By Fazeena Salim
Young students who explored and developed their skills in art and design in the summer programme of Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar will showcase their works on Thursday.
The exhibition of drawings, paintings, collages and experiments with different materials by children aged eight to 10 years, titled ‘Mini Masterpieces’, will be held at room 370 of VCUQatar.
Their elder colleagues, in the age group of 11 to 12 years, will showcase their works on July 18 at room 390 at VCUQatar together with students from the Creative Discovery and Design Intensive programme.
‘Creative Discovery’ will showcase their paintings, drawings, illustrations, prints, and computer graphics.
The ‘Design Intensive’ exhibition will show paintings, drawings, prints, mixed media works, dyeing, computer graphics and photographs.
VCUQatar recently collaborated with the Ministry of Social Affairs and held a summer art and design programme. It was held for the third year and attracted 20 young female Qatari students aged 14 to 20 years.
The students, with no background in art or design, were offered these programmes as a new learning opportunity.
VCUQatar alumni Yang Soon Ju (skill building) and Esra Kazem (object transformation) and community class instructors Shamim Hatim Dalal (paper quilling), Sangeeta Deepu (clay jewellery) and Asha Mathews (non-traditional jewellery) conducted a two-week programme with two sessions each day. They were assisted by VCUQatar students Omaima Al Abdulla, Noor Suleiman, Rana Jubara and Geetha Rajeswar.
The skill building session involved the development of basic collage, drawing and colouring skills. The students could then choose to learn either two jewellery making techniques – clay jewellery and non-traditional jewellery—or two product design and production techniques – paper quilling and object transformation. They received brief introductions to the respective subjects and went on to create a final project on their own.
The instructors and teaching assistants agreed the programme was a welcome opportunity to give back to the community and said sharing their passion with strangers was highly rewarding. They loved the fact that the students were interested and engaged in their work.
“Although most of the students did a collage for the first time they explored their creativity with great enthusiasm, finding out that the process could be very useful for their future work and as a hobby. Understanding line weight, different values and colours was challenging for the students, who, despite this fact, and in a very short time, produced successful work,” said Yang.
“Students started out by forming simple shapes from clay and went on to create coloured jewellery components,” said Deepu.
“The process of working with clay is very soothing and relaxing; the students did not want to stop,” she added.
Family members and friends were invited to an exhibition of the final projects on at VCUQatar, where students proudly presented their works in a show combining ideas for jewellery, lamps, frames, bags and envelopes as well as collages and works of art.
VCUQatar Dean Allyson Vanstone presented certificates to the students in the presence of faculty, alumni, the students’ families, and representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs—Noor Al Thani, trainer, Muneera Al Muraikhi, social programme specialist, and Abdul Hameed Al Mulla, public relations consultant.
“It was very a joyful experience, especially that the course took place at VCUQatar,” said Latifa Al Kuwari, a student participating in the programme.
“We learnt basic skills in sketching, colouring, product design, object transformation and paper quilling, and the skills we learnt were beneficial for everyday life. We would like to thank the Ministry of Social Affairs for offering us this opportunity and for being there at our exhibition.”
Another student, Sheikha Al Sulaiti, agreed. “The beginning was tough, and ideas did not flow easily,” she said, “but with practice, ideas started to flow and we were able to apply the skills we learnt more fluidly in our work. Even the assistants and instructor helped us throughout the course. I would highly recommend others enrol in this programme because I benefited so much from it, and so will they.”
The aim of the Community and Outreach Programme team is to make the programme one of several annual collaborations between the Ministry of Social Affairs and VCUQatar, promoting awareness of art and design in the community, providing a model for community engagement and learning opportunities for young Qatari students, who feel the need to develop their creativity.
The Peninsula
