This September school holiday week, Artary held our biannual Challenge Week! Challenge Weeks are held during the March & September school holiday weeks.

Students were put to the exceptional challenge of completing their artwork with minimal guidance, from drawing and colour choices, to canvas application, and on to completion!

Given a few basic guidelines and instructions, every student was left to their own creativity, skills & devices!

We’re very proud of all our students, who have risen up to the challenge, and worked through their artwork with confidence and finesse during Challenge Week. We thank all parents in being an integral part of this Challenge Week in encouraging their children. Thank you!

 

Challenge Week 2013 Award Winners

We’d like to congratulate all Challenge Week award winners for their exceptional and commendable performance. These artworks were selected from hundreds of submissions during Challenge Week. Excellent job. Well done!

 

Rainy Singapore!

The Challenge: Using a stencil umbrella, trace and cut out an umbrella. Design, draw and colour your umbrella with simple patterns, and create a rainy scene with raindrops and brush splatter.

Mikayla Yap, Gold

Warren Lin, Gold

Juliette Lee, Silver

Giselle Ng, Silver

Lee Xin Yi, Silver

 

Shapely Animaniacs!

The Challenge: Create an animal using only basic shapes. Paint your animals using only complementary colours. Sponge dab to create a radial outwards glow around your animal.

Joan Poh, Gold

Bianca Seow, Gold

Lisa Ng, Silver

Leandra Amadia Rasjid, Silver

Tan Yong Neng, Silver

 

Rainforest Asia

The Challenge: Create a rainforest scene commonly found in South-east Asia. Demonstrate the gloom of the rainforest with vines, over-hanging branches and a still lake.

Jacob Yang, Gold

Kyan Julian Asri, Gold

Kywen Yang, Silver

Yeo Wan Qi, Silver

Pierce Choon, Silver

Aye aye there son! Step right up to The Amazing Circus! Our renowned circus has travelled round the world, and now we are bringing our amazing animals and flying trapeze performers to you! Wait to be wowed by our talented animal performers, and the never endless laughter of our hilarious clowns! Right now, who has tickets?

Artary’s popular Art Jams! are held during the June and December school holidays. Find out more about our Art Jams!

Singaporean parents are not having it easy. Cost of living is rising, schools are getting competitive (some less competitive), and housing much scarcer and expensive. We fret about milk powders, gym training, right brain development, pre-school admissions, and getting ready for primary school while still in pre-school!

For that, every parent deserves more than just one Mother’s or Father’s day off a year!

In this blog post, I’d like to discuss a common question I get from parents: “Do you help to prepare my child for art in primary school?”

Such questions really put me on the spot. Let me explain why.

Art is bigger than the classroom.

Schools follow an extensive art curriculum, covering a broad range of art topics, from art forms and principles of design, to elements of art. Students are also exposed broad ranges of skill training in art techniques, visual inquiry, communication, research and processing. If you’re interested, read about the primary school and lower secondary art syllabus.

But art is more than that. Art is imagining, exploring, interacting, and immersing.

Every student’s art learning journey in Artary brings them through creative and engaging themes, experiencing art through imaginative play and immersive music pieces, learning facts and knowledge about their artworks every week. Students learn as much about their art as about the world around them.

We believe in preparing our students not just for the classroom, but for the world around them.

Artary goes beyond the primary school syllabus.

Artary’s programmes focus not only on the variety of art theory, but also the depth of training provided.

Our students undergo a diversified and structured programme to acquire and master sets of practical art skills that build a strong foundation in art. For example, brush stroke techniques recur frequently during the programme, to provide students ample practices to be masterful in handling the brush.

Our goal is for all students to be skilfully equipped to practice art on their own, over and beyond what they learn in school.

To us, art is all about the experience.

Artary has always been about providing the best art experience. The experience of students is so important to us that our art sessions are conducted in very small groups, so that every student not only receive close guidance, but luxurious opportunities to participate in group discussions and to share experiences with their peers.

With a good foundation from Artary, our students often relate proudly the confidence they exhibit in absorbing during their lessons in schools, and the ability to appreciate and approach the school’s art projects with vastly different perspectives from their classmates.

So, no. We do not prepare your child for art in primary school. We’re preparing them for something bigger.

Sincerely,
Vanessa

The next Apollo mission: To find a rocket shuttle big enough to send this many astronauts to space…

Today, Artary is launching our community arts programme, Art Starts.

