Have you ever wondered what goes on in the mind of an art student? What made them take up art? What motivates them to keep on creating despite the long, painful hours, the constant fixing of mistakes, the arm cramps, the paint-stained clothes… you get the idea. Well, wonder no more as this blog post will be all about our art students and what they think! We interviewed a few of them about their art journey and what drives them.
JAINA
Meet Jaina! She’s 15 this year, and has been doing art since as long as she can remember. It has been over a year since she joined us here at Visual Arts Centre. Jaina usually dabbles with digital art, but since joining us she has ventured out of her comfort zone and is exploring new and different mediums of art. She is currently taking our oil painting course. Still, like many artists, she has dealt with many obstacles along her art journey. She faces art blocks, and sometimes feels that the final product of her art doesn’t meet her expectations. Regardless, she has persevered and has come a long way as an artist.
XUE AN
Up next, we have Xue An, who will also be sharing her experiences in art. She has been doing art since she was in secondary school, and is now 25. She started doing art mainly out of interest and continued the hobby till today. Xue An’s favourite medium to work with is watercolour, and she draws inspiration from post impressionists, such as artists like Paul Cezanne, or Vincent van Gogh. She too is a student of our oil painting course. However, like most Singaporeans, she lives a busy work life, and often loses motivation to draw. Thus, she puts aside time to have lessons here at the Visual Arts Centre to ensure she can continue and further her passion for the arts despite her hectic work schedule.
JOHANNES
Now, we have Johannes, who is a student of our drawing and sketching class. He is 31, and has has only started drawing seriously since taking our lessons. With his friend Hamid, he has been our student for about 4 months, and started drawing as he was intrigued about how drawing uses different parts of your brain. Upon recalling that he did portrait sketching in secondary school, Johannes wanted to do a refreshment on art after 10 odd years. However, he finds that when drawing, he reproduces reality, and does not create it. Thus, his favourite medium of art to work with is actually clay, and he enjoys making pottery. He also does some photography in his free time. His art products may not be directly influenced by them, but Johannes enjoys viewing works done by expressionists, like August Macke, and also enjoys older styles of art, like those done by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
In terms of the struggles he faced during his art journey, Johannes is a very science and logic driven person, and he is often confused about how there is no real rule and no right answer to art. Art works heavily with concepts, and is really about perceiving, not entirely about technique. You just have to keep going back and forth until you somehow achieve the result you wanted to achieve, and for Johannes that is quite a novel experience.
HAMID
Our fourth and final student is Hamid, a student of our drawing and sketching class. Hamid studied art history in university, thus has knowledge in a fair amount of art theories. He indulges in poetry and literature and is inspired by artists like Jasper Johns, Nancy Graves and Barnett Newman. However, Hamid had never really gotten to trying out art practically, and thus he wanted to push himself out of his comfort zone and give art a shot. He has been with us here at VAC, along with his friend Johannes for about 4 months.
To Hamid, the hardest part of art for him thus far is perceiving the different depths and dimensions since art can be and is often multidimensional. However, he points out that despite the difficulty in perceiving art, this helps to challenge different aspects of his brain, especially in how he views art.
Are you like these artists? Do you want to be like these artists? Here at the Visual Arts Centre, we can help to fuel your passion for art by providing you with the materials and resources you need to start, develop and polish your artistic talents. Feel free to drop on down anytime for a trial class if you are interested! Biscuits, tea and coffee are complimentary 😉
Contact us at info@visualartscentre.sg or 6255 0711/ 6733 2155 if you have any enquiries!
