or read something about his exhibitions on the Internet...
"Open up the conversation a little on that topic, they certainly like it, in this work and subject, the involvement of the subject teacher is also important. I acquire circumstances, I am one of those who expose a lot, I expose myself to the maximum in art, they like that, I hope that I am a good example for them of how to act in this business. It also happens that they comment on my works. I am recognized by the Montenegrin public and the region for my paintings in which the main motif is a human head. It is a figural form on the border of abstraction, and at that age they cannot fully understand it, but when I bring these forms that are hidden to them closer through the story and show them, they find it interesting, they are surprised when they discover them even though they didn't see it at first glance", says Ćetković.
It is inevitable that more former students followed in his footsteps from Sutomore...
"A good number of talented people do not decide to continue on this path for various reasons, but that's why there is Miloš Kontić, who is now graduating from the art academy in Cetinje, where he was among the most prominent students at the 'Petar Lubarda' High School of Art. He has won many awards, which makes me really happy. There is also Milena Vukoslavović, there is now Klaudija Jovana Tofan at the 'Petar Lubarda' school, and I am happy that from this year there will be two more of my students in the same school", points out Ćetković.
As for the presentation of his personal work in the studio in Brc, this award-winning Montenegrin painter will be present in several places in 2019. There are five of his works in the permanent exhibition of the "Pirlot" gallery in Zurich, Goran's paintings will also be in the newly opened "Pizana" gallery in Porto Novi in Kumbor, and at the collective exhibition of Bar artists that opens the art program of the Bar Chronicle, there will also be two of his landscapes in the last six months. Ćetković does not hide his satisfaction that his paintings and his work in general are represented in the just-published art encyclopedia "Likovni pecat" published in Belgrade by the distinguished art historian Dejan Đorić.
"First of all, I am preparing for a large solo exhibition in Zagreb in the fall, as part of the event 'Days of Montenegrin pottery in Croatia', which will be supported by the National Community of Montenegrins in Zagreb. It will most likely be in September, in one of the most important exhibition spaces there," Ćetković concluded.
Support from home is also very important for painting studies
"There are few who choose this, shall I say, uncertain and unusual vocation and life. You should love that, but also have support at home. Unfortunately, a good number of out-of-the-box talents do not have the support of their parents due to the prejudice that art is an unexplored field. We also have classes with about thirty graduates of the Faculty of Fine Arts, of whom only two or three are actively engaged in art," says Ćetković.
Enduring values as eternal role models
Who are the favorite artists of Ćetković's students?
"Through teaching, I always try to impose on them those permanent, true and proven values, those authors who, as far as Montenegro is concerned, are the most recognizable. Students always like to see a good painting by our greatest painters such as Lubarda, Dado, Tošković...", explains Goran Ćetković.
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