Raising the bar: Heart Studio June Holiday Workshop

Children express themselves in many ways, differently. As the pace of formal education picks up, the "need" and the "want" in me to look for ways for the kiddo to "let loose" increase too. And with the kiddo, it is all about Art.

The kiddo doodles when she is free, when she is happy and even when she is thinking (as that seems to be the way she processes her thinking). She started her Art journey with Heart Studio since almost 4 years back where I first blogged about it here and she has been with the studio ever since.

I advocate unstructured play and the kiddo gets loads of this at home, on her own where she draws, does crafts, paints pebbles and draws some more. Because it seems to be the medium which allows her to unwind, we have pretty much stuck to her Art classes.

For the regular terms at Heart studio, Dumpling has pretty much done Animal Themed projects,

Buildings (this was a "work-in-progress" photo)

and even artist inspired pieces like this "Henri Rousseau" piece

(my favorite project so far not because it is pretty but the kiddo applied the technique in one of her recent school projects) 

Now, for Heart Studio, their Holiday Workshops take on a different approach. The projects are mostly designed as 1-day workshop (usually less than 3 hours) where the studio introduces a mix of genre and media for the children (see poster below!)

Now, what Dumpling really loves is that the holiday classes also offer her the opportunity to learn different things such as new technique (pointillism), use new media (clay), etc. This time round, the kiddo chose "The Dancer" workshop.

The painting is of 3 ballerinas and the style, abstract. What the kiddo like was that it was a new technique learnt (short strokes, "layer on" instead of blending) and that well, all girls like pretty ballerinas I suppose! :p

:: The Process
One thing that stands out is that while most of the students' work look really impressive but in all of the sessions, it is the process that the teachers focus on.

From the very first lesson when the kiddo was just about 4YO, the teachers at Heart have been working with the children on the same process: starting all artwork with basic shapes and outlines. This was the same as with the Dancers painting. The hubs was at the workshop earlier and he proudly told me that the kiddo was pretty much independent in doing the painting with Teacher Elma demonstrating or making certain suggestions along the way.

The learning objective of this project is to introduce the children to "Abstract Art" as well as getting them to learn how to layer on the paint and learning how to use colours harmoniously. :) 

For me, I was glad that Dumpling has a chance to learn how to paint human forms as that is often challenging.

From the years that she has been with Heart Studio, she has grasped the understanding of light and shadow as well as the technique of blending. For this piece, Teacher Elma shared that Dumpling was "challenged" as there was no blending involved but to work on layering different tones. The style was that the paint should be thick where there is "texture" too.

From a parent perspective, I like that with each workshop and with each term, Dumpling is always learning new things be it a different style, working with water colours in different ways, etc.

And the finished piece? Ta-da! 

For parents who are keen to try Art out, I do not even know where to begin on the great things Art does for children. Besides improving on areas such as fine motor skills and focus, Art empowers children to exercise their imagination and creativity. It allows children to have a means to express themselves and allow the brain to make connections in ways we cannot imagine.

Heart Studio offers highly personalised classes where even in theme based classes like these, the children are allowed to choose the angles, characters and colours they wish to work with. Just look at Dumpling's recent term project on "Cubism"!

Check this out: almost all the children were working on vastly different characters! How's that for child-led approach? 

Workshops, to me, are a great way for children to try out something new as well as allow parents to gauge the child's interest and if they are comfortable with the environment, the approach and the teachers. For us, I am glad to say that the approach still "works" even after almost 4 years. :)

Heart Studio is running its June Holiday workshops from 30 May till 10 June. Because I am nice (LOL!), I have pasted the schedule below for your convenience :p

If you wish to contact Heart Studio to find out more about their cost / availability, here's their contact details. The slots do run out pretty quickly so do call them earlier :) 

Address and Tel

1 Charlton Lane #01-04,

• Singapore 539631
• T: (65) 6554 7563
• 
  Disclaimer: We were invited to the Holiday workshop so that we can give our opinions about it. We are not compensated for the post. All opinions (and  artwork LOL) are entirely ours though your kid can bring home their piece of artwork if they were to enrol too!
    

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts (both to the kiddo and my furkid, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!  

Birthday Blast! A Toothless Art Jamming Party!

I love birthdays and all celebrations. As a marketing professional who started my career in events planning, you can imagine why I am just as excited as my kiddo when it comes to her birthday planning. I get especially excited googling for ideas and inspiration for her themed birthdays. From looking for Gruffalo and Harry Potter cupcakes and to planning for our Alice in Wonderland party to a DIY Frozen themed party; our parties are as varied as they come.

