Children Art Class

I haven't been posting for the past few weeks, and am slowly catching up. 


Seeing S' enthusiasm for art, on 4th September, just after he turned 4, I enrolled him for a children's art class at the Malaysian Institute of Art. I also enrolled myself and sat in at the back of the class, doing my own painting. He was the youngest in the class. I was quite impressed to see him sitting independently and listening to the teacher. He draws very fast and confidently and hardly uses the eraser. He could sit for an hour just doing the drawing and painting. The last half hour, he got restless.  

I wanted to send him for a trial class, but they didn't have any, so I had to stick on for a month. The art class was 26 km away, and it was held on a Saturday, from 4.00 pm - 5.30 pm. I had to use the Middle Ring Road 2 which was usually heavy with traffic and it took me 45 minutes to reach there and on some occasions, I hour to get back. In the end, I stopped after 1 month as I'm usually busy on Saturdays and couldn't commit for long term. I liked the teacher and found that she was good at handling young children and could relate at their level. At one point of time, there were 14 students in her class...no mean feat.    


The teacher found it challenging to teach him initially as he always draws what he wants and wasn't open to suggestions. That's why the boat in the second picture turned into a caravan, as he loved wheels. 

S is seated strategically on the far left. 

The teacher asked him to draw anything he liked, and he drew trucks - his favourite drawing object at that point in time

"Caravan on water" - was supposed to be a boat actually

"Sunflowers"

From the story - "The three little pigs". 

I liked the way he used the paints like a game and splashed brown "mud" on the small pig in front.


I was a little sad to stop his class as he loved it very much. However, I am often very busy on weekends and the art class is only held on weekends. 


After that, I tried searching for a nearer art class, but the teachers weren't suitable. Maybe they were good at art but that wasn't the criteria I was looking for. I wanted one who was caring and could get down to their level. Their art skill need not necessarily be the best. The two teachers that I visited - who were operating franchised art centres did not fit the bill. 


In the meantime, I decided to just let him draw at home. Surprisingly, he does his own drawing by "copying" other drawings / pictures and gets me to guide him whenever he needs help, which is not often. I will post that artwork in another post.