A is for Art 2012 - Award Ceremony

Finally after 3 months of super hard work from attending the art camp so as to be equipped with the skill to facilitate the pupils in the whole program to teaching the art themes to the challengers to the designing and the making of the chair, the result is finally out.... 

We gotten a SILVER!!!

not bad for our first attempt...not too bad given that only 5 other schools achieved the gold award... not too bad that the project is headed by a non art-trained teacher aka ME.... wahahahaha ....i know i know.... just finding excuses only....=P 

Anyway, the award ceremony was conducted in Asian Civilisations Museum and it would not be called an award ceremony if there weren't any speeches by the important and outstanding people from the program 

Melissa, the host and representative from the National Heritage Board 

Representative from the sponsor - JP Morgan

Representative from STAR

Karen, representative from National Heritage Board

Art teacher from Yu Neng Primary School

Art teacher from Maris Stella High School (Primary)

Pupil from  Maris Stella High School (Primary)

Pupils from Xingnan Primary School 

all 30 chairs were displayed and will be displayed in ACM itself and on the patch of green just outside ACM to the public from 25 August till 9 September 2012

sharing some of my favourite under the different awards:

Gold Award Recipient

they had attached coloured pencils donated by all pupils in the school to create the vibrant colours on the back of the chair

Paper clips and donated pencils for the back

designs on the petals were created using a method called 'thinner transfer'....i'm indeed impressed by the out of the box creation.... 

Silver Award Recipient

love how the trunk of the elephant doubled up as the head of a phoenix 

such cute display of yakult containers.... =D

love how they create patterns onto foam sheets and pieced them together like mosaic

Last but not least

ending the post with the goody bag received 

love the acm rubix cube which features famous art pieces on 5 sides and the super duper cute lanyard ...=) 

The CHAIR

This is our Seat of Honour.... One grand enough for our VIP to sit on and one that shouts out the characteristics of our school. 

Peacock feathers:

Jieminites are proud of the school. 

Leaf shape chair back:

Jieminites are true (not hypocrites), humble and down to earth. It is painted in orange and yellow with a green base because the true colours of leaves are actually yellow and orange due to the carotenoid (pigment) present in leaves. However, these two colours are covered by chlorophyll which are produced during summer time. 

Facts from: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/veg/trees/treestruecolor.htm

Veins of the leaf:

Created with twines pleated together to show the bond between the school, teachers and pupils. 

Star padding & cushion:

Star represents 'extraordinary'. Jieminites are extraordinary in their unique ways. 

Leopard spots:

Leopard is one of the fastest animals in the world hence it symbolise that JPS is fast catching up with other 'better' schools in terms of academic results and achievements. 

The base colour is gold to represent all the gold awards which the school received in this year's SYF competition. It represents the school excellent achievement in performing arts. It also depicts the team's desire to achieve a gold award for A is for Art. 

The colours (beige, brown and black) of the spots also represented the 3 main races in our school. 

Armrest:

Morning glory flowers were drawn to signify 'welcome', welcoming guest into our school and onto the seat. Mandy got this inspiration as the flowers blossom in the morning to welcome the sunshine. 

Plastic crystal studs:

Jiemin Primary pupils are known as Jieminites and our school's reward system is in the form of awarding weekly JEM stamps hence plastic crystal studs (gems) were used to decorate the flap. 

The heart shape blue stud represents the pupils who are surrounded by the 4 pink tear drop shape pink studs which represented the 4 school values; caring, respect, commitment and integrity. 

Twine of ribbons around the legs:

The many colours of the ribbons represent vibrancy which is 1/3 our JPS's vision; A vibrant and caring community of life-long learners. 

A is for Art 2012 - Making the Chair (Part 4)

A is for Art 2012 - Making the Chair (Part4)

(27 July 2012)



Finally it was the last day to complete the Chair. The last day of  hands-on 'lesson' for the kids on this artastic journey ... ='(

Bao Ping and Susan were in-charge of creating and designing the flap with plastic crystal studs

Farhana and Celena arranging the peacock feathers on the back of the chair.  

Li Qi and Wen Yin painting the morning glories which Mandy had drew on the armrest after she went for her Math Olympiad lesson. 

adding sparkles to the 'star' padding  

Maleha adding the final touch to the star cushion 

Wen Yin and Li Qi having fun acting as 宫女 fanning the 'emperor' with the peacock feathers.  

Here we have our principal, Mrs Mano, inspecting the chair. She is pleased with the pupils' effort and her first comment was, "It looks like a throne."

Ain and I were super thrilled to hear that cos we did not tell her that the theme of the chair was a seat of honour and she hit the jackpot just like that.... =) 


Now that the chair has been completed.... It's time for the admin stuff... =P.... filling in of forms, write-ups, finance claims etc etc.... =S 

A is for Art 2012 - Making the Chair (Part 3) + Interview

A is for Art 2012 - 

Making the Chair (Part 3) + The Interview

It was the day of the filming and school visit by the organising committee.... 

the photographer taking pics of the kids' work 

We started the day with making ribbons for the legs of the chair using pipe cleaners. 

