Art Exhibition Visit cum Ceramic Art Workshop at Siglap Secondary School

The photographs above show the 20 happy pupils at the foyer of White Sands Primary School, at the foyer at Siglap Secondary School, Mr K, the art teacher at Siglap Secondary School and Mr K and his Potter's Wheel Ceramic Vase creation demo.
At White Sands Primary School, The Art Department with the support of the school heads and teachers who carry out the Art Programme, pupils are provided with a well-developed Art Programme which focuses on the eight Art Forms namely: Drawing and Painting, Printing, Collage, Assemblage, Sculpture, Ceramics and Digital Art. Pupils are provided with a Holistic Art Education. Besides participating in art lessons in the school, pupils are exposed to Art Discussion, Art Works of famous artists and taken out of the school on Learning Journeys to visit Art Exhibitions at Museums and schools. They also visit schools and art-associated government agencies to participate in Art Workshops.

On Friday, 24 October 2008, 20 pupils from Primary 6 Attentive, Primary 6 Joyful and Primary 6 Knowledgeable accompanied me to view an Art Exhibition and participate in a Ceramic Art Workshop at Siglap Secondary School, the centre for excellence for Art for East Zone Schools.

The pupils were Chiang Kar Wai, Elysia Chiam Yue Xian, Ho Koon Yee, Lam Yi Xin, Betty New Shi Jie, Nur Farizan Bte Abubakar, Siti Nur I'zzah Bte Mohd Amin, Song Ruilin, Song Ruipin, Cherlyn Tai Wei Qi, Luqman Nur Hakim Bin Wahab and Gillett Thia Zai Yi from Primary 6 Attentive; Mohd Shafiq Bin Mohd F from Primary 6 Joyful and Annabel Tay Hui Xin, Joan Lee Pei Xin, Nur Emy Liya Bte Mohd Hisam, Alicia Yang Rongce, Chua Yun Hui, Muhd Firas Bin Abdul Rahman and Qamarul Nizam Bin Khairulsaleh from Primary 6 Knowledgeable.

The pupils were taken on a visit to the School's Art Exhibition Gallery. They were provided with worksheets to help them understand, appreciate and look deep into the art works which were on display. Having viewed the exhibits, later many of the pupils were busy with their mobile phones,snapping photographs of the works which they liked.

After spending some time at the Exhibition Gallery, the pupils were taken to a spacious art room where they were introduced to Mr K, a dedicated art teacher at Siglap Secondary School who has seen many a artist pass through his hands.

Mr K engaged the pupils of White Sands with his humour and interesting delivery of his Ceramic Art Workkshop. Pupils had a go at creating their own little pinch pots. Later, they worked on their second ceramic project.

Having enjoyed the two sessions, the pupils then gathered around Mr K to watch a demonstration on the creation of a vase, using a Potter's Wheel.

It was truely an enjoyable, enriching visit to Siglap Secondary School, a school which believes in nurturing talents and pursuing excellence as a way of life. Thank you Siglap!

Antoni Gaudi

Antoni Placid Guillem Gaudi was born on 25 June 1852 in the little town of Tarragona in Spain and passed away on 10 June 1926. He was a Spanish architect who belonged to the Modernist style movement and was famous for his unique and individualistic designs. Gaudi was an ardent Catholic and in his later years devoted his life to the Church. He built a church with 18 towers, 12 for the apostles, 4 for the evangelists, 1 for Mother Mary and 1 for Jesus Christ. When his good friends passed away, he slowed down on the construction of the church. 'Til today, the church is still not fully completed and is still under continuous construction. Above is a picture of the Sagradafamilia which I am talking about. It is expected to be completed in the year 2026 if there are no hitches.

The images in this entry are taken from: http://www.gentgran.org/imatges/personatges/antoni-gaudi.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni-Gaud%C3%AD

Art Department Assembly Programme

This is Mr Mohd Raizi.

We are in Term 4, Week 6 of the school academic year and it was the turn of the Art Department to conduct the Assembly Programme. At White Sands Primary School, we want our pupils not only to be able to create their own art works but to also learn and talk about well known personalities in the Art World. Mr Raizi, one of our trained art teachers was invited to talk about the life and art style of architect/artist Antoni Gaudi. During his talk, Mr Raizi showed the school a portrait of Antoni Gaudi and some of his unusual, creative works. The pupils as well as teachers learnt much from Mr Raizi's sharing which was well-delivered and pitched at the pupils' level of understanding. Thank you for doing a great job, Mr Raizi!

