VIRTUAL ART CLASSROOM

CDSS IT'S MY LIFE - THE MUSICAL

2008-08-16T23:46:00.016+08:00

This post is going to be a unique one. Instead of the visual arts post, I would like to bring you to the performing arts scene. Last night, I went to Singapore Polytechnic Auditorium to watch Chestnut Drive Secondary School's production, entitled It's My Life. Set in local Singapore context, the musical explores the search of identity for youths, brotherly love and influence through the male protagonist, Ben. The main actors and actresses should be applauded as they could successfully relate to the characters in the play. They had made exceptional connections to the characters. The actors’ character depiction of best friends who shows brotherly concern through loyalty is remarkable. However, in the second act after the intermission, the other actors who played minor roles have unequal performance level compared to the main cast. Hence, they showed the salient disparity of the acting. Unfortunately, the male protagonist seemed to be just remembering his lines at the end of the musical through a monologue. He did not do justice to the lines themselves. In the end, what could have been a forceful conclusion turned out unsatisfyingly flat.

Of all the secondary schools musical that I have watched thus far, Chestnut Drive Secondary School is a school that have more talents that any others. First and foremost, the singers were in sync. Harmoniously, the voices of the singers are in fact better and of a more consistent quality than the acting and narrating in the musical. If I was not informed, I would have thought they are from the choir. Apparently, they are not from the choir, and that amazes me truly.

As for the dancers, even though they did not started too well with their energy level in the beginning of the musical, they picked it up so well gradually till to the point that the musical will not had been as interesting without their presence. I particularly like the part where the dancers were choreographed to enter the stage with their cameras to act as journalists. Another group that deserves to be given the special attention for the effort is the “Stomp” of the school. Without fail, they blew away the audiences not only with their stage presence but also their physical movements that go along effectively with the sound coming out from their musical instruments, which are tubs, bamboo sticks, garbage bins and wooden spoons. Indeed, one of the highlights of the show when the “Stomp” group did two performances unrelated to the musical after the musical.

While the various groups in the musical shines in the musical and visual aesthetics through dance movements and singing done harmoniously all contribute to the musical’s concerns in a subtle but engaging manner, it is unfortunate that the musical had to suffer from inconsistencies that hampered a fuller enjoyment of the musical.

Disappointingly, the technical aspects of the stage for the musical play a major part of the inconsistency, as they were not effectively utilized. The transition and the flow of the play were poor in terms of lightings. There were too many blackouts and spots were not effectively used in the play. Therefore, this make the links between the scenes, disjointed and made the whole musical incoherent, leaving one wondering what exactly happened before and after the scene. The directing plays another part too. The musical has good portrayal of characters but it lacks gesture to emote, to communicate and the intentions towards the development of the musical.

Although the musical is technically unsung and direction less than impressive, It’s My Life was still a unique and fascinating play, by turns humorous, well choreographed and looks challenging. For a first and greenness from the teachers of Chestnut Drive Secondary School, who has not even entered any Singapore Youth Festival for drama, this musical sincerely deserves an ovation.

JVSS SEC 2 SCULPTURES

2008-08-04T22:29:00.011+08:00

This is a relief sculpture class that me and Mdm Rafilah had with JVSS. We have the same objectives of creating a relief sculpture but have different approach. My approach places emphasis on a focal point in a composition, however hers is more towards the aesthetics in the creation of the sculpture itself. If you still can't figure out what I mean, you will get to see it soon enough. I have taken the best of the best works in both my class and her class. Presenting Secondary 2C (Mr Erman class) works & 2D (Mdm Rafilah class) works.

Secondary 2C

This student has put a red mark to immediately make me see the focal point of her artwork. So smart of her. Furthermore, her basic shapes complements her focus.

More of relief sculpture designs!

Some students brought it into another level by creating an architecture space for the relief sculpture. Just by using cardboards, the play of heights and arrangements are fantastic.

Secondary 2D

This is mentor's class. The aesthetic. The effort put in by her students'. The approach to create the kind of sculpture in her class. One word. WOW!

