2019 Art Wuzhen: How should we guide children in art?

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An interactive art session for children was held last weekend in the famed scenic water town of Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, to encourage children's talent in creating hand-made art pieces.

Themed "The Future Creature," the two-day art session motivated children to think about the definition of life, and what will the planet's creatures, especially humans, be like in the far future. Around 40 families participated in the activity.

Artist Huang Lin at a public art class during the 2019 Art Wuzhen in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, April 12, 2019. /CGTN Photo by Qu Bo

Huang Lin, a modern artist and teacher in China, hosted the event. During the class he explored the possibilities of future creatures with the children and showed them how to combine various materials like paper, wooden chips, magazine pages, and straws by applying skills like painting, cutting, and pasting.

The children and their parents were left to create their own work in a free way.

The art without boundaries

According to Jiang Yijing, a 10-year-old girl who participated in the activity, the event was quite different from the art class at school where the art textbook often set some requirements for the pupils, and art teachers also evaluate the artwork according to those standards.

"I can create whatever I want today," Jiang said.

Children make their own artwork at a public art class during the 2019 Art Wuzhen in Wuzhen, April 12, 2019. /CGTN Photo by Qu Bo

Art education among children: What's next?

According to Sohu, more than 79 percent of the parents would sign up for extracurricular classes, art classes or supplementary learning courses for their kids during the summer vacation. According to a survey by People's Daily in Guangzhou, more than 60 percent of the local parents have signed up for extracurricular classes for their children at weekends.

Some families have a healthy ecology in choosing those art classes, by respecting the children's interests, while many others revealed their anxiety about their kids' competitiveness. "Don't want the children to lose at the starting line" was the most frequently mentioned quote during the survey.

An art piece made by a pupil during the public art class. /Courtesy of Huang Lin

In this context, the goal of art education gets blurred. Why should children get access to art, and learn to create art at an early age?

"What is the essence of art?" Huang said, "It's opening our hearts and giving everyone more freedom and their own way of expression." His point of view may pose a better reason for children to learn art in the future.

The session was part of the 2019 Wuzhen Contemporary Art Exhibition, or 2019 Art Wuzhen, an international art event which will run from March 31 to June 30 this year. The theme of the children's art session is also a further exploration of the exhibition's theme "Now Is the Time."

Video editor: Wang Zeyu

Videographers: Wang Zeyu, Cheng Biao

Photographer: Qu Bo

Text by: Jiang Qingrui

Copy editors: Matthew Watson, Josh McNally

Chief editor: Xu Jian