We are not individuals - but parts of other things. Part of a family, a friendship, a situation, an event. We are all shaped by our experiences, influenced by the people who cross our paths and inspired by our surroundings.
As artists, that influence and inspiration is presented outwardly to the world. Often commercialised, with a price attached to it. And sometimes commoditised; it’s worn, used, labelled, stored away, celebrated for a hot second and forgotten about when the next commodity is purchased.
While many may disagree, in terms of appreciation, Art can be separated from the artist. It is possible to admire McQueen’s Fashion House without ever having known about McQueen’s Terraced House. But that doesn’t wipe clean the artist from the artwork. Artworks are saturated with the context and history in which it was created. 

[written for Collegiate, NLCS International Teaching, Learning and CPD Journal, Issue 2, July 2022]

My favourite pedagogical reads are those uncomplicated papers or books that give words to simple thoughts. On reading Richard Gervers’s Education- A Manifesto for Change, it was the phrases ‘assumed excellence’ and ‘assumed incompetence,’ that created a linear model in my mind on which I immediately started to plot my own practice. In the classroom, when we offer support or frameworks to all students as opposed to those identified as needing them, we are assuming an incompetence. When challenging all students to complete the task without the frameworks, then target the support as students need it, we are assuming excellence. As a school that has a guiding statement to offer our students ‘floors, not ceilings’, this reflection is not only relevant but crucial in our awareness of stretch and challenge in the classroom. So, what about the implied assumptions made in our Professional Development provision? Surely our teachers not only deserve this differentiated approach but also the assumed belief that they are highly capable educators and subject specialists.​

Urine, feaces, tears, blood, hair, skin– the human body has been used not merely as the subject of art works, but also as the substance. The way this has occurred has been diverse in terms of appearance and art-making practices, encompassing casting and sculptural processes, drawing, painting and photography. As diverse as they are, the artworks we’ll explore today have one thing in common: they are all considered to be examples of what we term “biomaterial” artworks. 
Human bodily materials are invested with highly symbolic cultural association and complex emotional entanglements, so the use of human biomatter as an art medium opens up an intriguing opportunity to reflect upon the relationships between materiality, aesthetics and most interestingly, ethics. How do artists get away with it?

​Jet lag gave way to excitement, fun and creativity for our six travelling artists last month at the 400 Year Olympiad hosted by Dulwich College London. After an exhausting journey to the UK, our artists (along with the rest of the DCSL team), dived straight into the very best of London’s Art and Cultural scene with a tour starting at the National Gallery, heading through Southbank and ending at the Tate Modern. On arriving at Dulwich College London, the artists were amazed by the impressive architecture of the college itself. They were quickly put to work during an “Art Hijack,” in which fortune cookies revealed a hidden drawing task to complete on a postcard. These then became part of a large installation displayed in one of the historic halls. The majority of the artists’ time was spent in their workshops in which they worked alongside professional artists including puppet maker, Sian Kidd and ceramicist, Sarah Christie. A personal highlight for me, was meeting and learning from silversmith, Sari Rathel. The conceptual nature of her pieces combined with absolute mastery, is so inspiring. Possibly the most impressive qualities demonstrated by our artists during this time wasn’t necessarily their creative competence or innovation, but their confidence, humour and compassion. All six students fully embraced every opportunity to work with adults and other students that they had only just met, clearly having a great time in the process. We even managed to squeeze in another trip to Southbank to visit the Hayward Gallery and spend time with the art students from DCB. One student in particular demonstrated enormous amounts of courage and composure, when she took to the stage at the closing ceremony. Speaking in both Korean and English, Suan bravely made a speech about her Art experiences in front of the other colleges in the spectacular Great Hall.  The trip was a truly memorable experience that I’m sure has impacted our creative and international perspectives.
Thank you and well done, to our six international artists!

​At the weekend, a group of Art students had a fun filled day working with children at the Global Youth Fair event, “UK to Korea”. We were inundated by children wanting to take part in our UK inspired craft activity. Looking at the work of UK artist Grayson Perry, children used a coil method to skilfully create small plates using coloured clay. They selected a typically British image as a template (from a Queen’s Guard to a teacup) and filled the shapes with rolled clay before moulding it into the form of a plate. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed the activity and we were never without a queue- another typically British pastime! Thank you to our wonderful student ambassadors Karlie, Julie, Paul, Grace and Alix for your enthusiasm, patience and professionalism. 

​Last Thursday, our Year 12 Visual Artists were lead in a montage workshop by artist and lecturer Sarah Horton. Sarah is the Subject Leader for MA Fine Art and the Senior Lecturer, BA (Hons) Fine Art at Norwich University of the Arts. The purpose of the practical workshop was to encourage a sense of lateral thinking around a starting point- creating without intention with the possibility that the resulting imagery might inspire further investigation. As the students intently worked on their postcard collages, Sarah talked to us about the university application process and what to expect when studying Visual Arts in the UK. To offer context to both the practical workshop and the university guidance, Sarah introduced us to the work of numerous successful designers, artists and practitioners within the Visual Arts who worked in similar styles to our stripy collages. The year 12 artists learned a great deal about how they might extend their art studies into further education and beyond. 