Look at the spirals! Aren't they so beautiful?

Look at the springs the student has created underneath the sculpture. It makes the sculpture interactive.

Looks at this remarkable work. The student uses different cardboard to differentiate the heights of the sculpture.

Awesome ain't it? The two classes. Different Teachers. Different Style. Different Approach. Same End. Yet, another impressive bunch.

STUDENT ARTISTS FROM 3T2

2008-07-29T23:12:00.008+08:00

My students from sec 3T2 were taught the principles of design mainly on emphasis and rhythm, through the infamous arrow drawing style! After that, their understanding of these principles are tested by asking them to create a composition based on the given haiku below.

Cacti in the desert

One standing tall

The rest feeling small

I'm glad that all of them could grasp the understanding through their drawings. Spot the emphasis in every drawing! We had a great time together, expressively painting the composition. Here are the works from my talented sec 3T2 students! (Works that are not finished are due to other school commitments that my students had to attend to.. and it's my last week in that school =(... )

Yuting & Kaile

Kaising & Meera

Ryan & Ye Xiang

Feekah & Haikal

Kaile & Kai Qi

Darinna & Ee een

Eric & Fazli

Arkar & Asyraf

PAINTING CLASS JVSS

2008-07-27T00:27:00.007+08:00

Painting by Mr Erman A.B , 2008

Cacti in the desert

One standing tall

The rest feeling small

COMING SOON!

Paintings from talented students from JVSS, sec 3T2

Artist Profile

2008-06-30T00:19:00.001+08:00

Trained in Fine Arts, Erman is a graphic & multimedia artist and an educator. His works as a graphic designer is best known for events events such as the inaugural Martini Innercity Festival 2006, Asian Festival of 1st Films 2006 and the recent Out of the Box Festival of Puppet Theatre 2008. As a multimedia artist, he has developed games with Singapore- based mobile company www.fatpengy.com.

For theatres, he had wriggled a great amount of keyframes on multimedia works for theatre productions such as The Swing (2001), I’m Still Here (2003), Mama Looking for Her Cat (2005), Lao Jiu – A Living Legacy (2006) In addition, as a passionate educator, he had spend year 2007 to have students in various secondary schools under his tutelage for multimedia in theatres.

His latest multimedia project, in colloboration with a Singapore-based mobile community, www.fatpengy.com, has been selected on an international platform under UK’s mobile community in Playyoo.com. He is currently developing a new game that will be made available in end 2008 while also, continuing to educate students how to be visually creative.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

2008-06-23T22:29:00.004+08:00

Welcome back to school people! Today is the first day of school and I hope you all are gear up for the next half of the year! Because I am not.

I am a teacher in Jurongville Secondary School now. A whole new bunch of people I need to get to know. A whole new bunch of students looking at me in doubt to see such a teacher in their school. What can I say?

Smile! Welcome to Mr Arrow's Art Class.

CREATIVE STUDENT'S WORK

2008-05-14T12:31:00.014+08:00

Some background information on the previous school that I was in. I have taught for six month in that school and she was in my sec 1 class. Since I know I was going to be there for a very short time, my mode of teaching is not based on grasping certain art skills but more of creative thinking, which would definitely be remembered for a very long time.

This post will talk about one particular student whose artwork deserved to be commended. She's 14 years old this year. Despite having alot of subjects to study for the mid year. She gave her time to prepare for her Art. I knew she has not acquire much observational skills for drawing or knowing painting techniques. However, she's a deep and sentimental thinker. She never fails to make me be awed and inspired, myself, when she came out with this awesome and creative concept.

The topic that she has chosen is Natural Beauty. Her mindmap branches to words such as Natural that is further broken down to nature and Beauty. To assist herself, she wrote, "What is beautiful to you?" Just by looking at her mindmap, I know that she has a very interesting approach ot the topic. Take for example, she wrote down the shooting star as something natural and beautiful. But she did not stop at that, she further wrote down about meteorites, which is something not many people realise the beauty of shooting stars comes from an ugly rock.

