Projek Semai

eduwebtv Interview

2009-01-21T21:32:00.003+08:00

An interview by eduwebtv on 18 January 2009.

source: www.eduwebtv.com

Exhibition Documentation

2009-01-21T20:26:00.005+08:00

For those who missed, here are some photos!

The talk on "Why Art?":

Why Art ?

Is art important ?

The art around us.

Talking about how other similar projects inspired Semai.

Nice silhouette.

An analysis on the perception of knowledge from the East and the West. Taking into consideration Eastern's and Western's cultural and social background.

Other than telling the concepts of art, we also hoped to convey the message that creativity is an integral tool in education, and how creativity can change the dead-pan, pedantic, scholastic, ontological, meritocratic, study-for-exam-only education system that we have here.

Phoon Shiau Tyng showing some works to one of the visitors.

...with some explainations to assist all the more holistic view on the philosophy of the Puzzle Painting workshop.

Getting busy with the crowds.

Thanks to Choo Ping Hao, David Xavier and Lau Mengq Yek for documenting the entire process. And also for helping out on the presentation.

Exhibition and Talk

2009-01-15T02:55:00.005+08:00

E-invites for Exhibition and Talk:Public Viewing & Gallery Walkthrough
17/1/09 (Saturday) 7pm - 9.30pm
18/1/09 (Sunday) 2pm - 9.30pm

Talk "Why Art?" by Tan Zi Hao (in Mandarin)
17/1/09 (Saturday) 8pm

Venue
11, Jalan BS 5/2, Taman Bukit Serdang, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor Darul Ehsan (map below)

(click to enlarge)

Contact
Tan Zi Hao 017-2604739
Phoon Shiau Tyng 012-3468102

projeksemai@gmail.com

*Do note that the talk will only be in Mandarin. For those who do not understand Mandarin may come on Sunday for gallery walkthrough.

Day 18

2009-01-01T01:28:00.007+08:00

Workshop: Documenting Mistakes
Date: 29 December 2008
Time: 10-11am
Participants: Chin Yi Ton, Hee Li Jie, Lai Shu Wei, Lai Wei Shen, Lim Jun Hong, Saw Khe Xin, Wong Kah Lok, Wong Kai Wei, Annabelle Yap Li Xing
Details: Documenting Mistakes will train the participants to accept mistakes, to see it as an opportunity to learn, to see it as part of the overall documentation of the art like in Jackson Pollock's paintings or to see it as part of the art itself. This helps not just in specifically art subject, but also in real life - to shape a positive independent attitude towards conflicts, failures and mistakes.

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This workshop started with fury - action painting!
Here's the definition of action painting from wiki: Action painting, sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical act of painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished work or concern of its artist.

Do you agree that everybody has the potential to be an artist?

I don't know if you would appreciate such chaotic artwork, the main idea isn't the aesthetic but the documentation of their movements and strength. It is a painting of event. And this is action painting.

Kai Wei in red, preoccupied with the act of 'throwing' paint...it was a rare opportunity to do so even for me. Unless you have a studio, else who wants to clean up the mess.

A group activity.

Lai Shu Wei (center) did some interesting strokes and splatters. She is the eldest amongst all, maybe she did consider the aesthetic value of the work. But Wong Kah Lok (left) being too excited, kept sweeping the board with brush and pouring water, flattened all the previous actions. And that was part of the documentation too, constantly overlapping each other.

Creating a mess within 15 minutes (which at the end took me 30 minutes to clean up), I hastily rushed them into another room to continue other exercises when the time allocated for action painting ended.

As you can see the pictures from this previous post, I asked them to draw many things which I hoped would have them realize themselves the importance of making 'mistakes'. The idea of this workshop, first is to realize mistake as an opportunity to improve, second, that mistake/imperfection shows individuality that of unique value (the participants were asked to draw a line and a square; a set with ruler, a set without), third, to accept mistake and manipulate it into something of value - see mistakes as something inspiring.

A London based designer Anna Gerber published a book entitled All Messed Up: Unpredictable Graphics where she asked simple questions like 'what is mistake' and 'what is accident'. Putting us into such irony, it actually made us realize how creativity can be explored even through such a subconscious act in which we deemed negative and perceived as error.

All of those actually lead to one single notion - perceive conflicts, failures, mistakes positively. Somehow I believed it has become an Oriental cultural value that we have to avoid problems, being non-confrontational. I truly hoped such exercises of accepting mistake can create some radicals, best done through art education. You think?

Oh, this was the last workshop!

Day 17

2008-12-31T00:17:00.010+08:00

Workshop: Visualizing Impression
Date: 28 December 2008
Time: 10-11am
Participants: Chin Yi Ton, Hee Li Jie, Lai Shu Wei, Lai Wei Shen, Lim Jun Hong, Saw Khe Xin, Wong Kah Lok, Wong Kai Wei

Details: Observation and analytic skill are important in the process of learning, the ability to see probabilities and possibilities assists in problem solving. This workshop provides exercises that we believe do such so, the participants will be trained to expand their imagination, to foresee and to be analytic. Construction of images based on 'impression' obtained through observation and memory, to this we named Visualizing Impression.

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'Draw what you have seen during the journey from your house to here.' This was the first sentence, and the participants started to trace back their memories.

I expected trees, cars, roads etc. Those were definite, I just hoped I got some cars or trees specifically drawn, can be in simple graphic form but has a characteristic that would also represent the real object observed during the journey, but I got none of those. I got the 'generally accepted'/universal graphic renderings of cars, of trees, of roads, of traffic lights and so on. No detail at all.

I moved on showing pixelated and blurred pictures as below:

Guess it.

George Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884), a classic example of pointillism.

So what's this?

Pixel rendition of Evening in Venice by Monet.

...I then asked them to imagine what's the original image without the filters. The response from this exercise sounded better than the former.

The next exercise consumed the most time, as they needed to watch short films/videos where I would interfere (pause) and the participants would have to imagine the next frame, sort of like a comic game, thinking about the following occurrences.

The list of short films/videos shown (click url to watch):

1) Is A Woman (music video)

music by Lambchop, directed by Shynola

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jfaqxcuebs
Pause while the leaves were traveling in group - Question asked: Where do you think the leaves are heading to? Draw it out. Meanwhile consider the previously observed environments, weather and season.

2) Superflat Monogram (commercial)
from Louis Vuitton, directed by Takashi Murakami
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C84FLwm3DA

Pause while the girl is entering another world - Question asked: Imagine and draw the world she and her handphone enter.

3) Bad Eggs (animation)

by Zax Inc.

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG4coPHkTmQ

Pause before the last egg hatches - Question asked: Draw what's inside the egg. Consider the context and think about reasons on why the last 'bad egg' doesn't hatch earlier with the other two.

4) Grrr (commercial)

from Honda, directed by Adam Foulkes & Alan Smith

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puGvk1RgmrE

Watch the entire video without pausing - Questions asked:
- How many chickens did you see?

- How many candles did you see on top of the cup made 'cake'?

- Describe the 10 ways as shown in the video, on how the engine being crushed and destroyed, if possible say it in sequence.

- Draw 3 flowers seen in the video.

Also in the dvd I have Tim Burton's first short and Björk's Wanderlust, but time didn't allow me to show them. I thought the videos are interesting still, show if any of you would like to watch them, just click!

I continued the videos after they drew what's in their mind. Though I skipped this for 'Bad Eggs' which made them a little upset and kept begging me to tell the actual 'thing' inside the egg, this was funny. I told them what's in the egg was what they drew and for those who weren't satisfied with such ludicrous answer, I asked them to dream about it at night.

Still they went back with a lot of noise calling me the bad guy. :D
Well, if any of the participants read this, click the url and watch it here then. Good luck.

*Projek Semai has no affiliation with any of the above directors/image makers/singers who created/produced the short films/videos. The film works were picked simply because we believed it has the value of creating suspense and triggers the children's imagination, where it would be of good use in this workshop.

Day 16 (Cézanne's Play-replacement)

2008-12-29T21:58:00.013+08:00

Workshop: Cézanne's Play (replacement)
Date: 27 December 2008
Time: 12.30-1.30pm
Participants: Chong Jun Kiat, Lai Shu Wei, Lai Wei Shen, Lennon Ng, Ng Sin-Ee
Details: The idea of Cézanne's Play derived from the 'form-oriented' approach of Paul Cézanne on the use of geometric shapes while visualizing the natural form. This truly physical activity of perceiving forms assists the participants in drawing/painting. Also from the very basic geometric shapes (cone, cube, cylinder, sphere), how can the participants imagine and rationally add in details to make each shape an object of particular interest in life. Other than the very act of seeing 2-D visuals in planar abstraction, we are also interested in the experimental Sensorimotor stage as suggested in Piaget's 4 Stages Mental Development, in which other than 'sight', touch is also an integral part of the learning process. The participants will also learn how to visualize through touching shapes, and mentally conjure up an object with details manifested by the shapes. Such were the physical ways of learning art.

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Being content with the previous Cézanne's Play session, I'd hope today another obedient batch. But some of the participants were rather ignorant and there was a juvenile fray where three were involved, eventually brought up to this one hour lesson, or somehow culminated here, hence the obedience I was hoping for was left to be indulged.

Immature yet uncompromising throwing and thrusting of words continued throughout the entire session - set a negative lot for themselves.

Same thing again, first I introduced the principle of lever and its application in layouts and conducted a simple drawing exercise where compositional balance was of utmost important. Then I got them into drawing three lines and that three lines had to be implemented in a scenery based on the structure formed. Later, three shapes (triangle, square & circle) - whether shape in a shape, overlap, separate etc - in any way, any size, therein form a still life picture or imaginatively carve a group of random objects.

Showing them the famous The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch aka Skating Minister (1784) by Sir Henry Raeburn. A visually direct example for me to explain the idea of lever, at the same time pointing out the focus point on the face as load and the leg on the left as effort that holds the entire balance of the picture and the person itself, and the standing leg as fulcrum.

Participants were asked to compose a visual composition with lines and dots varied in size, blackness and thickness.

The 3-line method can be useful if you are running out of ideas in composition.

Some might find it difficult; clearer explanations with lots of patience should do.

After the all too planar drawings, we arrived to more sensational exercises - aforementioned in the details of the workshop, playing with shadows and the sense of touch.

Not a guessing game, but rather they have to think about a plethora of possibilities signified by the shape(s) silhouetted before the light source, as the pictures below:

What can this shape be?

Marilah kita berwayang-kulit.

What's this? A deer or some horned antagonists of the Hindu epics?

Then it's time to get your fingers wantonly sensible:

They have to draw out what they have touched in the black bag. By touching the shapes, they have to imagine and visualize the details.

Ever wonder what's inside?

A physical exercise - visualizing through touch.

The workshop got better when they have such fun. But the exchange of scorn persisted till end while I nagged tediously, and such a mundane cacophony too - till end.

Something Sweet

2008-12-25T01:39:00.008+08:00

We found a sun in our inbox lately and thought of sharing it to all the participants and readers:

' Sun With U All '
(from a very nice person named Chik Ying)

Thanks again.

