Recently, I've working at Studio Haroobee quite a lot. Though I just help out doing the odd job here and there, being surrounded by artistic people in an artistic environment has probaby had a profound effect on me.
I remember my early encounters with art quite vividly. I always had a wild imagination on what I would like to draw but somehow these ideas were usually too difficult for me to draw. I would try and try but in the end I gave up. I could never seem to draw out what I wanted to draw in the first place. I could copy a drawing but that is only copying. I don't want to copy another person's drawing, I want to create my own art. Alas it was not to be, I gave up on art and left my left brain to die
It was only in my secondary school years that my left brain awoken from it's dormant state. It was not in the form of art but rather in the form of words, specifically in the essays that people dread most. I found my release in writing. When my sec 4 english teacher gave us an assignment to write an essay on any topic we wanted and gave us a word limit of at least 4000 I was shocked at first. How do I come up with a 4000 word essay? However, I took a while to think and before I know it, I had started on my first fantasy story, "The Five Elemental Dragons". Words just flowed and flowed out of me, 1000 words came, 2000 words came and suddenly I had a 20 page essay! I was shocked but I also realised that I was happy. This was something that I created, not copied from anyone else. That marked the awakening of my left brain but it has been atrophied after such a long time of disuse. It is a good start nonetheless.
Recently, working in the art studio, I learnt to appreciate how the children see the world. I am quite glad such a studio exists with the kind and patient teachers that focus on teaching them teachniques to beautify their paintings rather than "the right thing". From my point of view, there can never be a right or wrong in art, it is all subjective. Actually to create a painting, a sculpture or a story is a personal achievement. Even if no one else appreciates it, it doesn't de-value your art. It is more than that. It is a therapy for self esteem and an outlet for de-stressing. Hopefully the young children that come through the studio would appreciate it in the future.
Royston Tan
Education does not kill creativity but limitations do.
Free your self and see a whole new world beyond the clouds.
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