This is the mindmap and I have highlighted certain words in it

Through her mindmap, she has chosen sunflower, as the subject for nature and the idea of shooting star to depict beauty. Next picture is her sketches. I asked her to refere to Vincent Van Gogh and George O Keefe instantaneously when she told me bt sunflowers. But on shooting stars, that is something new. I asked her to explore compositional possibilites for that. And she dilligently did it.

As you can see, she tried different possibilities in her composition ie. make the sunflower bigger as focus or draw lots more meteorites etc. And lastly, a picture of the colour scheme that she has used. Who can ever believe me if I tell them a 14 year old thought of this though provoking concept for her topic of Natural Beauty. Sunflower as the main subject of beauty complements with shooting stars to enhance or to make people realise that there's an ugly side to every beauty. To end of this post, something for you to ponder. Sunflowers are beautiful flowers to many but to farmers they are weeds that will grow uknowingly in their crops.

P.S It would certainly be great if she can show me her final artpiece which she had done for her mid year soon. Good luck and Good job Mingfen. =)

All the photos in this entry had been taken by Mingfen, herself.

OUT OF THE BOX FESTIVAL OF PUPPET THEATRES @ ESPLANADE

2008-05-12T23:10:00.007+08:00

I'm so delighted at the end product of the print outs for Out of the Box Festival of Puppet Theatres 2008 @ Esplanade. From 10th May - 18th May 2008, you would catch a glimpse of all the design works that I have work for this festival. Here are picture for those who are not able to go down Esplanade this week. Cheers!

The very first design that came out for this festival is definitely the flyer~

The picture below was a poster stnadee taken on the first day of the festival at forum the shopping mall. It's about 2m tall.

All these pictures after this sentence are taken at Esplanade. I'm quite excited when they told me that all the design works have been printed out.

Out of the Box! board design amongst the rest of the boards

Two Boards! Side by side~

A very big board of all the performances for the festival~

My very first arc design and this is for the festival!

Last but not least a sticker floor design at the escalator that leads to the rooftop. And of course there are countless electronic direct mailers and advertisements for the festival. And all this done by me and my intern and my girlfriend who gives me endless support while doing this project.

Photos courtesy from Ms Lim using her N95 camera

OUT OF THE BOX FESTIVAL OF PUPPET THEATRE 2008.

2008-05-09T23:38:00.011+08:00

For those of you who just finish your mid year exams, I would like to say , "Well Done!" After weeks of hardwork and week of preparation for the exams, you all deserve a rest. Anyway, my exams ended much much earlier on early April. Thereafter, I was back doing some design works for a marketing company and an event company. I had took up two major projects; revamp a company's corporate idenitity and the other designing my third festival! Today, I'm just going to talk about design that I had done for this festival: OUT OF THE BOX FESTIVAL OF PUPPET THEATRE 2008.

This third festival, Out of the Box Theatre Festival for Puppets 2008 has been a very meaningful one for me. I was the sole designer for the festival in comparision with the other two previous festivals that I headed with two or three of my friends. Knowing the craziness of the whole freelance thing, I decided to gather some support for myself. So, I took up an intern to be part of the festival too. She has certainly been helpful most of the times, considering she has her own school work to do too. I am sure she has learnt alot during the design process and the experience of being in the design business. Thanks. =)

Another person whom I have given me alot of moral support to ask me to press on even when the clients get very difficult would be my girlfriend! She's always there for me to hear me ramble about my everyday encounter with the clients especially when festival date is nearing and there are alot of design works to do. Thanks dear~ =)

After several years of wanting to join a prestigious design competition. Finally I took this opportunity to send my design work for the festival to the crowbar awards! A work that was send to crowbar for selection.