Stop Motion cancelled

2008-12-25T00:37:00.002+08:00

Stop Motion workshop was cancelled due to the poor response in participation. Unfortunately, no video/short film/time-based medium work will be produced in this Projek Semai.

the Puzzle and the Gate

2008-12-24T23:17:00.010+08:00

Puzzle Painting:

23 Dec 08 - I went to the nursery getting the Puzzle Painting's participants to refine their own puzzle. Finished touching-up with crayons, getting them signing their names and the last thing to do was to apply a thin layer of clear spray. Some of them insisted this to be on the net, so here it is (click to enlarge):

Many thanks to the very young enthusiastic artists (in alphabetical order): 升 aka Chan Yun Sheng, 俊杰 aka Chong Jun Kiat, 轩 aka Lai Ming Xuan, 宏 aka Lim Jun Hong and Wolise aka Wong Kai Wei for such an amazing job, even till the last day! Drop some comments!

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Designing Life:

23 & 24 Dec 08 - The participants are getting impatient...but hey, the gate is almost done. Here are some shots:

Their concept? Jungle as a labyrinth of knowledge, of cultivation and of nature and life. Drop some comments!

Day 10

2008-12-24T03:26:00.010+08:00

Workshop: Cézanne's Play
Date: 21 December 2008
Time: 10-11am & 11.30am-12.30pm
Participants: Chan Sze Qi, Chan Yun Sheng, Hee Li Jie, Lim Jun Hong & Chin Yi Ton, Saw Khe Xin, Wong Kah Lok, Annabelle Yap Li Xing
Details: The idea of Cézanne's Play derived from the 'form-oriented' approach of Paul Cézanne on the use of geometric shapes while visualizing the natural form. This truly physical activity of perceiving forms assists the participants in drawing/painting. Also from the very basic geometric shapes (cone, cube, cylinder, sphere), how can the participants imagine and rationally add in details to make each shape an object of particular interest in life. Other than the very act of seeing 2-D visuals in planar abstraction, we are also interested in the experimental Sensorimotor stage as suggested in Piaget's 4 Stages Mental Development, in which other than 'sight', touch is also an integral part of the learning process. The participants will also learn how to visualize through touching shapes, and mentally conjure up an object with details manifested by the shapes. Such were the physical ways of learning art.

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"Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world."
- Archimedes

The principle of lever was introduced in this workshop, to get the participants to consider the relation between fulcrum - load - effort while constructing a balance/imbalance composition. It may sound too difficult for the participants, don't you think so? I thought so. But through examples, where I first explained, and later got them into showing me which was fulcrum, load or effort, they got it correct. Examples shown were significant compositional paintings like those of De Stijl, James McNeill Whistler, and Barnett Newman.

I got them drawing compositions utilizing shapes, lines, dots and the principle of lever for a while before we got into the 3-dimensional exercises playing with shadows and touch. It ended up in zest and the participants especially the younger one were very participative.

There will be a replacement of this workshop on 27 Dec 08, pictures will not be exposed until that day.

"The problem of a painting is physical and metaphysical, the same as I think life is physical and metaphysical."
- Barnett Newman

Day 09 (Puzzle Painting)

2008-12-22T02:03:00.011+08:00

Workshop: Puzzle Painting (forth/last day)
Date: 20 December 2008
Time: 5-6.30pm
Participants: Chan Yun Sheng, Chong Jun Kiat, Lai Ming Xuan, Lim Jun Hong, Wong Kai Wei
Details: Puzzle Painting hopes to spice up the participants' creativity by asking questions - simple questions. To paint a puzzle, is to paint fragmented stories, whereby those fragments or anecdotes, can be integrated into a bigger or a more holistic story/scene. Unlike painting only a scene on a paper, this workshop manages to trigger the participants' creative thinking, to have them visualize what's beyond the paper, and what's next.

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Woosh-woosh! The last day to complete the puzzle.

The progression was alright. Effort spent...and being overly excited with water-based medium wasn't exactly a good thing - the mess at the end of the workshop, you know...

I hope all the participants still remember what they have learnt on the first two days. No more nagging, and here are the pictures:

Almost done.

Full concentration.

Getting busy.

Kai Wei requested me to take a picture of her with the puzzle before leaving, her brother Kah Lok on the left.

Can you recognize this animal?

Kai Wei enjoyed mixing different colours and nearly forgot about her task.

Ming Xuan told me that he saw eyes on the floor. I was a little worried at the beginning until he pointed this to me. That can be an art too - to see things around as something else, to imagine from simple shapes. (Those were the paint on the floor by accident if you wonder)

This group of participants was so egocentric that each of them (only the guys) wanted this cup of water to turn into the colour that they were painting with. They called it 'the World' because I made a necessity to put this cup at the center so that everybody can reach it. So the fights came when 'the World' changed its colour. It is a performative, interactive art that they were doing, despite unintentional.

According to the Theory of Cognitive Development by Jean Piaget, children around age of 7 are egocentric as they thought everybody thinks alike themselves. Don't you think these kids are just full of surprises?

Yup, the completed puzzle. Come and visit us during the exhibition for a clearer and closer view.

Aftermath of the 'World War of Colour'.

After the exhausting cleaning of the fast-drying acrylic, I packed and went back home around this time;

Some thoughts of mine:
The result might not be as interesting as the process (they might be too young to know how to control water-based medium), interestingly, if you get to witness their excitements; of how they enjoyed mixing colours (without knowing that they were actually wasting my acrylic - oh well), of how they created the mess, of how they learnt to paint water-based medium, of how they saw 'opportunities' to make fun/play with in almost every minute during the workshop, of how they argued with each other, of how impatient were them - this puzzle is nothing but the result, the documentation of all those brilliant 'performances'. And those 'performances' were important as those were part of their juvenile artistic learning process.

