Hi Cimman,

thank you very much for your kind words.

I am glad that nowadays, parents are much better informed (even in areas out of their expertise like art) to question the quality of lessons for the benefit of their children’s education.

As the lead trainer (of The Art Fuss), I endeavour to train other teachers working under me to deliver lessons with consistent quality because we believe that, among the many stakeholders, the most important one would be the student and no matter what, should not be shortchanged.

To put it across casually, we do not waste the student’s time or talent and we do not waste parents’ hard earned money.

If anyone is interested to discuss further on my ideas on art paedagogy in future, it will be pleasure of mine to share more. =D
Cheers!

Hello parents,

a very interesting topic and very thought-provoking sharing of thoughts.
Kindly also allow me to share what I think on the topic thus far on how should art be taught and what is art. Before I go on, I will share my idea on defining art pertaining and useful to the context.

Some definition of art
Usually, there are 2 aspects that made up a piece of art, namely techniques (formalistic and non-formalistic) and concept. However, in some cases, an art work can be almost devoid of concept (naturalism art)
e.g http://simplyartonline.net/Fallen%20Monarchs%20-%20William%20Bliss%20Baker.jpg
[The artist didn't have a personal concept to modify/enhance how the artworks should look like but simply record nature as it is in its realistic setting]

And some almost devoid of any formalistic technique (pure abstraction art).
e.g http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/lm1024.jpg
[The artist expressed himself with nothing recognisable as an object, instead depicted an image with the concept- a visual recording of his subconscious action]

Apparently, art can exist in various forms mentioned above and can be learned in its various forms.

Which aspect of art to learn then?
However, I think it is very important and essential for a child to learn art that consists of both formalistic qualities (proportion, dimension etc) and concept! Why one when you can have two?
After all, many types of art consist both formalistic aspect and concept and how is your child going to be able to do such artworks if only one aspect is being trained?

A child trained purely in formalistic aspect will be able to create very realistic artworks and possess keen observation of external objects but might be lacking in personal expression that is internal. While a child trained purely in conceptual artwork will lack the ability to train his motor skills and will be unable to create recognisable objects from nature in his artworks.

Some ideas in regard to parents' concerns
\"In the art world, how does one evaluate the effectiveness of the art teacher ?\"
1) Hi Cimman, that's a very good topic to discuss. Compare artworks of child periodically. Has the drawing colouring become more precise? Has the form of the object become more defined and recognisable? Does the child now has more idea on his/her own to carry out when doing art? Does the art teacher enhance or touch up the child's work hence, improvement in artwork is unable and unfair to be judged? Is the teacher able to analyze the weakness and strength of your child and work on them. To improve on the weakness and tap on the strength.

2)\"I beg to differ that there should be objective evaluation criteria for art class.\" \"As for those teaching of proportion, dimension, perspective drawing etc, I would call them technical drawing instead of arts\"
Hi daddy2007, there can be an objective evaluation criteria for art class based on the works. I taught in Sec school as well as lectured for polytechnic in fine art and media art. 80% of my marking scheme is on objective evaluation criteria and 20% is on assessment of student's self expression based on my artistic knowledge and judgement. MOE does have a set of formalistic evaluation criteria for their teachers to follow too. You are right on the term, technical drawing. Technical drawing however, is one form of art too. There are many technical figure drawings done by old masters and in our times, they are considered great art. Of course, if you think they are not art, well, your view should and will be respected as well.

3) \"I notice her depiction of objects in her drawing/paintings now are more \"realistic\". This is so call self-realisation I guess\"
Correct, that is self-realisation. Everyone practice self-realisation learning. It is our natural (nature) ability when we try to make sense and piece information together. However, of course with training (aka nurture), one will be able to learn faster. That is the purpose of education. Imagine this, a child practising self-realisation and able to realise how to draw a lion when he is 8 year old or a trained child who is 6 but already knows how to draw a lion because he/she is taught. That will be the difference in a trained and untrained individual. My question will be, why want to learn slower when you can learn faster?

4) I don't think this \"proportion\" thingy should be impose at onset or my gal will be turned-off.
Good point that is brought up as I am sure many parents are concerned with imposing children with education till learning is no longer fun. For young children, most often than that, they only learn simple 2D proportion (relative size, angle etc) and layering. They will not be frustrated by trying to draw 3-dimensional objects with complicated foreshortening. Good learning is step by step, tapping on the lessons previous learnt hence, they should not be feeling frustrated at things they cannot achieve but celebrate as they feel proud when succeed in drawing something new and challenging, moving up another step and building up their self-confidence and abilities.

5) \"Art should be about free expression... not about getting it right like other subjects such as math and science, which have definitive answers.\"
Free expression is definitely important. For me, I believe in striking a good balance. To be able to depict well enough for the subject to be recognisable and aesthetically sound as well as an element of personal expression and concept to the subject. Art have definite answers when come to formalistic qualities that's why even MOE has a formalistic evaluation criteria for art in schools. Only at conceptual level, it doesn't have a very definitive answer.
One of the samples would be Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (Dadaism)
http://www.beatmuseum.org/duchamp/fountain.html
Till to today, there is a fair share of people agreeing and disagreeing on his conceptual work being art. =P

6) \"I have put my child on an art course in a CC before. I was shocked to see how she was taught.\"
Hi Bliss, this might be due to either, the way the teacher teaches or the class is too big for the teacher to coach the students in different drawings and in details pertaining to the individual child. It helps to enrol into individual or small group class for optimised learning.

These are my thoughts and of course, feel free to agree or disagree with me. I respect diversity.
For parents who are interested to know more or have questions about art or art and education, feel free to ring me up at 9021 9512 or email me [email protected]
You don't have to be interested in signing up for courses to contact me though. I don't mind keeping in touch just to share ideas and knowledge about art as I am quite a busybody when come to art. =P
Cheers!

-J Lim, an art teacher with years of teaching experience with students from as young as 4 to adults and have a keen interest in art theory and philosophy beside the practice itself.

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Hi everyone, if you are interested in a half day (afternoon) garden art outing for yourself or your kids on 5th June, Sunday, please check out our \"Art-at-Hort\" event on http://www.theartfuss.blogspot.com

The trip will include a tour at the beautiful Hort Park to know more about art and nature, art making session with a Nature theme as well as a picnic-style hi-tea. Fun and learning promised! Please contact The Art Fuss at [email protected] or +65 9021 9612 for more information. Contact us too if you have any enquiry or need for special arrangement. Hear from you soon.