Hello! This is Yuka from the ARTUTA staff. To my surprise, I participated in an ARTUTA lesson as a student for the first time! I joined not as a staff member, but as an individual, so I would like to share a little about my experience.
Participated Class: Artuta Creative Drawing
Participants: In addition to myself, there were two other children from New York City
Background
I am not usually in the habit of drawing at all. And I am not confident in my drawing abilities at all lol😂. There was a game on an app a while ago that was popular among my friends, where you had to draw a picture according to a theme and have the other person guess what you drew lol. So I decided to participate and take on the challenge to see if a person like me could draw something.
Let the lesson begin!
First, the instructor introduced me as a special participant to the class and then 45-minute drawing lesson began.
The theme was "Could it be a sea creature?"
The instructor's screen was shared with us. First, the instructor drew circles, triangles, and squares all in different colors.
Instructor: "Hmmm sea creatures, I wonder what they are. Okay, let's make this circle a balloon!"
Two other kids: They already had an idea and were silently drawing something.
Me: Sea creatures? Balloon? What do you mean? lol😵💫.
I have a very fixed idea of what sea creatures are - fish, so I thought I would draw a fish, but then I thought, what kind of fish should I draw? I decided to be specific and started to draw Nemo from my imagination.
Instructor: "Okay, a sea turtle with a balloon appeared.”
Child A: "I drew a squid alien!"
In this situation, I am overwhelmed by the power of imagination of the instructor and students in the class. How could a "sea turtle with a balloon" and a "squid alien" be born in just two minutes?! I thought that my drawing of Nemo was not Nemo at all. And the idea of Nemo was not creative at all to begin with (lol), but I continued working.
As I continued, I noticed that the instructor kept drawing using various curves and shapes. From there, the sea turtle with a balloon became the Rainbow Turtle with a balloon. A triangle shape became a big squid. A big squid became a rocket squid. And so on.
As I asked him how he was doing, I started to draw more and more without hesitation as well. Fish with a star pattern, a starfish with a mysterious pattern, and a sawfish shark of a fancy pattern suddenly came to mind as a result, and a small mysterious aquarium was completed in my notebook.
The children continued to draw with the instructor as they went along, creating a number of imaginative sea creatures.
One of the most memorable was the "hamburger fish" drawn by one of the children.
Actually, before the birth of this hamburger fish, the instructor had drawn a banana fish. Maybe I was inspired by seeing the small banana-shaped fish swimming through the screen.
And inspired by the hamburger fish, I improvised and came up with the pizza fish. Before the class started, I didn't think for a millisecond that I would ever come up with the idea to draw my own pizza fish lol! Oh, by the way, the bottom right diagonal is an ice cream crayfish lol.
Presenting artwork
After you draw your picture, the instructor will ask you what kind of picture you dr
ew. Then you will present it to everyone on screen. You will also be asked which picture you liked the best and why you liked it the best.
As an adult, I never had a chance to present my drawings, so it is very refreshing to hold my drawings in my hands and introduce them to someone. I could see through the screen that the children were also gaining confidence by looking back at their favorite picture and expressing it in their own words.
In addition, the instructor was very positive throughout the session, giving positive comments and accepting everything. Which I think played a big role in improving their sense of self-esteem.
When I introduced my drawing, I told the instructor that it was very bad and I was mortified when I drew it, and he made this commen.
The instructor said, "You did a great job. People often have preconceived notions of what is good and what is bad, but it is often the case that good paintings are created when people are confused about what they are doing.
After the lesson
Through the 45-minute online lesson, I had the experience of expressing my ideas as they came to me without being bound by fixed concepts.
I was able to come up with ideas that I had never thought of before, with the guidance of the instructor and my classmates. I was able to draw the idea I had without hesitation. I was taught that whether something is bad or good is a preconceived notion, and that I should express myself.
I suspect that this experience brought about a sense of clarity and self-affirmation in the minds of each participant.
As I looked at the children who participated, I was reminded once again that children's creativity and imagination are amazing. As we grow older, the preconceptions and fixed ideas that we develop through various experiences become harder and harder to get out of our heads.
Therefore, I felt that it is very important to provide a place where children's creativity and individuality can be cherished.
At ARTUTA, parents and children can participate and have fun together. If you would like to experience this together with your child, or if you would like to experience the nurturing of creativity yourself, please feel free to contact us anytime.
For inquiries, please contact us at
Email: info@artuta.net