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