Day 09 (Documenting Mistakes-replacement)

2008-12-22T01:27:00.009+08:00

Workshop: Documenting Mistakes (replacement)
Date: 20 December 2008
Time: 2.15-3.15pm
Participants: Lennon Ng
Details: Documenting Mistakes will train the participants to accept mistakes, to see it as an opportunity to learn, to see it as part of the overall documentation of the art like in Jackson Pollock's paintings or to see it as part of the art itself. This helps not just in specifically art subject, but also in real life - to shape a positive independent attitude towards conflicts, failures and mistakes.

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Supposingly, this workshop will be conducted on 29 Dec 08 (Monday). This student can't make it on most Sundays and Mondays hence an earlier replacement for him. Details will not be posted until 29.

Sneak peek:

You guess it.

A humble advice for Lennon Ng: You did a great job in this workshop. Remember what you have learnt, apply such knowledge to life and not just art alone.

Readers: Click here if you want a preliminary warm-up, it is Pollock-ly fun. From Miltos Manetas, a new media artist.

Day 09 (Cage and its Transcendence-replacement)

2008-12-22T00:00:00.009+08:00

Workshop: Cage and its Transcendence (replacement)
Date: 20 December 2008
Time: 1-2pm
Participants: Chong Jun Kiat, Lennon Ng, Ng Sin-Ee, Annabelle Yap
Details: Cage and its Transcendence is a workshop inspired through the study and analysis of John Cage's 4'33'' silent piece. Instead of learning through the eyes or visual perception, participants will be taught to learn and draw with the sense of hearing. Participants are free to experiment and articulate. The purpose of this workshop is to provide an alternative method of perceiving, also hoping to train their observation skill.

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Some students can't make it on 14 Dec so I did a replacement for them.

The exercises and the music were the same. Do refer to the above link for workshop details. And here are some pictures of them:

Chong Jun Kiat who seemed to pay more attention to the radio.

Lennon Ng who did some pretty imaginative drawings during the workshop.

Lennon's sister - Sin-Ee. Doing alright.

The very attentive and obedient Annabelle Yap.

Leaving them to surmise, they thought I was playing a fool; sticking their ears onto the speaker, disbelieved in the 'silent piece' while I disregarded their complaints and kept asking them to listen carefully.

List of samples.

There was actually (to me) quite a big difference considering their reactions to the music compared to the previous group on 14 Dec. This batch embarked on a more physical approach, so the silent piece was difficult for them to realize themselves before I clarified and illustrated what the previous group had drawn. Even for the music, instead of drawing what they could feel, they inclined to draw the instruments who produced the sound...turned out like a guessing game.

It wasn't wrong though.

Day 08

2008-12-19T19:41:00.006+08:00

Workshop: Puzzle Painting (third day)
Date: 19 December 2008
Time: 5-6.30pm
Participants: Chan Yun Sheng, Chong Jun Kiat, Lai Ming Xuan, Lim Jun Hong, Wong Kai Wei
Details: Puzzle Painting hopes to spice up the participants' creativity by asking questions - simple questions. To paint a puzzle, is to paint fragmented stories, whereby those fragments or anecdotes, can be integrated into a bigger or a more hollistic story/scene. Unlike painting only a scene on a paper, this workshop manages to trigger the participants' creative thinking, to have them visualize what's beyond the paper, and what's next.

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The participants were excited as they got to paint with acrylic and water-based medium - something they haven't got to even touch. While they were enjoying, the mess was disastrous for me.

Yo! Lim Jun Hong asking some questions regarding the DSLR camera.

Finish drawing, so put every piece back to its position and take a picture!

The young artists. One hiding his face, one hiding under the table.

Start painting.

This might be some aimless splotches to you. But to them is an effort that they would be glad of. That is the aesthetic of children's art.

It was 6.30pm, all of them left the room. And I saw this palette! What profligates we have had here!

Ok, two days for them to complete the whole 1m x 1m wooden puzzle, today and tomorrow. All the best to them.

And I have to repeat this: PLEASE WORK TOGETHER AS A GROUP.

Day 07

2008-12-18T21:33:00.013+08:00

Workshop: Puzzle Painting (second day)
Date: 18 December 2008
Time: 5-6.30pm
Participants: Chan Yun Sheng, Chong Jun Kiat, Lai Ming Xuan, Lim Jun Hong, Wong Kai Wei
Details: Puzzle Painting hopes to spice up the participants' creativity by asking questions - simple questions. To paint a puzzle, is to paint fragmented stories, whereby those fragments or anecdotes, can be integrated into a bigger or a more hollistic story/scene. Unlike painting only a scene on a paper, this workshop manages to trigger the participants' creative thinking, to have them visualize what's beyond the paper, and what's next.

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Chong Jun Kiat - a new student joined in today, so the workshop started 30 minutes earlier, only for him, just to make sure he managed to catch up.

Same exercises for him. I found him sensitive to details and have very unique ideas. The picture below was one of the most original ideas amongst others:

A & B given, C & D by Chong Jun Kiat.
C: Tree monster in pain after one of its apples being plucked down by the man. D: The man ate the apple and plucked the second apple, the tree monster died in pain. While all the other participants viewed the monster tree as something superior, Jun Kiat thought the other way. Instead of the tree monster swallowing up the human, the human 'defeated' the monster. Peculiarly brilliant!

