Learning through the Arts: Creative Capabilities of Students Showcased through Visual Arts-in-Education Programme

This Week Bangalore.Com, Bengaluru, 20 June 2015

ArtSparks Foundation opened a two day exhibition 'Learning through the Arts' featuring artworks of students from Adarsha Vidya Samsthe in Addagal, Kolar District and TVS Academy, Hosur at Thalam Gallery in the city today. The artworks on display are the result of the children’s engagement with a Visual Arts-in-Education Programme, conducted by ArtSparks Foundation. Working in the space of arts-in-education, ArtSparks is driven by a belief in the value of the visual arts and its contributions to learning and the all-round development of a child.
 
ArtSparks introduced its visual arts-in-education programme as a pilot project in January 2015 at Adarsha Vidya Samsthe, Addagal, Kolar and TVS Academy, Hosur. The artworks featured in ‘Learning through the Arts’ is a result of working with children and providing them with a rich visual arts experience that worked towards supporting and enhancing creative capacities and higher-order thinking skills. The artworks are not only visually rich, but also reflect students ability to experiment with materials and new concepts, brainstorm and meaningfully communicate ideas, engage in discussions, ask thoughtful questions, think conceptually, make decisions, problem solve, reflect upon and evaluate choices made. The students pushed the boundaries of their own understandings revealing that art making is indeed a rigorous process that requires a great deal of thinking and reflecting.
 
According to Nisha Nair, Founder & Director, ArtSparks Foundation, “Through our visual arts-in-education programme, the children have developed a body of work that is richly imaginative, and that exemplifies their true capabilities. By presenting the work of the children, the exhibition aims to question our assumptions regarding the role of the visual arts in education, and engage the audience to consider how the visual arts have profound implications for learning and teaching.”
 
The programme offerings also comprised professional development workshops for teachers to explore the various kinds of learning embedded in the arts experience, share strategies, make connections, and expand ways in which teachers can deepen their student’s learning in the classroom. For the children the programme served to provide them with a rich visual arts experience, that worked towards supporting and enhancing their capacities to problem solve, explore and experiment, innovate, make decisions, self-assess, all of which have implications for their learning as well as overall development.
 
According to the Principal of Adarsha Vidya Samsthe: “If we use art in teaching, I believe it would be more effective and learner centered. There will also be more scope for learning, and we can correlate our subjects with other subjects."
“The concepts introduced in the workshop are very useful because I feel it creates interest, and helps to think chronologically, and to develop reasoning skills. Activity based teaching will also help the children to understand concepts easily without any confusion,” said a teacher from Adarsha Vidya Samsthe.
 
The two day exhibition which kicked-off today will be open to public on Sunday, 21st June 2015, from 11a.m. to 7.00p.m.

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