This year, with the kid being older and having her own close circle of friends, we decided to do an Art Jamming party at Heart Studio Singapore, her Art school for the past 3 odd years. In one of Heart Studio’s previous holiday workshops, the kiddo wanted to attend one that was on the painting of one of her favourite characters – Toothless, from How to Train Your Dragon. However, as we were unable to do so, we decided to do the workshop as a Birthday Art Jamming party instead. 

:: Invitation and Decor

We started doing the invitations together and in our usual fashion, we created 2 versions: 1 as an official invitation with the other being a reminder email. The artwork is relatively easy where we googled for some PNG files and put it together using PowerPoint. Dumpling directed what she wanted – borders, placement of Toothless and color choices while I put it together in front of her.

It was a small and intimate affair with 10 kids. The décor was also minimal because of a project which my church is working with the Children’s Liturgy group (which Dumpling belongs to) on. I was really proud that Dumpling decided to forgo her usual birthday helium balloons and donated the money to the project instead. What we have is just a simple bunting and in a true “party planner” manner, tent cards for the food.

:: The Art Jamming Session

The children were divided into 2 rooms and we had 2 teachers per studio which is something that I really appreciate from a early childhood professional's perspective in terms of student : teacher ratio. 

Upon entering, the children hunted for their own bags which had their name printed on the tag. Inside the bag was a blank canvas (for their art jamming) and we also included a copy of "How To Train Your Dragon story book". 

The kids were all eager to start their painting and even ran into the studios! From there, it was about 2+ hours of "peace and quiet" for parents to catch up with each other. :p 

Like all of Dumpling's regular classes, the teachers taught the children how to compose the dragons by starting with the basic shapes and outline...

Once that was done, the bodies and heads were painted in...

One of the things which I often struggle with when it comes to planning for her birthday party is if the activity is still fun for boys. With an Art Jamming party, it seems that our decision was a good one. :) 

Bit by bit, their dragons took shape - with detailing, shadows and highlights :) There was no 1 "model" Toothless. The teachers allowed the children to decide what angle and pose the dragons should have.

And for those who do not want Toothless? There were other dragons to choose from! :) 

Once the dragon was done, the children worked on the backgrounds. 

And if you are worried if the painting will dry in time for the children to bring them back, fret not as there are always hairdryers on hand! :)

You may have noticed the kids had different "styles" in the painting of the dragons. Can you spot the difference in strokes and technique? :) 

Look at the gorgeous paintings!

:: The Food! 

Heart Studio does not allow for hot chaffing dishes because of the flammable solvents the studio has. A buddy of mine suggested Pasta Mania which offers takeaway box sets which you can order here. Payment is collected on that day - cash or cheque and the delivery was on time too. :) The food was also packed in nifty individual boxes and it was just "open and place on the table". Disposable ware and black garbage bags were provided too. 

In line with the bunting and thank you tags, we labelled the food with some tent cards and it turned out looking pretty festive and a few of the kids had a good chuckle over the names! :)

 :: The Cake(s)! 

The cakes. We decided to do away with fondant cakes this year once again. I stumbled upon these lovely steamed cakes some time back but have never had the chance to try them but we managed to get a slot this year! Check out the cute cakes! As the main colour for Toothless and the party is loads of black, hence for the cakes, we decided to add in some colours - rainbow and polka dots! 

We ordered a main piece which was larger and that was for Dumpling to blow out and extras which are prepacked for children to bring home too.

Additionally for these cakes, you can choose if you want nutella, ovomaltine or specaloos fillings. The steamed cakes were absolutely delicious - the liquidity ovomaltine oozed out as we took bites of the soft moist cakes. If you are looking to order these cakes, you can visit Little Sweet Tooth Bakes. 

If you are keen to find out more about the Art Jamming Party, Heart Studio's contact details are as follows:

Operating Hours:

Mon-Sat: 11am to 7pm
Last Appointment: 6.30pm

Address and Tel

1 Charlton Lane #01-04,

• Singapore 539631
• T: (65) 6554 7563
• Disclaimer: This is neither a sponsored post nor were we compensated for it. The Birthday Art Jamming was specially arranged for at Heart Studio. Birthday Packages are available for up to 10 kids, making this a perfect cozy party. All opinions expressed are entirely ours though the artworks can be yours. :) 
• Don't have an upcoming birthday party? Heart Studio is also running a Holiday Programme during the December holidays. 
• Enjoy an Early Bird Discount of 10% if you book for a class by this Sunday, 15 November!! (Each class lasts 2.5 hours and fees include material cost. There is no registration fee needed for workshops.)