As mentioned in previous post, there would be one more exercise. The exercise was to let each of them draw a picture of any kind. And then to put all the random drawings together and they would be asked to link all the images together with a simple story. In between every drawing, I gave them an allowance - that they can have two more drawings in order to link the pictures together as one single story. Somehow, this exercise trained the participants to connect the unconnected, and it required their creative thinking.

Their initial drawings; 5 participants, each produced one.

The two 'additional' linking drawings produced when constructing a story.

Amazingly, they need only two pictures and they really did construct a very logical story; yet without all the illogical magic of A turning into B or some other silly efforts to ensure a polish story etc. Good job guys!

*We will have a small display at the end of the workshop where all the works will be showcased, so if you are interested in knowing the storyline, do come! Date and time will be confirmed after the workshop.

After connecting the unconnected, we moved on to the puzzle. They have decided to draw kampung and they did apply what they have learnt earlier: the idea of multiplying narrative and evoking curiosity upon the viewers to ask what's beyond the singled piece.

Here is the thumbnail (click to enlarge):

and some pictures of them working in a serious manner:

I am quite happy with them...and here're some advices for them, under each respective paragraph is their drawing on the puzzle:

Yun Sheng, you have great drawing skill, but try to be humble and be gentle to your friends. You can criticize them but be kind and less abrasive. You have talent in figurative drawing too.

Jun Kiat, you are sensitive to details, keep it up and remember to stay focus during the workshop. It's good to know that an 8 year-old can draw the top view of a car.

Ming Xuan, the fact that you like to play, you tend to make things around you fun, and you created laughter with your somehow cynical drawings. Continue that, have fun but be obedient too. Your drawing done with Yun Sheng. Very imaginative.

Jun Hong, you are a kind and helpful person. You can draw many things, you are not afraid of trying. But be tough when you receive criticism from friends, don't take it emotionally.
Your sun is huge and took up the whole piece! Doing good. I appreciate your intention to darken the outline.

Jia Wei, you are the only girl in the group, but don't let that resist you. You have to believe that you can draw, shun the fear of making mistakes - failure means a chance to learn anyway.
And thanks for the 4 beautiful jagungs, they might not look like real corns but they are graphically terrific.

One last advice for all: PLEASE WORK AS A GROUP.

Day 06 (Puzzle Painting)

2008-12-17T20:39:00.021+08:00

Workshop: Puzzle Painting (first day)
Date: 17 December 2008
Time: 5-6.30pm
Participants: Chan Yun Sheng, Lai Ming Xuan, Lim Jun Hong, Wong Kai Wei
Details: Puzzle Painting hopes to spice up the participants' creativity by asking questions - simple questions. To paint a puzzle, is to paint fragmented stories, whereby those fragments or anecdotes, can be integrated into a bigger or a more hollistic story/scene. Unlike painting only a scene on a paper, this workshop manages to trigger the participants' creative thinking, to have them visualize what's beyond the paper, and what's next.

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The four participants entered the class, looking pretty excited with the big wooden puzzle. The hard fact is that they have to paint it within 4 days - a 1m x 1m puzzle:

Today wouldn't be the day to begin though, but rather warm-up exercises were conducted to educate them the whole idea of constructing and multiplying narrative in a scene.

The 'Interior series' paintings of Mastura Abdul Rahman which I have shown them are classic examples. I recalled when I was fixated by the flatten details of her paintings, while Mr. Sim Tan (art dealer) fervently explained to me his appreciation. Of one that I found relevant here, was where he talked about the cropped objects at the edge of the paintings like carpets, stairs, congkak etc. Those are actually indications of things, of life happening beyond the artworks.

Mastura Abdul Rahman, House of Flower, House of Harmony (1999)
See those cropped carpets and congkak?

The patterns are showy, but the value of this piece - at least to me - does not lie on the details, but the composition, the aerial perspective, the tradition and of most the symbolic indications (those magazines/newspapers/congkak indicate lives; those cropped objects indicate something beyond, those aerial pillars indicate the God from above). Perfect contemporary rendition of Islamic art.

Another visual reference was the image of 'A Closer Look At The Illusion of The Whole' by Yap Sau Bin:

Yap Sau Bin, A Closer Look at The Illusion of The Whole(2005)
photo courtesy of Yap Sau Bin

While Aristotle said 'The whole is more than the sum of its parts', emphasizing the idea of holism, this artwork seems visually reductionistic - it reversed the process of holistic thinking. With this minimalistic artwork, the artist questions 'Could contemplating on the less apparent structure bring us a perception of a much larger whole?' And that perception of the much larger whole emerge beyond the semi-framed painting, the 'whole' is imaginary and that process-of-imagining remains as the main excitement of the artwork.

The warm-up exercises manifested the above concepts, the participants were asked to link, create, imagine ideas beyond a given set. Those ideas were narrative-based and contained a plot where they have to visualize what's beyond and taking notes on the existing indications.

"Peace!"
left to right: Chan Yun Sheng, Lai Ming Xuan and Lim Jun Hong.

Something like this.

A & B given, C & D by Chan Yun Sheng.
C: Escaping from the monster; D: Get caught again. (Stretchable branch!)

B & C given, A by Lai Ming Xuan.
The beauty in most of his drawings is the straightforward depiction of raw expression. And most are gothic too.

A & C given, B by Lim Jun Hong.
B: The car can stretch? He thought about Transfumers (Transformers). Nice!

A & C given, B by Wong Kai Wei.
B: Glass broken due to strong wind. Being the only girl in the workshop, while others thought about breaking the glass physically, she thought about something else. It might not be the best solution, but it was an original one.

After that, we went straight to the puzzle and the participants started brain-storming on what to draw. They wanted kampung+garden+paddy field+farm etc. Just to keep them busy, I kept asking what's beyond this particular small little piece...