Poster for Out of The Box Festival of Puppet Theatre 2008

More Pictures Coming Soon
Do check out the designs in Esplanade and give me comments if you want to
I'm always accepting people who would like to learn design works from me

ART MID YEAR FOR 2008

2008-04-20T13:36:00.002+08:00

This is the desirable checklist for students in Secondary 1 and Secondary 2 level, to do well in their Art Mid Year Exams, based on 3 A3 Research papers to be submitted. (Try to use both sides of your A3 paper)

First Research Paper
1) Develop a comprehensive mindmap for your title. Take for example "Natural Beauty" The word "Natural" comes form the word nature, try to associate words with nature, such as sky, hills, clouds, wood etc. Or else, you can also think of the word natural, as something that is original. What about Beauty? Associate words with beauty. What are the objects that you have a desire or that depicts beauty? The words association are unlimited!

2) After doing the mindmap, find pictures online or in books that you have written in your mindmap. Again, there are countless of pictures online. Print and paste it into your research paper.

Second Research Paper
3) The second research paper should contain the developmental process. Developmental process means to try to make meaning out of the pictures that you have found. For a start try combining two objects together and form a meaning out of the pictures. Take for example, if I choose the object "Tree" as part of my research on the title "Natural Beauty", I can use the and create the tree into something else. Perhaps, I can manipulate the tree as a shelter with windows and doors and place the tree in between of HDB housing. Natural Beauty? Think about it.

4) Your second research paper should also contain Artist Reference, locally or internationally. If you like a certain kind of painting that you have found online and would like to "copy" the style into your artwork. You are encourage to do so. In a way, you are showing that you understand the style of your favorite painting and making it your own. In your research paper, please do not forget to mention the name of the artist. If you using Van Gogh's sunflowers as a reference, please write down the title of the artwork, name of the artist and the year the painting has been produced.

Third Research Paper
5) The third research paper should contain your composition. By means of composition, simply means to put everything together. Place all the pictures that you would have developed and chosen into the paper. This is your final artwork. Usually, you need to place emphasis of the subject that is related to your topic. For example, the tree that have windows and doors that I have developed will be the main focus of the picture. So, I will draw that tree, the biggest in my final artwork.

6) Try out some colors and put it in your composition. Along the way, you would find out which medium or art materials that is suitable for your use in the exams; water colour, paints, drawings etc.

For any further questions, be it you want to know on any artist for your reference, or how and where to find pictures for your research, you may tag me or you may find me in my msn. Or if you are unsure about anything, leave me an e-mail at erman.ab@gmail.com and I will get back to you soon. Do title your e-mail as Mid Year Art Exam. All the best for your exams!

HAPPINESS. THE CAGE IS MY HOME

2008-04-13T12:56:00.005+08:00

Installation Work Picture 1

The installation work is a satire of the bird competition which had been popularize by Singaporean elderly community, where specific types of birds are hung side by side to compete against each other on their state of liveliness. The human form has been used to replace the birds in this installation work to amplify the energetic form of the life in the cage and it is conceptualized based on the ideology of the state of happiness exist in individual sanctuary.

Installation Work Picture 2

Installation Work Picture 3

Installation Work Picture 4

Adobe Photoshop had been used for the main digital manipulation of the art installation work. It is the most and only essential tool which allows the placement of the human being form to be placed into the bird cage convincingly. The powerful traits of the program allow the artwork to be viewed in a myriad range of colors. For this reason, further digital enhancement also could be done to the life form in the cage to give a nostalgic feel. Photoshop tools are powerful enough to create effects done on an external layer to manipulate the image itself.

SUPPORT FATPENGY @ PLAYYOO.COM

2008-02-22T12:50:00.001+08:00

SUPPORT FATPENGY TO BE THE TOP

2008-02-07T21:53:00.000+08:00

WRITING ESSAYS

2008-02-03T09:47:00.000+08:00

When writing an argumentative essay, remember TWO things:

1.The top most important thing you should do in academic writing is!!!

ANSWER THE QUESTION!

2. After that, ALWAYS give supporting evidence(s) to your claims in your topic sentence in the paragraph. In laymen terms;

(Always give a very good reason to whatever you are writing about)

eg. The apple is red. (write the reason to why the apple is red) It is fresh as it was bought when the delivery man delivered it to the market in the morning.