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts (both to the kiddo and my furkid, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!  

June Holiday Workshop Giveaway #1 - Pointillism at Heart Studio

:: Pointillism

[Noun]: the theory or practice in art of applying small strokes or dots of color to a surface so that from a distance they blend together. Source

Ever since Dumpling and I did an artist study on Vincent Van Gogh some years back, she has been very fascinated with the idea of Pointillism. The ability to form a picture using dots (a 'blurred' view at a near distance) to create a picture which is ‘clear’ from a distance intrigued her. At the Heart Studio’s Holiday Workshop last December, when she saw the technique being taught and explored in Little Picasso class (her level), she was very excited and wanted to try it out.

And this was what she finished up with after the workshop:

In this workshop, children will learn not only about the style but also composition: 

and the technique of forming objects / painting using a dotting approach.

What I really like about it is that it not only enhances fine motor skills (it requires hard work!) but also focus and perseverance. For the June holiday, Heart Studio is organising a Pointillism camp again! This camp stretches over a period of 3 days and details are as below:

:: Landscape Pointillism 

1.30-4pm

16 - 18^th June 2014

I am pleased to share that I have one holiday pass for this 3-day workshop worth more than $200 to give away!

Enter the Rafflecopter below! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

:: Terms and Conditions:

- Entries that do not fulfill the requirements stated will be disqualified without notice.

- The child has to be 5 years and above, based on the month and year of birth.

- No repeat winners are allowed.

- Winners will be notified by email, through the email address provided.

- Winners must confirm by reply email or phone call, within three days. Otherwise, a new winner will be picked.

- No changing of date or time is allowed.

- No Existing Customer allowed.

- This giveaway is open to Singapore residents only. 

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram! 

Pointillism at Heart Studio

Time has truly flown by for us this year. Between work and homeschooling and balancing this blog in between, I did not even realise that Dumpling has been attending lessons at Heart Studio for almost a year now. From working with Chinese ink

 to clay work, the exposure to the different themes and mediums have been nothing short of being amazing.

Dumpling really loves craft and painting since young (which explains for the mess at home) where she'd cut up materials and piece them together while painting over them etc.

For this Holiday period, Dumpling showed a lot of interest in a 3-day camp on Pointillism. Pointillism is a different technique of painting where the image is made by 'dotting' on the paint. She thought that it was interesting and wanted to try it out since this is a new thing for her. For me, I was intrigued as to how the school is able to teach that in just 3 days!

So I thought to share on what goes on over the 3-day camp. :)

As per their usual practice, the week's theme / samples are all prepared and propped up at the white board before the start of the class. Even after all these time, I am still amazed at how the team at Heart Studio is able to simplify the project, explain the approach and break it down to a level where the kiddos are able to comprehend.

See how the outline and composition are demonstrated below?

:: Day 1:
The kiddo's attempt on the outline of her fruits and composition before working on the background colours. The children had a choice on the various key colours and for each colour, several hues are then prepared by the teachers. The children are then taught how to dot and spread out the color to achieve the slightly textured look. This makes the painting look less 'flat'.

:: Day 2:
Day 2 was spent on coloring the fruits and this was also done using the pointillism technique. As always, the children have a choice of the elements (in this case, the fruits). Dumpling was actually very excited that morning as I dropped her off, telling me that she was looking forward to coloring the fruits. I was pretty impressed with her enthusiasm actually.

Day 3:
Day 3 was then spent on the final details - adding of highlights, the 'strawberry seeds', stems as well as the shadow. Even the highlights were added on using the same technique. I personally felt that it was hard work 'cos it requires very fine motor skills, focus as well as tons patience. This is what I really like about Art - besides allowing the child to have his / her own interpretation, to be, it teaches the child (and many a time, us parents too!) that the process is just as important! It is through the process where the child picks up many other traits and personally, I like that it is a form of therapy for the kiddo because it gives her an additional avenue to express herself.

Over the past few months, I actually feel that Dumpling has matured and grown to have this steel of perseverance in her and looking back, I am sure that the Art sessions have helped to inculcate that along with her music classes.

Just look at how focused and serious she was! I was told by Teacher Elma that she has never once complained but just continued to finish up her piece! Well done Baby!

And, here's her final art piece! What do you think?

Here's a photo of the various students and their works! :) Look how pleased they all are! 

If you are still keen to find out more on their Holiday Programme, here's their details:

Heart Studio LLP
101 Soo Chow Walk Singapore 575385

Tel: (65) 6554 7563
Fax: (65) 6554 7562
Email: info@heartstudiosg.com

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!