​Students have been left in awe and amazement after Disney Animator, Aaron Blaise visited DCSL this week. Gasps were heard throughout the theatre as students realised he had created so many of their favourite characters. From Nala in the Lion King to Raja in Aladdin, it was incredible to see the process from concept to the final feature. Through lectures and workshops, Aaron has undoubtedly inspired many youngsters with his incredible and humbling story. The “Persistence of Vision” is a film-making term referring to the illusion of movement through still images. Aaron used this phrase as his overarching theme for the sessions he delivered, encouraging students to remain focused on their goals, even when faced with obstacles. Students were captivated and moved as he spoke about the highs and lows of his extraordinary life. Year 7 were introduced to animation methods that depict the effect of gravity and soon realised that “everything in animation is the bouncing ball.” Whilst IB Art and Drama students were fortunate enough to work alongside Aaron during a pen and ink workshop. A truly inspirational day for all of our young artists.  

​Our talented students in Year 8 have certainly impressed this term as they produced work in response to a live brief provided by the Forgiveness Museum in Steyl, The Netherlands. The museum exhibits all kinds of pieces on the subject of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is also the only museum in the world that is focused on these theme's. Right now, their exhibition is especially focused on youth to encourage us to think about what forgiveness is and what it means in a world full of conflict and oppression.
We researched people who embodied or inspired forgiveness, and used our newly honed portraiture skills and mono-printing techniques to capture their likenesses. To emphasize our concepts further, we used transfer techniques to include quotes that encapsulate our message.
All year 8 students produced an outcome and twelve pieces were selected by the Year 13 IB Visual Arts students. Eric commented that he was “flabbergasted by the almost abstract nature of the layered portraits.” Whilst Yeonwoo was inspired by the students’ “impressive and sophisticated compositions.” It was the “imaginative and bold use of colour” that captured the attention of Felipe.
Congratulations to the following students, whose work will be exhibited at the Forgiveness Museum until February 2018. 

"How lucky I am, that in my twelve years in this profession, I have spent four of them teaching Sebastian." says Shelley Swain, Head of Art and Graphic Design at Dulwich College Shanghai. She is talking about Year 13 student, Sebastian, who has not only been awarded a scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design, but has just been shortlisted for the Saatchi Gallery Art Prize. The Saatchi Art Prize is a very prestigious art competition that attracts thousands of entries every year. From the 24,000 entries, just 20 artists were shortlisted, including our very own Sebastian.

Shelley continues, "His photograph entitled The Last Lesson, is a satirical remake of Da Vinci's The Last Supper and captures who Sebastian is as an artist and observer of the world. As a draftsman his drawings are exceptional, however, over the last two years Sebastian has often turned his back on his traditional fine art talents to pursue much riskier and challenging methods and pathways. Highly competent in both digital and hand-made media, his outcomes always offer an intelligent and often witty narrative. This is also a reflection of Sebastian's character. An unassuming student, it is easy to mistake his calm and reflective nature for shyness. However, upon engaging in conversations about his work, it is clear that he has a lot of confidence and charisma."

The exhibition of the 20 shortlisted works will take place 4th-13th July 2017 at the Saatchi Gallery, London. The winner and runner up prizes will be announced on the 4th July at an awards evening.

We offer Sebastian our warmest congratulations in all that he has achieved so far, and the very best of luck in his future endeavours!

Original Article

“Creativity” article for The Shanghai Daily
 
We live in an ever increasingly visual and digital world. I believe passionately that a quality Art education is vital for young people to not only understand the world they’re viewing but to develop their own visual language in order to interact with it successfully.
 
A creative environment (be it a classroom or at home) should be a safe space for children to take risks and have their voices not only heard but encouraged. It is through positivity, reassurance and humour, that a positive climate can be created.
 
All skills develop over time and require practice. The more enjoyable we can make a creative session, the more likely a child will want to repeat the process. As a child gets older, it is motivation and resilience that will keep them practicing. Therefore, it is important that children know why they are doing something. “If we keep practicing gradual tonal change and accurate recording, soon you’ll be able to create a portait and then we can learn how to create expression!”
 
It is sometimes difficult to motivate children to be creative when they do not appear to show any interest in the Arts and would rather place their energy elsewhere (sports, academics etc). This is when it is most important to share the purpose of what we’re doing and find links to their existing interests. For a child who is very mathematical, creativity can come from rhythmic pattern based work including tessellations, rotations and repetitions. A child who is fascinated by science and dreams of being a surgeon can be persuaded into visual arts when highlighting the fine motor skills that are developed through paper cutting or origami; the same skills required by the best surgeons!
 
Looking at the work of others is often the most successful starting point when teaching or developing creativity. Whether its artefacts from other cultures, paintings from the 20th Century or installations from Contemporary artists, they will provide initial conversation and idea generation. This leads to the acquisition of a broad knowledge of cultures and artists as well as transferable analytical skills. Involving the work of others also provides context for the child; where do I fit into the Art World?
 
Through encouragement and purposeful direction, we can instill a love of learning and a lifelong appreciation and enthusiasm for the Creative Arts.