Giving away prizes is something which many of us as teachers enjoy doing. After Mr Raizi's delivery of his talk on Antoni Gaudi, we called upon our Principal Mrs Daphne Yeoh to do us the honour of presenting prizes to 6 pupils namely, Au Qiuxin of P6D, Cherylin Tai of P6A, Khairullah of P5B, Lam Yi Xin of P6A, Elysia Chiam of P6A and Annabelle Lim of P6A who won prizes for their outstanding, creative art works submitted for the National Day 2008 Art Competition and Pupil Handbook 2009 Design Competion. Congratulations, everyone, for taking time to share your creativity with us at White Sands. Thanks Mrs Yeoh for taking time off your busy school schedulle to be with us and present prizes to our budding artists.

School Handbook Design Competition 2008

At White Sands Primary School, we believe in allowing pupils to have a hand in as much things we do as possible. Last year, I helped design the present 2008 Pupil Handbook cover page. However, this year with support from our Pricipal Mrs Daphne Yeoh and Vice-Principal Mrs Lee, the Art Department decided to hold a school-based Pupil Handbook 2009 Cover Design Competition. I briefed the pupils during one of the assemblies before we broke off for the September School vacation, making use of Powerpoint slides to give them an idea of how to go about designing a cover page for the Handbook and what are the things they would have to consider when working on their projects.

The submissions were great and there were many lovely designs for the 2009 Pupil Handbook. Our heads Mrs Yeoh and Mrs Lee were allowed to take a look at the best submissions and they decided on what they felt would make good cover designs for the 2009 Pupil Handbook.

These are the names of the winners of the three prizes offered by the Department. All three of them come from the special Art Class which was started in 2006.

1st Prize: Lam Yi Xin: Primary 6 Attentive

2nd Prize: Elysia Chiam: Primary 6 Attentive

3rd Prize: Annabelle Lim: Primary 6 Attentive

Congratulations Ladies! You have done us proud. All the winners' art works and other creative works will be on display at the Annual Art Exhibition in the school grounds from 7th November 2008 to 14 November 2008.

National Day School-based Art Competition 2008

In conjunction with Singapore's National Day Celebrations, the Art Department at White Sands Primary School organized a National Day School-based Art Competition for the year 2008. Pupils from all the levels were encouraged to participate in the competition and to showcase what they thought the National Day Parade would look like to them.

There were many creative submissions from the pupils and it was really difficult picking the three winners. However, we had to do what had to be done, and here are the results of the three winners for the Competition.

The 1st Prize was awarded to Au Qiu Xin of Primary 6 Dilligent. The 2nd Prize went to Cherylin Tai Wei Qi from Primary 6 Attentive and the 3rd Prize went to Khairullah Bin Khairilanuar of Primary 5 Brilliant.

The three Art Works are seen here in our blog. Congratulations Everyone! You'll be able to see the real pieces and many other contributions during our Annual Art Exhibition which will be held from Friday. 7th November 2008 to Friday, 14th November 2008 in the school grounds.

National Day School-based Art Competition 2008

"What I See in the National Day Parade 2008"

Calling all pupils of White Sands Primary School.

Take part in The National Day School-based Art Competition 2008. All you need to do is to create an Imaginative Composition depicting what you see in the 2008 National Day Parade. The Title of the Competition is: 'What I See In The National Day Parade 2008'.

There will be 3 prizes for each of the categories listed below:
1. The Lower Primary Section: for pupils from Primary 1- Primary 3.
2. The Upper Primary Section: for pupils from Primary 4 - Primary 6.

You may make use of any medium such as:
1. Coloured pencils
2. Water colour pencils
3. Pencils
4. Charcoal
5. Crayons
6. Oil Pastels
7. Watercolours
8. Postercolours
9. Acrylic
10. Mixed Media

All entries are to be submitted to your Art Teacher by Monday, 4th August 2008. Your Art Teachers will then shortlist the entries and submit the best three entries to Mr Fernando who will then get judges to select the best three entries for each category.

Thank you for your participation and all the very best!

Art Discussion 2

This week we are going to take a close look at the Art Work featured here.

Do take a close look at it and tell me about the art work. You could make use of the questions below to guide you in talking about the art work or you could talk about it without making reference to the guiding questions.

This piece of work was created by several artists working together on a wall outside Art Room 1 of White Sands Primary School.

• What would you name this art work?
• How do you feel when you look at it?
• What kind of artists created this piece of work?
• Why do you say that?
• What would you do if you are placed in this place?
• What are the main colours you see?
• Why have the artists used such colours?
• What insects do you see?
• What did the artists use to create the insects?

Post your thoughts for me and others to read.