Celena and Farhana making the ribbons 

Bao Ping attaching the colourful ribbons to the twine 

the challengers doing a good job at multi-tasking... answering Ira's questions and still continuing with their tasks... 

the completed twine of ribbons  

Bao Ping and Li Qi attaching the completed twine of ribbons around the legs of the chair 

We finally started on the back of the chair

Maleha trying to get the perfect shade

The photographer taking a snapshot of Maleha and Susan working hard at blending the colours

The completed work going through a touch-up by Susan and Wen Yin which resulted in our very first and only mediation process in this whole A is for Art journey .. =S

Scenario:
Maleha and Susan volunteered to paint the back of the chair which was in the shape of a 'leaf'. The team had previously agreed to paint it in green, yellow and orange to depict an autumn leaf but somehow the version which Maleha created was not to some of the challengers' expectation. They were also unhappy that Maleha was in-charge of the 'main' part of the chair. 


And the case of 'too many cooks spoil the broth' snowballed. Up to 4 other challengers decided to pick up the paintbrush to 'touch-up' on Maleha's work which resulted in the 'leaf' looking like 4 pieces of separate artwork. I kept questioning their intentions and the reasons for their choice but none knew what they were doing. They started pushing the blame to one another till the teacher in me had to ask them to stop. 


I spent a good 10 minutes talking to them about respecting each others' contribution and having the few of them to come to a consensus on the remaining task to be completed. And when I asked how were they going to rectify the 'unique' artwork they had created, I was glad Maleha volunteered to fix it. 

Susan and Wen Yin making a second padding and cushion with bubble wrap. The sealed edges of those made in teh previous lesson opened up and the cotton wool stuffing got stuck to the uhu glue... thinking on the bright side, they made bigger cushions... =) 

Farhana being intereviewed

Susan's turn at the interviewing corner

and finally my turn..... =S

Anyway, these were what i really wanted to say but only said 20% during the interview... ='(  

1. Why did you decide to participate in A is for Art?

I went for the A is for Art Preview thinking that it was a workshop on the teaching of art through museum artefacts. I have always welcome interesting art projects where art teachers and pupils can challenge themselves. I shared information of the project with my my art teachers and we decided to just give it a try and see where it could lead us to.

2. What were some challenges you faced when you started on the project?

The first challenge was that we do not know how big or small scale the project should be carried out so every now and then, we will have doubt if we were on the right track. That’s why we are very thankful for the mid-point sharing. It sort of assured us that yes, we are sort of doing it right.

The second was finding a suitable time to conduct the lesson so that all those who signed up for the program could attend the lessons. Both the teachers involved and the pupils have very tight schedule. Due to supplementary classes, math Olympiad training, ICT baseline lessons, CCA and modular CCA before curriculum time, we have to ‘beg’ some teachers to excuse some of the pupils from the other programs.

3. How did the programme help you as an art teacher?

It opens my eyes to how student-centred art lesson can be taught and reinforces the fact that art is everywhere. Instead of telling the pupils what to do and how to do art in our usual art lessons, activities are planned and conducted to guide pupils to create their own learning. 

4. What do you think is the impact of this project on students and the school?

The pupils are definitely more confident and more positive about their talent. Art is no longer about creating something beautiful. The colours or patterns created now has meanings and values in them.


The opportunities given to pupils to talk about their artwork and listen to others talk about their artwork allow the pupils to see things in different perspectives and to understand that art can be very subjective and personal.

Museum artefacts are now no longer just items from the past. The pupils are more observant and are learning how to interpret artefacts and artwork with vocabulary picked up from the challenges.

After completing the ultimate challenge, the core team will be sharing their learning and experience with the afternoon cohort and we will invite the pupils to participate in some of the sketching and designing activities.

There is very positive result from this program and the art department is looking at how we can use some the challenges and the artcards for the teaching and learning of art next year. We are also in the talk have art learning journey to the various museums next year.

In fact, some of the aesthetic department teachers and P1 art teachers have already tried the blow wind blow a colour game with their art pupils.

5. What sort of support did you get?

We were given total freedom to experiment everything without constraint. And I feel that is the greatest support any art project can get. Ain and I were free to determine the scale at which the project is to be, the type of pupils we want and how do we go about getting the pupils, how to conduct the challenges etc.

We were even given platform to create awareness for the project. We were asked to share about the project and some of the activities during one of the aesthetic meetings which our principal sat in. Both our principal and teachers gave very positive feedback and contributed some suggestions which we included in our lessons.

We also managed to put this project up as a Professional Learning Team and 2 other teachers came on board to help in the facilitation of the trip to ACM and also the art wall. This allows Ain and me to focus solely on the conduct of the lesson which makes the project so much more manageable.  

6. Will you collaborate with ACM again and why?

A definite yes. The art department is always looking out for new areas of art to expose our pupils to and cultural art is definitely an area that we can explore. I really enjoy working on this program and also working with ACM and STAR who gives us so much guidance and support in how we can engage the pupils through the challenges.