Art Education at Ganigarapalya School

“The purpose of arts education is not to produce more artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society.”

– Dana Gioia, Poet

Keeping in mind the importance of art in holistic development of children, HF started art sessions to unleash the creativity in young minds of 4th and 5th grade.

Program

In the first year, the goal of the program is to open up the children’s minds to art, and get them accustomed to colours and using pencils to draw/sketch. Most activities are tailored to remove their inhibitions and encourage them to come up with their own drawings rather than copying one. Knowledgeable volunteers are on hand to help when the children get stuck.

Some of the activities taken up so far

• Identifying patterns from scribbles – colour them, give them life.
• Story-based visualisation drawings
• Making 2023 Calendars based on the artwork by the children
• Making imaginative compositions based on Stencils
• Greeting cards for Sankranti

Highlights

The children engage enthusiastically with the activities and demand more sessions from us! Many of them even gift us their artwork.

• Each class is unique. As the children open up their minds to the possibilities of art, every class is a learning for the children as well as the HF volunteers!
• Sessions are held outdoors when weather permits. The outdoor sessions give the children a chance to be exuberant and noisy and more natural and this is reflected in the imaginative pieces they turn in during these sessions.
• Making 2023 calendars: These calendars were designed under the guidance of our senior mentor Nalini Jayaram from The Valley School. We were fortunate to receive some of the priceless handmade papers as well by Nalini Jayaram to make these calendars. Each page of the calendar contained original artwork by the children. The calendars were assembled by HF volunteers. Every child participating in the art program was gifted a calendar. It was amazing to see the joy and curiosity in the children’s eyes. They were also given a brief introduction to the calendar-making process as well as the handmade paper-making process.

Art Supplies

HF is thankful to Xmpler Ltd. for the donating Drawing books and crayons which made it easier to start off with the sessions.

Kydzadda came forward to host art material collection drives at their centres, helping us to be better equipped to respond to children’s enthusiasm to draw and color. Our gratitude to Deepti Mahesh founder of Kydzadda for taking up this initiative.

Moving Ahead

We are very enthused by the children’s response to art and are designing a more extensive curriculum for the coming years. Some of the ideas in the pipeline :

• Introduction of paint-based activities
• Introducing Craft
• Introducing pottery handwork
• Bringing in more green spaces for taking inspiration from nature
• Guest artist sessions
• Identifying natural talent among children and grooming them

We are looking for more ideas and participation from our supporters and patrons.