2008-01-31T01:48:00.000+08:00

STAY TUNE TO NEXT WEEK

NOTION OF MANUAL & AUTO CONTROL

THROUGH ACTION PAINTING

FREE MOBILE GAMES FOR EVERYONE

2008-01-27T16:22:00.000+08:00

BEHIND THE SCENES

2008-01-06T00:51:00.000+08:00

These are the people behind the website@http://www.fatpengy.com/ who are creating cool mobile games and wall papers especially for you!
Support them at http://www.playyoo.com/!

I'M BACK WITH MORE WORKS

2008-01-03T15:11:00.000+08:00

Hello to all,

I have not disappeared. This blog is going to be active again especially these coming few days when school is starting again. The holidays has been a good break for me. I went Taiwan and get to spend most of the days especially, Christmas and New Year Eve with my special someone. 2007 has been a good year for me. Now, come 2008. I decided to start 2008 more seriously with a a new resolution, a new hype of energy and decided to explore into new areas of design especially in character design and animations. For those of who would like to share with me your new year resolution or would like to know more about my works, do tag me. =)

Aside being an art educator, as mentioned above, I would like to seek new experience that is creating games! I joined http://www.fatpengy.com/ It is a Singapore-based mobile games company. Do take a look at the games that have been created and support those games by playing them in playyoo ok! And lastly, happy new year to you all too. Do better than the previous year and stay progressive. 2008 is not a year to slack!

A new game coming out! Sneak preview, exclusively in this blog only! CHICKEN FARM! Coming out soon early this year!

COMMONWEALTH SECONDARY SCHOOL PROM NIGHT 2007

2007-11-20T02:27:00.000+08:00

Postcards for the event, design based on the retro theme and nostalgic treatment given. Below this entry are the photo envelopes for the event.

2007-11-20T02:18:00.000+08:00

FINAL ASSIGNMENT

2007-11-19T02:01:00.000+08:00

Painting and Drawing Assignment

Pencil Series 1

Pencil Series 2

Pencil Series 3

MY BELOVED 1E1 CLASS OF 2007

2007-11-17T09:08:00.000+08:00

Breaking the Norm!

2007-11-04T23:05:00.001+08:00

30 Seconds Animation

2007-11-04T21:12:00.000+08:00

A 30 secs video animation clip I did for my visual literacy class. The theme that I was working on is, "Abandoning Animals".

Oh cool! Just found out that this clip is bring shown in
http://surpriseme.tv/video/Abandoning+Animals/3174035637/

Temasek Club

2007-09-13T05:31:00.000+08:00

FOOD ART

2007-09-13T05:18:00.000+08:00

Reference Picture

Food Attack of Reference Picture

SELF-PORTRAIT

2007-08-23T02:42:00.000+08:00

SILENT

2007-08-17T00:11:00.000+08:00

YOUTH MATTERS!

2007-08-13T03:13:00.000+08:00

An Electronic Direct Mailer which I had just, two days ago, designed. Youth Matters! A performance that features 2 SYF Gold award winning plays written and directed by Nora Crothers. Go to Youth Matters! for more information.

INTRODUCTION

2007-07-31T00:18:00.000+08:00

I have taught both the subjects Art and English for quite some time and this is what I had perceived in the classroom. I feel that for many students lack the confidence and thinking skills to come out with their own ideas. In some instances, art students are expected to learn by copying work from the teacher, from magazines or worse still, from students around them. This means that, students learn only from copying - copy from textbooks, copy from the whiteboard on whatever the teacher had written, copy from study guides and copy, copy, copy. Well, learning through copying is not a bad idea either. At least, students learn and trust ideas of the experts. However, they fail to consider their own ideas. They have not learned how to solve problems! Or worse still, they could be blindly following the wrong experts.

I hope this blog would encourage more of my art students to express their own original ideas in their works. At the same time, I am doing this blog because I would like to share my experience in teaching art. And, I hope this blog would be able to provide a basis for discussion for both art students and educators. I'm not creating a revolution, I'm just sharing. I am Mr Erman and welcome to my classroom.