
P4 National Gallery Singapore LJ
I never really
understood art. Art was like a mystery to me. It was a puzzle that I
couldn't put together, a Mathematics question that I couldn't solve. I
almost gave up. What finally enabled me to understand art was this very
Learning Journey...
The first activity we did when we reached the
National Gallery Singapore was to take a pipe cleaner and use it to
create what we felt like when we first saw our chosen colour. None of us knew
which colour we were going to get as we had to close our eyes and
randomly pick one. I, of all people, received a white pipe cleaner. I
stared at the colour. Nothing came to my mind! MY mind drew a blank. To me,
white didn't represent anything! That's when Elyana saw me and
whispered, "Why
not create some ice cubes?" I thought it was a fantastic idea and
so I decided to do as Elyana suggested. I was
done just in time! The guide started to pick students to explain how
they felt when they first saw that colour that they received. Thank
goodness the tour guide didn't ask me what the colour white meant to me!
Thinking back, if she had asked me, I would have been speechless!
After that activity, we went into one of the art
galleries. We sat in front of one of the paintings there. It was filled
with rectangles and squares, but they were painted in many different,
vibrant colours. Looking at the picture, I felt ecstatic, yet calm. The
painter had used all kinds of colours to make us feel enthusiastic about
the picture, but used squares and rectangles to calm our feelings down
at the same time! It was strange to feel over the moon and yet calm at
the same time. That was when the guide asked us to pair up and think
about what we would name the painting if we could rename it. I partnered Victoria. Both of us couldn't think of a name. In the blink of
an eye, time was up! Victoria and I still hadn't thought of a name for
the painting! The tour guide asked a few people to come up to the front and tell
the rest of the class the name they made up and why. Neither Victoria
nor I decided to volunteer. I started to hear all kinds of answers. That
was when I was finally starting to realise that art didn't necessarily
have right or wrong answers!
We finally moved on to the last painting. The tour guide asked
us to find objects in that painting which were familiar to us. People
spotted all kinds of things! That was when I finally realised what art
is. Art is a place of creativity, imagination and where there is no
right or wrong. Everyone has different opinions or feelings on certain
paintings, but nobody gets told, "Your answer is wrong! It should be
like this!" It's not like English, Mathematics, Chinese or Science where
there's a right and wrong answer. It's a place to let you imagination
run wild. A place where you can escape the harsh outside world. It's a
world to be free.
Juliette Lee
Amethyst 4
Amethyst 4