The Art Starts Programme is established to engage with children in Singapore who do not receive the privilege to high-quality art exposure due to social or economic barriers. Art is our main platform to inspire and foster emotional, personal and social development amongst these children. We believe that every child has a dream, and we want to help make those dreams come true.

The Art Starts Programme is a fully sponsored programme. Currently, Artary runs the programme and sponsors all beneficiaries independently. The programme is completely free for accepted students. We are committed in making it possible for deserving children to achieve their potential. The programme provides professional, sustained mentoring for children age 5 to 12 through our Artary Kids programmes. It is also about giving a magical touch in our children’s lives by providing inspiration to help their imaginations soar!

We welcome children who love art to come, and to be immersed in the art that they forget about all their troubles. We want children to engage in art in a way that makes them feel happy and free again.

For more information, learn more about the Art Starts Programme.

To bring our students together in celebration of our nation’s 49th birthday, our students participated in our National Day Challenge Week 2014!

Students were put to the exceptional challenge of completing their artwork with minimal guidance, from drawing and colour choices, to canvas application, and on to completion!

Given a few basic guidelines and instructions, every student was left to their own creativity, skills & devices!

We’re very proud of all our students, who have risen up to the challenge, and worked through their artwork with confidence and finesse during Challenge Week. We thank all parents in being an integral part of this Challenge Week in encouraging their children. Thank you!

 

Challenge Week 2014 Award Winners

We’d like to congratulate all Challenge Week award winners for their exceptional and commendable performance. These artworks were selected from hundreds of submissions during Challenge Week. Excellent job. Well done!

 

The Merlion

The Challenge: With The Merlion in the foreground, design the city background with a famous Singapore icon. Include simple shapes and lines, and use highly contrasting and unexpected colours to brighten up the Singapore sky!


Claire Lim (Parkway), Gold

Kuhoo Garg (Kovan), Gold

Annabelle Siow (Kovan), Silver

Eva Lee Ann (Parkway), Silver

Melody Kwan (Parkway), Silver

Teo Zi Heng (Kovan), Silver
 

Icons of Singapore

The Challenge: Create the Singapore scene that is familiar to you! Add two Singapore famous and iconic landmarks, and colour your canvas with your favourite celebratory colours!


Lisa Ng (Kovan), Gold

Mira Balagopal (Parkway), Gold

Alphonsus Chong (Kovan), Silver

Caitlyn Scott-Lee (Parkway), Silver

Matthias Tan (Parkway), Silver

Wee Si Shyan (Kovan), Silver
 

Vanda Miss Joaquim

The Challenge: Create a beautiful portrait of our nation’s flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim. Bring life to the flower with more petals and intricate details and gradients.


Bernice Lim (Kovan), Gold

Sarah Teh (Parkway), Gold

Clara Yang (Parkway), Silver

Kang Jia En (Kovan), Silver

Desiree Lim (Kovan), Silver

Koen Ng (Parkway), Silver

Back in June 2014, Artary was invited by PCF to create a customised training programme for 120 preschool teachers. The teachers took on the challenge of being full-time art teachers during the intense two-day training workshops, and focused on art pedagogy and creativity building for children through using recycled and natural materials.

We are proud to have the opportunity reach out to other fellow educators through the workshops. We are confident that our fellow educators will provide a great art learning journey for their students.

Good job teachers!

Today, we are proud to announce the opening of Artary’s upcoming studio, Artary Tampines!

Artary Tampines will open in April 2015, in east Singapore’s prime location, Tampines Mall. Our new flagship studio will be situated just a stone’s throw away from Tampines MRT and Tampines Bus Interchange.

The studio will deliver the same popular Artary’s children art programmes, with the warmth and friendliness that students and parents love. Artary Tampines will serve children from 3½ to 14 years old.

Artary Tampines is now open for student pre-registrations. Classes will begin from April 2015 onwards.

Please register your interest: http://artary.sg/tampines/

See you there!

Artary’s Art Starts Programme was recently covered by 联合早报. Learn more about Art Starts.

Article has been translated to English for non-Chinese readers.

Quiet and reserved Abby-Faith Leong (6 years old), who seeks joy through making art, looks forward to her art classes every week. To Abby-Faith’s mother and sole breadwinner, Ms Kimmy Tan, Artary’s sponsorship provides her daughter with the assistance she needs.

