Boosting your child's creativity
MANILA, Philippines – In a room filled with colorful artworks on the wall, a child intently holds her oil pastel, drawing a scene where an apple is climbing up a rope back up a tree.
“He is going back up to be with his girlfriend who is still hanging on the tree,” the six-year-old artist explains. The girlfriend she is referring to is, of course, another apple.
The main task is to draw an apple. What comes out in the finished work is all entirely up to the student. This is how Global Art Philippines (telephone number 726-0435, cell phone number 0915-8-747-747) challenges the imagination and creativity of each student.
“Unlike other art courses, we do not stop at copying, drawing, and coloring. We give more importance to creativity, to what the minds of our students are capable of,” explains Yenny Saw, the young wife and mother behind Global Art Philippines.
Thus, you would see a thousand and one interpretations of an apple or a hen, two of the themes depicted in the school’s workbook.
Once the teacher asks the question, “So, can you tell me about your drawing?” the magic unfolds.
In a way, it is storytelling on paper. The students are provided with a special set of 50 oil pastels with each color in at least three shade gradations. Students not only use oil pastels, but are also taught to use color pencils and poster colors as they progress.
Global Art also offers courses in glass painting, cartoons and comics, and handicrafts.
Apart from these differences from normal art courses, Global Art conducts annual competitions among local students to keep creativity at a constant high.
The winning students in each country then vie for art supremacy in an annual international tilt which will be held in Singapore in the fourth quarter of this year.
Global Art was founded in Malaysia in 1999 by art educator Mahair Goh. To date, it counts more than 450 centers in 16 countries with over 100,000 students.
Global Art Philippines started operations in 2008 at its first branch on Ortigas Avenue, San Juan. It is open for franchising. A number of centers are set to open soon in key cities in Metro Manila such as Makati, Quezon City, and Serendra in Taguig.