Information 2: The Objectives of the Art Syllabus

Art is important. For those of us who do not think so, I do hope that you will spend some time reading my posting entitled 'Information 1: Why is Art important.' I do hope that we will all support the Art Programmes in schools as well as those organized by various governmental as well as private organizations.

The New Art Syllabus which will be introduced to all Primary Schools with effect from 2009, starting with its introduction to Primary 1 and 2 pupils, will help our children to:

• develop their sensory awareness and imagination.
• develop their visual inquiry skills to help them discover and explore their surroundings.
• acquire skills which will enable them to describe and interpret artworks which they are presented with or exposed to.
• create artworks which they may use to share their ideas, thoughts and feelings to viewers such as their peers, schoolmates, friends, teachers and members of the public.
• cultivate a spirit of innovation and experimentation.
• understand and value art from a variety of cultures and context which they will be exposed to.
• develop self confidence and a sense of achievement through their participation in various art-based activities.

Art Discussion 1

Only for Primary 4, 5 and 6 pupils. Hi Everyone! Attached is an artwork created by a pupil from White Sands Primary School.

In this week's segment of Art Discussion 1, I would like you to take a good look at the Art Work, making use of all your possible senses and respond to the guiding questions which are posted below. There are no right or worng answers so feel free to respond. It would be good if you could give me a paragraph or more of what you see and feel about the art work. I will provide you with my response to the art work at the end of the week.

Enjoy the Art Work!

What do you see in this art work? What colours has the artist used? What do call such colours? Why do you think that he/she used such colours? What is he/she trying to tell you? What do feel when you look at the art work? Why? Describe your feelings. What medium do you think he/she has used to create the art work? If you were given an opportunity to provide a title for this work, what would you name it? If you were allowed a chance to create your own art work with the same title, what medium would you like to use and why?

Now that you have had a chance to study the art work and read the questions, do let me have your postings.

Mr Fernando's Comments: Sunday, 20th July 2008

I would like to thank the teachers as well as pupils who took time to look at the Art Work posted and talk about it.

The Art Work was created by Nigel Lee Jia Wei of Primary 6 Excellent of White Sands Primary School. He worked on the Theme entitled 'Fire Prevention'. Yes, The words 'Fire Prevention' is not clearly seen. I guess that it is the way Nigel wants it to look like in his work. When there is a fire, things become very hazy due to the emission of smoke. There are several warm colours such as reds, oranges and yellows in the work which depict danger and heat caused by the flames. The cool colours such as the greens and blues do not occupy large areas of the piece showing that fire spreads fast and wild. I agree that we should never misuse fire as it could cause much destruction. Nigel has made use of the colours well. Looking at the art work, one feels scared and it may cause one's pressure to go up, realizing that fire is a good friend but very dangerous enemy. Nigel used a lot of poster colour in his work and if you had a chance to see the real work itself , you would be able to see the texture caused by the heavy use of paint. The art work comes alive. The various titles suggested by many of you are very suitable. Yes, I wouldn't place the art work at home; not because it is not a good piece but because Nigel has an intention. He wants us to spread the message of the dangers of fire. Thus, we should display his work in prominent public spaces such as schools, kitchens and places where flames are exposed. Thank you Nigel.

Information 1: Why is Art important?

Many a time, most parents and the general public consider Art unimportant as they say it is a non-core subject . Just because it is not an examination subject at the Primary School level does not make it unimportant. There is this misconception among many. All subjects in the school curriculum are core subjects and that is why they have been included in the school time-table.

Art has much value and would benefit our charges a great deal. A good art programme helps pupils to be visually literate resulting in them being able to observe, understand and make meaning of what they see. They will also be able to communicate their ideas and thoughts by using and creating visuals better than those who do not go through a good art programme with zest and vigour.

Everyday, we are bombarded with lots of visuals. The visuals we encounter will certainly influence how we think and behave. Art trains our pupils to be visually literate, resulting in them being able to communicate effectively.

Art beautifies our world and helps us to capture memories. It helps to teach and educate us about the various cultures and beliefs of our people and those in other parts of the world resulting in mutual respect and tolerance for one another.

There are so many benefits one can pick up by participating whole-heartedly in art lessons and art-related activities. To be able to succeed and enjoy life to the fullest, it is important that we give art its due importance in school as well as in our lives ourside our usual work and study areas. Art certainly has a place in society and that is why our government is now pumping in so much money into various Arts Organizations.

The School of the Arts has been set up to allow our artistically-inclined P6 pupils moving on to secondary schools a chance to opt for her, to work in an enriched environment which will help them achieve their dreams some day.

Art is important.