Art

This week, our Year 1–2 children explored how colours can express emotions.

We began by sharing ideas about what feelings different colours bring to mind. Then the children experimented by blowing paint to create imaginative patterns, which became the base for their very own “Emotion Monsters.” Each student added unique facial expressions and body parts, showing creativity and individuality.

In the second session, we learned about primary and secondary colours. The children played a fun quiz game, guessing whether colours were primary or secondary, and then enjoyed mixing paints to create new colours of their choice. Through this activity, they gained a clear understanding of colour relationships and were excited to experiment further. We are so proud of how well the children engaged with both the creative and learning aspects of this project. Their curiosity, teamwork, and enthusiasm shone brightly. Well done, everyone!

Discovering Impressionism with Monet This week, our students began learning about Impressionism, an art movement that started in the late 1800s.

At that time, the invention of the camera made many people wonder if painting was still necessary. But instead of giving up, a group of artists turned this challenge into an opportunity.

They began to capture on canvas what a camera could not: the changing light, colours, and atmosphere of each unique moment.

The most famous of these artists was Claude Monet, often called the founder of Impressionism.

He painted outdoors, studying how sunlight and shadows changed the way trees, water, and landscapes looked throughout the day. His paintings showed not only what he saw, but also what he felt in those moments. In class, the children explored Monet’s life as a young boy and as a painter.

They then experienced Impressionism for themselves by creating beautiful willow tree artworks with oil pastels, inspired by Monet’s style. Each child expressed their own unique brushstrokes, lines, and colours, showing how light can completely transform the feeling of a picture. The results are wonderful, full of creativity and individuality. I am very excited to see how these Impressionist-inspired works will be completed in our next lesson!

This week, we continued with our main art topic, “Express Yourself.”

Building on last week’s work with self-portrait collages, students expanded their ideas by creating magazine cover artworks that highlight their identity. Using their own photographs, combined with images, colours, words, and design elements, they began to design covers that communicate who they are and what makes them unique.

Through this project, students are not only learning about layout, text, and visual composition, but also reflecting on their individuality and personal expression. Each cover is turning into a powerful statement of self-identity. I am looking forward to seeing how their magazine covers will develop and come together in the next lesson!

The Year 7–9 students first learned about light and shading before practicing how to draw spheres, cylinders, and cubes.

They explored different hatching techniques to show value and create the effect of light and shadow. After that, they applied these skills to drawing trees, using both pencil shading and watercolours to experiment with how tone and shading can bring depth and dimension to their artwork.

It was not an easy task, but the students produced impressive pieces that clearly reflected each of their individual strengths.

This week, our year 1-2 children explored how colours can show different feelings and emotions.

We talked about what makes us feel happy, sad, or proud, and how those emotions can be expressed in art.

Using straws, the children blew paint across their paper to create fun and surprising shapes.

From these shapes, they imagined and designed colourful monsters, adding eyes and mouths to bring their creatures to life.

The activity helped students see how art can express emotions in playful and creative ways.

Everyone had lots of fun discovering how colours and shapes can tell a story about feelings.

This week we spent time drawing the K-pop Demon Hunters character, Derpy. Instead of the traditional brown-toned tiger seen in Korean folk paintings, students created a blue character and completed it with a variety of poses. They also added a magpie wearing a traditional Korean gat (hat).

Although some students found it challenging at first, they learned how to draw character poses and were able to complete their work with joy and confidence.

Next week we will begin learning about Impressionism and Impressionist painters.

This week, our students created their own K-pop Demon Hunters character, Derpy. This activity connected to the tiger and magpie folk art we explored last week, reimagined in a modern style. We then returned to our main art topic, “Express Yourself.” Students began working on a self-portrait collage, an artwork that represents who they are. Using pictures, colours, words, and letters, they started to design pieces that show their unique identity. This project has just begun, and students will continue developing their self-portrait collages in the next art lesson.

This week, we have been enjoying our special Chuseok art projects, celebrating tradition and creativity. After these holiday activities, we returned to our main topic in art—exploring the seven elements of art. So far, we have learned about light, shadow, shapes, and lines.

Today, we applied these skills to drawing trees. A tree is not just a trunk with leaves—it comes alive when we observe the details of light and shadow. We looked carefully at how the direction of light changes the tones, creating highlights and darker areas that make the tree look three-dimensional.

Students worked thoughtfully, adding shading to their sketches and discovering how shapes and lines can build the texture of bark and the volume of leaves. I look forward to seeing their completed artworks in our next lesson.

In celebration of Chuseok, the year 1-2 children explored Korean traditions through creative art projects. They designed Cheongsachorong (traditional red and blue lanterns), drew and coloured Songpyeon (Korean rice cakes), To make the scene more festive, the students also created colourful sparrow mobiles to hang around the scarecrow. These activities gave the children a wonderful opportunity to learn about Korean culture while expressing their creativity in fun and meaningful ways.

In celebration of Chuseok, the children took part in a special cultural art activity. They began by writing their wishes to the full moon, expressing their hopes in both words and drawings. Together, they decorated a scarecrow by adding facial features such as eyes, a nose, and a mouth, as well as designing colourful buttons. To complete the character, the scarecrow was dressed with gloves and a hat.

As a finishing touch, the students designed sparrow mobiles to place around the scarecrow, creating a lively and festive scene. This activity not only encouraged creativity but also deepened the children’s understanding of Korean traditions during Chuseok.