Artistic direction
Lilia Gavrilenko
Lilia Gavrilenko is an art educator and artistic director of Kunstschule Mittelweser. Her many years of work combine well-founded artistic training, pedagogical experience and an open view of the individual possibilities of each child.
Before working in Germany, she taught in the fields of art, pedagogy and design in Vitebsk. Since the 1990s, she has been shaping cultural education work in Stolzenau and the Nienburg district.
Get in touch“Discover creativity, develop skills and strengthen your own personality.”
Lilia as an artist
Distinctive visual worlds
Lilia Gavrilenko is not only an art educator, but has also pursued her own artistic practice for decades. Her joy in creating, colour and form flows directly into the work of the art school.
Our approach
Educate with art
The art school understands cultural education holistically. Children and young people learn to see consciously, develop their own ideas and use different materials responsibly. Topics can build on one another, but remain open to the wishes and interests of the groups.
Discover
Get to know new materials, techniques and hidden creative skills.
Develop
Strengthen endurance, perception, technical skills and your own visual language.
Show
Making work visible and tangible in exhibitions and public projects.
Stations
Lilia's path to Kunstschule Mittelweser
Studied at the University of Arts and Pedagogy in Vitebsk.
Teaching at the Vitebsk Technical University in the field of fashion design and fashion drawing.
Lecturer at Children's Art School No. 1 in Vitebsk.
Moving to Stolzenau and beginning her formative work at the art school.
Awarded the annual culture prize of the Neuhoff Fricke Foundation.
Artistic direction, courses, exhibitions as well as regional and international projects.
The art school
Rooted in the region, open to exchange
The first encounters as part of the partnership between Nienburg and Vitebsk developed into permanent cultural educational work in the 1990s. Today the art school offers rooms for lessons, studio work, materials and collaborative projects.
Exhibitions, holiday campaigns, collaborations and international encounters continually bring the young artists' works into the public eye.
Supporting association
Our association
The art school is managed by the supporting association Kunstschule Mittelweser im Landkreis Nienburg/Weser e. V. With a great deal of voluntary commitment, the team ensures that courses, projects and the art school’s day-to-day work can continue reliably.
Ingeborg Oppermann
Chair
Werner Klein
Deputy Chair
Sylvia Magacz
Treasurer
Peter Harries
Secretary
Helga Knoche-Harries
Project officer
Project companions
People who make special projects possible
Project companions contribute their artistic, craft, technical and organisational skills to the work of the art school.
Horst Oppermann
Photography, image editing, technology and website
Supporting the art school with organisational and practical tasks since 2025.
Helga Knoche-Harries
Project officer
A long-standing companion and co-founder of the art school.
Jochen Ruopp
Sculpture, painting and metalwork
Artistic support for various projects.
Making things possible together
Partners & supporters
Foundations, companies and regional organisations support the art school and make special activities and projects possible.