The Picnic Lesson in Everyday Life

Due to the scarcity of educational resources in the remote and rural regions of Taiwan, Mrs. Lu simultaneously lectures in three schools in Yuli, Hualien. She found most of the children were from tribes, and their families living from farming lived in symbiosis with the land. Therefore, their lifestyle was strongly connected to solar terms and seasonal food. When teaching colors to the students, Mrs. Lu managed to bring food into the class to provide a different perspective on colors. By rearrange the colors on the dinning table, the lesson attempted to help the students to discover new significances of local food. During the process of exploring colors in season, the kids gradually realized how food colored their life and even showed their true colors.

An elder from the tribe was invited to give a lecture in Mr. Liu’s class. When he talked about the young and old generations in the tribe, he was sad to tell that there had been a cultural gap between the two. Mr. Liu thus decided to revive the tribal tradition of making tree bark clothes, helping the students to understand their own culture. The lesson led the kids to learn the knowledge of trees and understand why people needed to make tree bark clothes in the old times. They practically experienced how to soften tree bark, and used the local materials and techniques to make items that can fit contemporary needs. To pass on the aboriginal culture, the lesson revealed the lifestyle of the tribes and presented the wisdom of ancestors taking good advantage of natural materials from daily life. And it also encouraged the kids to keep discovering new possibilities within traditional craftsmanship.

After the art and design course last semester, Mrs. Chen expected to take the students to sense more beauty in life. She thus came up with a new lesson, The Picnic Lesson in Everyday Life, which brought food and life to the class. The students prepared food by themselves, and during the process, they applied the concepts of art and design to their work. Mrs. Chen invited a Home Economics teacher to interdisciplinary cooperated with her. They translated the compositional design rules: dots, lines and planes into knife skills: dicing, julienning and slicing. With different thinking of making food, the students created amazing dishes which they even couldn’t believe were made by their own hands. The most important part of the lesson was encouraging the students to walk out of the classroom to physically experience things in life with all senses.

“Aesthetics should spread naturally like particles spread in the air.” The art classroom at National Hsinchu Senior High School was the best place on campus for teachers and students to indulge in art and design. Setting up the space, Mrs. Wu expected it could be a hub to stimulate the transport of art and design. Inspired by the idea, a group of students started their exploration on campus to search for any possible changes. They opened their eyes and located the problems, such as the unsuitable fabrics and cuts of their uniforms as well as the confusing signs in the store. Bringing their finding back to the art classroom, the students kept on thinking of solutions. They attempted to make some changes and spread the aesthetic particles to other parts of the school more than just in the classroom.