Puzzled with puzzle.

Sketch.

I thought they were amazing small kids, and they gave me rivers, roads, bridges, directional composition (like Giotto's Mourning of Christ/Kiss of Judas) etc.

Mourning of Christ by Giotto.

Just in case you have no idea what 'directional composition' is:

The composition has been specifically arranged so that the focus point is on the head of the Jesus.

There will be one more exercise tomorrow about linking arbitrary ideas together to form a story before getting serious with puzzle painting.

Good luck to them.

Day 06 (Designing Life)

2008-12-17T20:18:00.004+08:00

Workshop: Designing Life (fifth day)
Date: 17 December 2008
Time: 8.30-11.30am
Participants: Chan Sze Qi, Lai Ming Jun, Yap Kah Man
Details: Designing Life is a workshop to educate the participants on the importance of art and design through any applications. Here, the participants will be asked to paint the gate in front of the nursery and think about eye-catching visuals, support with creative ideas.

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Nope, don't expect any photo for now. The progression is fine BUT slow. Much time spent touching up due to inexperience of the participants. It is getting better and the complaint lesser, I believe they also learn. So, cheers and let's continue tomorrow.

Try to visualize though, now we have clouds and trees on the gate. I will get some pictures when the gate is almost done.

Day 05

2008-12-17T01:34:00.005+08:00

Workshop: Designing Life (forth day)
Date: 16 December 2008
Time: 2-6.30pm
Participants: Chan Sze Qi, Lai Ming Jun, Yap Kah Man
Details: Designing Life is a workshop to educate the participants on the importance of art and design through any applications. Here, the participants will be asked to paint the gate in front of the nursery and think about eye-catching visuals, support with creative ideas.

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Not too hot and no rain. Good day!

Unfortunately, we can't finish on time and it has to continue until the gate is fully painted. First layer done and we are moving on to the details.

Applying the first layer.

Some looking serious.

Some scorn.

Anterior view of the new skin.

More to come.

Day 04

2008-12-16T00:29:00.008+08:00

Workshop: Designing Life (third day)
Date: 15 December 2008
Time: 4-6.30pm
Participants: Chan Sze Qi, Lai Ming Jun, Yap Kah Man
Details: Designing Life is a workshop to educate the participants on the importance of art and design through any applications. Here, the participants will be asked to paint the gate in front of the nursery and think about eye-catching visuals, support with creative ideas.

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It is raining as when I am typing now, I am concerned with the paint just applied on the gate.

The participants were rather funny when painting, being 10-12 year-old or sort, being impatient is mere another common trait. They were applying very thick paint on the gate for the first layer which actually wouldn't work, though I guess it was a perfect time for them to learn.

Old crusted paint scrapped, now is the new skin with more colours. This gate-painting is somehow a pretty big part of the project which probably consumes more days, and the gate also being a big part of the nursery as I am fully aware. An unsightly gate won't do a service.

The entire session for today was just painting the gate (and it will continue until it completes) -after all the more theoretical lessons and small scale exercises on 12 Dec and 13 Dec.

Not too many details. Compared to this Georgia, the pictures talk vividly:

A shot from the inside.

Colours.

On the left is the conductor Phoon Shiau Tyng, on the right: Chan Sze Qi and Yap Kah Man, Lai Ming Jun in front.

Finalized mind map.

Let's hope the monsoon bears with us and confers us a happy lot tomorrow.

Day 03

2008-12-15T01:39:00.011+08:00

Workshop: Cage and its Transcendence
Date: 14 December 2008
Time: 10-11am
Participants: Chan Yung Shen, Hee Li Jie, Lim Jun Hong, Saw Khe Xin
Details: Cage and its Transcendence is a workshop inspired through the study and analysis of John Cage's 4'33'' silent piece. Instead of learning through the eyes or visual perception, participants will be taught to learn and draw with the sense of hearing. Participants are free to experiment and articulate. The purpose of this workshop is to provide an alternative method of perceiving, also hoping to train their observation skill.

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The participants entered the room with smiles and cheers, having no idea why was there a radio in front of the table, and this being a beginners workshop, straight away we went on to exercise with a very economic description of the activities within this 60-minutes without procrastinating.

Before getting them to the radio and earphones, some less subtle warm-up exercises would be conducted to give them a purview of ideas regarding learning without seeing. It went well and fun to me.

The fact that there was no visual reference actually opened up a wider horizon for them to explore more with their own creativity, hence the artworks they produced bearing the process-of-thinking, not just imitating reality. Their artworks were interestingly varied but conceptually similar.

Also on how I came up with the idea for this workshop; I remembered attending a talk by the local conceptual artist Yap Sau Bin in Galeri Petronas where he got to talk about some of his quite minimalistic works, explaining how visual limitations can foster imagination of the viewers (displaying more by showing less), it is the Gestalt theory, I thought it was great and transautomatic.

When it went on to the earphones and radio, I played the cd (compilation of excerpts of music, noise and even sound art) and the participants were very serious and focus, in which I am glad. Each lasts for 15 seconds. Things came out unexpectedly as it moved on to abstract sound art.

Lim Jun Hong listening to a noise. He has good imagination skill and likes to depict motions.

This is Hee Li Jie listening to another noise. Based on the one of the noise samples, he drew two raining clouds which I like it a lot.

Chan Yung Shen contemplating. His drawings are comical yet minimalistic.

The 4 year-old petite Saw Khe Xin who was intimidated by the even smaller earphones.

The last music played was nevertheless John Cage 4'33''(silent piece). They prompted many questions despite prior to this I have told them not to say a word but to draw once I've pressed the stop button. It got me into explaining...

