Hi Parents, Since August last year, I have become really intermittent and inconsistent with my Facebook updates. I have always hope to involve and help parents understand what I do with the children in class, so that you can support your children properly. So I sincerely apologise for the absence from the social media realm which has been my most effective communication tool in explaining the classes so far. I hope to give an update to some of the adjustments I am bringing in

Children love playing with modelling clay! But what do they learn? Is it all just child's play? Here is my personal perspectives and views. Honestly, personally I never like clay class because it means alt of cleaning up to do on my part! However, I offer it because I think there are some things that is best communicated through this hands-on 3D kind of play. 1. Finer motor skills. Some children love the medium. They love squeezing playing pinching pressing and exploring the

We are all used to drawing on a drawing paper. Drawing on a A4 sheet of paper. Or drawing on a small piece of paper. So this particular exercise appeals to children very much because of the scale and the sense of freddom they have to fully involve their whole body in the making of their art work. The brief is for them to make a life size cardboard model of themselves. They start to find different solutions to measure their own body. They start to become aware of their own bod

Many art classes are formed by age. The children segmented into different age groups and then fed the same curriculum assuming that they are at the same develpmental level and maturity. The teacher demostrates at the beginning of the class and everyone produces the same sort of work. This way of teaching allows more of the children to produce the same "ideal" kind of artwork. Which piece of artwork looking like the next. However, I never do that in my class. Why? Take a look

I am not the only teacher in class. Often, the children turn out to be better teachers than I am. They use the exact language that is most suitable to teach and communicate with their peers. Language that they can relate to immediately. Aiana is having trouble making her nose in modelling clay. I asked if Sophia would like to help Aiana. She immediately jumped at the offer and started coaching Aiana the same way I coached her. (Sophia touches Aiana's nose and ask) "Aiana, is

We introduced Reese (7 year old) to charcoal for many session and eventually she got used to observing the shapes of lights and shadows. Having establish this foundation, now we can introduce other mediums to further sharpen her abilities. This time, instead of observing blacks and putting it down on the paper, she observes white and shades of greys. With a firm foundation, she manages this art piece of her grandpa with ease. Only when a child truly learns to see then can he

Today, I would like to share with you why I absolutely love doing portraits as my first lesson with any children who comes to my studio. As an adult, when we think of portraits we think of: difficult, tough and impossible. As a child, when they think of portraits they think of: I need a round face, two eyes, a nose and a mouth. And some hair. Notice how this all resides in the realm of thinking? For the adults, mostly words to describe pops up in our head first. (See why its

Many of my parents feel incapable of teaching or working with their child on Art because they have not taken up Art before. "I don't know how to make it better." "I can't draw for nuts" "I can't teach him how to draw that, because I don't know how to draw that either." Well, my question is, what is it that you would like to teach your child? Is it really to teach him how to draw that particular object? Or to teach him to look at something and enjoy the process of drawing, cre

Remember the last week, when Reese said that she didn't want to do anymore charcoal drawings? Well, after speaking to her Mom, I realised that there were doubts that Reese completed her drawing completely by herself. So we went on to hatch a cunning plan! We worked together and tricked Reese into doing one more charcoal portrait. Reese's family, being super supportive, participated in the whole experience. Reese's drawing class being a whole family affair where her family mem

This was Reese's second lesson with charcoal portrait drawing. Following her first success, we adults were all really curious and looked forward to her second piece of work. She was super-duper excited about drawing her brother which was really awesome. This time she had some trouble with some proportions such as where to put the eyes (they typically ended up way too close to the side of the face), and the nose (typically too small). Otherwise, I would say that she's a genius