Surprises from the Corner

From her experience of purchasing flowers, Mrs. Wang found that most of the shops didn’t provide packages that would match the colors of the bouquets. And the packages used to be too colorful to dignify the grace of flowers. After discussing the suitability of colors with the class in the art and design course for one semester, Mrs. Wang assigned a task to the class: using the materials at hand to make a package that can properly hold and fit the flowers. What would be the priority for the students: the colors which can fit flowers better or their own color preferences?

In the Plantae, there are colors that cannot be seen by the human naked eye. To dig more into the essence of colors, Mrs. Chang led the students to walk out of the classroom to take a closer look at plants. They brought the beautiful specimens they collected back to the lab for interdisciplinary experiments and color analysis. After the interesting exploration, they were surprised that the plants they see on campus every day consist of more colors than they had imagined. By extracting colors from the plants and observing the stratification phenomenon, the students learned the variety and complexity of how nature generates colors. To Mrs. Chan, one of the purposes of the art and design course is to break conventions, and the class indeed helped the students to realize that leaves and flowers are not merely in red and green. Through these scientific experiments, the kids’ competence in rational observation was built up. Moreover, the course also triggered them to hold a bolder attitude toward exploring more possibilities.

Mrs. Lin had lectured at Hsiyu Junior High School for over a year. At first, the student showed less confidence in the art class because there hadn’t been a regular art teacher in the school, and they hadn’t received much art training before. But to her surprise, Mrs. Lin discovered the children, living on the Penghu island and endowed with great knowledge of oceans, were keen to distinguish the colors in their everyday scenery. By identifying the colors, mixing colors of paints, and relating the color to their personal memories, the students depicted the flexible sceneries and the poetic moments of this island. In the color charts they drew, the intimate bond between them and their hometown was also vividly shown. For the children who were about to leave the island, the lesson was a precious gift from Mrs. Lin, who was born in Penghu as well. She wished when they are apart, by reminiscing about the colors, they can remember their beautiful hometown.

The art and design course of Jinhua Junior High School, Kang-Ching-Lung Streets Project, were developed by all the art teachers in the school. To take a closer look at where they live, the teachers and the students walked out of the classroom, planned the routes for exploration, and conducted field studies in the neighborhood around campus. By wandering on the streets, observing and recording various architectures built in different ages, they were impressed with the findings: there were so many different styles, forms and textures of buildings on the streets. Back in school, they moved forward to discuss the suitability of materials and tried to find a better replacement for the buildings. Slowing down the pace and paying more attention to the details on the way to school, the students were amazed at what had been overlooked by them before.