Explaining the post-modern idea of 'silence' as music and can be 'inspirational'.

...and I have visuals of a clock, fan, someone knocking etc. How cool?

*If you are interested in viewing their artworks, do come and visit us at the end of the project where we will have a small display. We will announce the date and time of the display and a talk will be held at the end of this project.

Day 02

2008-12-14T04:30:00.019+08:00

Workshop: Designing Life (second day)
Date: 13 December 2008
Time: 2-6pm
Participants: Chan Sze Qi, Lai Ming Jun, Yap Kah Man
Details: Designing Life is a workshop to educate the participants on the importance of art and design through any applications. Here, the participants will be asked to paint the gate in front of the nursery and think about eye-catching visuals, support with creative ideas.

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As mentioned earlier, pattern was the main topic for today. Managed to stuff the lesson with some traditional patterns like pucuk rebung, sulur bayung and awan larat. Those participants were doing good, the purpose is to give them a very fundamental introduction rather than having them memorizing an abundance of texts academically.

Later we have an exercise where the participants would need to work out together - as a group - to create/generate black and white patterns with some techniques which I taught them at the beginning of the day. This exercise inclined towards the aesthetics (of surface) hence less cerebral.

Apparatus.

First trial: Hm...poor consistency of space. Failed.

Being less cerebral of course does not suggest a simple task, their first trial was a mess, second one looks more organized (can be better though). Somebody even spilt the ink all over the table - I kept reminding them to be careful but accident like this wasn't rare.

They were so excited with creating chops from the cucumber and ignored all the other methods taught.

A rather auspicious day to spill ink.

...and now presenting you the prepetrator: Mr Lai. :D

Cool stuff from William Morris of the Pre-Raphaelites era.

More patterns.

This was not from the workshop but I would like to show this here, great play of shapes and patterns. A drawing by the 8 year-old Priscilla Loh.

Being a nanny.

Chopping all the way...

Yup, it's him again!

The final piece was alright. But I do wish if they can do more and create a hierarchy (having a focus point and 'isen' - a batik term of 'filler') within the patterns even, most likely to be better after all the experiments and some light scoffs. (Boleh?)

After the pattern workshop, conductor Phoon Shiau Tyng guided them through their brain-storming session on gate-painting. Their finalized idea is quite provocative, lucid; cliches of the kids like animals and lots of colours. The result also heavily dependent on their execution which will start on the up-coming Monday (15 December). What I visualized was something kaleidoscopic, motley, vibrant.

The process will be documented, photos will be uploaded daily, so do visit this blog often to know exactly what are they up to.

Lastly, all the best to Sze Qi, Ming Jun and Kah Man on Monday.

Day 01

2008-12-12T22:21:00.024+08:00

Workshop: Designing Life (first day)
Date: 12 December 2008
Time: 2-6pm
Participants: Chan Sze Qi, Lai Ming Jun, Ng Sin-Ee, Yap Kah Man
Details: Designing Life is a workshop to educate the participants on the importance of art and design through any applications. Here, the participants will be asked to paint the gate in front of the nursery and think about eye-catching visuals, support with creative ideas.

This is the gate:

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A fine Friday, the first day and the workshop started fine. With some simplified lectures about what defines art and design and also showing examples of some mundane artistic applications. Well I got to talk for approximately 30 minutes before I got them busy with activities.

(*Before getting them into gate-painting, some warm-up exercises will be conducted to let them learn from the very basic. )

I brought unwanted/recycle stuff for them to play with, it can be a collage, or a decorative craft. The main purpose firstly, is to add values to something abandoned, secondly to be able to see 'values' in something abandoned. Both are not mutually exclusive, the former requires imagination in creation (creativity), the later is more about imagination in perception (appreciation)...like the Gutai Group Manifesto in Japan. (bear in mind that this is just the idea of this workshop, such philosophical thinking will not be and cannot be taught literally in the workshop, but rather from self-realization through Montessori inspired activities)

Somehow they understood through some very simple kiddish collages of Alan Fletcher, but the reception wasn't at all positive, they thought those were ugly and tepid. I did try to explain the essence in his works which somehow ignore the demarcation between life and design but I didn't try too hard before it went worse and perplexed them, they are just 11 or around there.

We went on and started playing with those unwanted stuff.

Really messy table we have!

Well, they seemed busy...

...or maybe pretending to be busy.

Aha. The owl is mine.

It looks warm, passionate and adorable, by the almost 10 year-old Ng Sin-Ee. Amazing.

A cat with Diners Club ears, by Sin-Ee.

Nice colour combination, nice fish by Yap Kah Man!

Notice the very cute little pink lotus flower down there? By Kah Man too.

This is one of my favourites, it has curves and it is a 3D design, by Lai Ming Jun. Lai Ming Jun also did a 3D dog which I am quite impressed. Come for the display at the end of the project if you would like to have a look!

Ok, this one is from the eldest participants Chan Sze Qi. No collage animals but a Christmas card. I think it is an okay design, but what I found more interesting is the paper interlocking system there, which she cut out from a box.

I didn't quite appreciate it until I noticed the delicate cuttings of typo 'C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S'...with the counters (holes) too, hah! Hm, good effort. (But Sze Qi, if you are reading this, here is an advice; you spent too much time on this card! It wasn't wrong, but I think you can do better if you have some nice and simple ideas, spend more efforts on touch-up instead...and you just have to experiment more, try to be quantitative when you are learning, ok?)

That's all for today.

The workshop continues tomorrow, I will be conducting a lesson on how to generate different sorts of patterns and explain some basic symbols found in Malaysian traditional patterns. Also showing them some modern patterns in Syed Thajudeen paintings, Hundertwasser's works of art and Dan Funderburgh's graphic works. The study of patterns may help them in the visual brain storm process of gate-painting.

A Simple Poster

2008-12-12T21:44:00.009+08:00

Here is the poster for the very first Projek Semai!

Due to budget constraint (hey printing is expensive), I have to come up with something that can really work, I am not sure though but what I wanted for the poster is it has to showcase some illustrations from the kids. I tried scanning them and selected a few, but it didn't work that well because I can't find any suitable 'characters'...another reason was that I have limited drawings from the kids, I don't collect all of them.

So I thought why not just make those drawings as posters? Or if I can have a poster that can change its visual weekly or something? Sounds sustainable (as within the duration of this project).

So I have these:

a surrealistic Joan Miró type of drawing,

by Yap Yi Tung entitled 'Moon Cake Festival' (2008).

slips it in like this.

cool?

background is a phoenix-like bird drawing by Wong Qi Xuan.

Yup, what do you think?

Change of Schedule!

2008-12-09T18:40:00.004+08:00

We apologize for the change of schedule in last minute, due to some reasons that some participants can't make it for the first session and some kids just found out about this project and show interest in joining.

(I hope those who have registered can attend every session because each session is held for purpose, and it is on plan where I will be giving information consecutively, sequentially.)

So, it is postponed to the up-coming Friday, 2 - 6pm!

New calendar (click to enlarge):

Minta maaf kalian.

PROJEK SEMAI 01 in 童乐

2008-12-06T02:34:00.018+08:00

Projek Semai first target is 童乐 (Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Wawas Tinggi)!

It is a nursery where they also conduct art lesson. Located at 11, Jalan BS 5/2, Taman Bukit Serdang, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor.

Participating art-workers: Tan Zi Hao and Phoon Shiau Tyng.

The plan is confirmed and it will start from 9th December 2008. Below are the confirmed workshops in the nursery:

beginners workshop (no age limit, RM 5):
- Cage & its Transcendence:
learn mental visualization through sense of hearing
- Cezanne's Play:
learn physical visualization through sense of touch
- Visualizing Impression:
learn to observe and construct with imagination
- Documenting Mistake:
learn to accept and admit mistakes in art and see mistakes as part of art

intermediate workshop (7-9 year-old, RM 10):
- Puzzle Painting:
painting a simple wood block puzzle, to learn about the idea of plot-deconstruction

advance workshop (10 year-old and above, RM 15):
- Designing Life:
learn to apply art and design into life
- Stop Motion:
develop a story and create a stop motion video

for more info, contact Tan Zi Hao @ 017-2604739/projeksemai@gmail.com

Some Thoughts of Mine

2008-12-06T02:24:00.002+08:00

I attended art lessons and now I am teaching kids art somewhere near my house. I found out that a lot of those students being sent over to learn art, some have no interest in art at all, some are of parents' decision. It is not at all wrong, in fact kids need to have some proper activities and art education is one of the many channels.

Art education is a rare term in Malaysia. Sadly, our government does not realize the importance of art and design and its application. And the word 'art' still alienates many of the locals today.

Though I think there are quite some good attempts done by artists lately in engaging the arts to the people, like Lim Kok Yong's LAMU in KTM, CAIS project in Stella Maris and 1948 Artspace's Entry Points etc. I respect their passion and I wish to contribute a very little bit too. This Projek Semai is that little bit.

I personally think in order for the public to know and appreciate arts, it has to come from education itself, and such education needs to be kick-started at an early stage. People have to understand the very profound ideas beneath the 'art' rather than judging 'art' superficially, and deem it sophisticated, indigestive, or some might say 'even my kids can do a Pollock'.

While those collection of splotches remained as one of the most expensive paintings, I wish I could start educating the kids a little about art and its history, and some very abstract ideas...not to get them doing a business with splotches in future, but to let them understand its philosophy and realize the need of art and design in life. And definitely learning art can greatly assist you in problem solving and for some other pragmatic reasons too, so why not?

This deadening subject is actually full of zest, you have to know the form, content and context to unearth it, and it is a strike realizing it. Art fosters 'creativity', and creativity itself is an endless chasm, it provides you alternatives for whatever you face, it really depends on the way you apply it to something relevant to your life.

I hope Projek Semai manages to do that bit in educating the younger one about art, not just as a commodity, but also an event close to life.

What is Projek Semai?

2008-12-06T01:58:00.001+08:00

Projek Semai is an artist-initiated independent project promoting creative thinking at pre/primary/secondary school stage, thus in such belief to create awareness within a community on the importance of art education.

Projek Semai will go on 'tour' from an art education centre to another, or even kindergarten, primary and secondary schools. This project hopes to reach out to the younger one and tell them what art is all about through activities. Various workshops will be conducted to provide experimental exercises for the participants to explore within their own creative territory.

Our workshops are inspired based on research and analysis on some readings of philosophy and psychology about child development and the major research lies on history of art of course. It will be an on-going research, our list of ideas in this sense are accumulative, and from those ideas we will develop workshops where we can put the yarn of information into a fine simple threat of educational activities.

A small display and a talk will be held at the end of the entire session to allow discussions about the details of the artworks produced during the workshops. This very humble post-workshop event will also be vital in this project because it is during the talk where all the ideas can be put into words, not just for the participants, but the community as well. In this perspective hopefully Projek Semai can contribute a little in educating the people about art.

Only through understanding art, one can learn how to appreciate it, or at least, not to be alienated by it.

* Projek Semai is purely a community art project, it is on voluntary basis and support is always welcomed.