When Ms Tan (37 years old) discovered that her daughter, who suffers from hearing difficulties, had a keen interest in arts, she sought to develop her interest. It was while researching on the Internet that she learnt about Artary’s Art Starts – a sponsorship programme for financially needy children with keen interest in art. That is when she wrote in for her daughter to be admitted into the programme.

Available in Three Locations in the East

Artary, whose art training programmes are catered for children aged 3.5 to 12 years old, launched the sponsorship programme in 2014 in hope to contribute back to the society. Applicants need to be recommended by their schools, VWOs, or social and welfare organisations to verify that they are on a financial assistance scheme, and have displayed a keen interest in art. By offering the programme mainly from their website, Artary’s sponsorship has reached out to 8 students, mostly who have been recommended directly through their kindergartens and primary schools.

Artary currently operates from three locations in the East. Founder Ms Vanessa Seng wishes to reach out to more beneficiary students by working and establishing partnerships with VWOs and family services centres.

“Art can develop a child’s creativity, and is very helpful to their holistic development. Children who are interested and talented in art should not be denied the opportunity to nurture themselves due to financial circumstances. That is why we decided to sponsor needy students.” said Ms Seng in an interview.

Artary’s programmes run weekly sessions of 90 minutes each, with each class costing more than 30 dollars. The programmes cover watercolours, still life and papier-mâché among other topics. After the initial sponsorship of 3 months, the studio will review the child’s interest and abilities. Majority of the students have had their sponsorships extended after the review.

“Abby-Faith is a quiet girl who loves to express her emotions through art and crafts. Even though I am working in the education sector, I cannot provide her with professional guidance in art. I want to do my best to provide good learning opportunities for her, so that she can discover and showcase her talents, and to develop a self-confidence through art. The art classes available in the market are quite expensive. A studio that provides such sponsorship programmes will really help many needy families.” said Ms Tan.

Abby-Faith has an elder and younger sister. Since her father’s passing a few years ago, her mother has been the family’s sole breadwinner. Another beneficiary, Ms Talia Tan (37 years old, administration worker), also sent in her application for her 4 year old daughter upon learning about the Art Starts programme from her colleagues. “My daughter loves art and crafts. Given my financial situation, and the need to bring up my two children, it is very difficult to pay for enrichment classes. Such sponsorship programmes provide needy children with the learning opportunities they need.” said Ms Tan.

Good bye circus! Come back soon!

Today, we are proud to announce the opening of Artary’s upcoming studio, Artary Punggol!

Artary Punggol will open in Q1/2 2016, in north-east Singapore’s hottest town, Punggol. Our new studio will be situated in SAFRA Punggol, just a stone’s throw away from Sam Kee LRT, one stop from Punggol MRT. We are situated in the vicinity of Punggol Waterway Point and Punggol’s upcoming Creative Cluster and Learning Corridor.

The studio will deliver the same popular Artary’s children art programmes, with the warmth and friendliness that students and parents love. Artary Punggol will serve children from 3 to 14 years old.

Artary Punggol is now open for student pre-registrations. Classes will begin from Q1/2 2016 onwards.

Please register your interest: http://artary.sg/locations/punggol/

See you there!

Artary Punggol was proud to host the SAFRA Punggol Parent Blogger Event last weekend. It was our pleasure to welcome so many excited children and parents.

For more information on Artary Punggol, please visit http://artary.sg/locations/punggol/.

What an exciting afternoon to have our Prime Minister, Mr Lee Hsien Loong visit our Punggol SAFRA campus and bringing smiles to our students! Happy National Day Singapore!

— “Nellie The Elephant”

Today, we are proud to announce the opening of Artary’s upcoming Bukit Panjang Junior Campus!

Bukit Panjang Junior Campus will open in Q1 2017, in the western Singapore town of Bukit Panjang. Our new campus will be situated in Hillion Mall, located exactly at the Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub, directly accessible by Downtown Line Bukit Panjang MRT, Bukit Panjang LRT and the buses plying through the bus interchange.

We are excited about the plentiful transport options that will be available for our students!

Bukit Panjang Junior Campus is expected to begin offering programmes along with the soft opening launch of Hillion Mall.

The campus will deliver the same popular Artary’s Fine Art children art programmes, with the warmth and friendliness that students and parents love. Bukit Panjang Junior Campus will serve children from 3 to 14 years old.

Bukit Panjang Junior Campus is now open for student pre-registrations. Classes will begin from Q1 2017 onwards.

Please register your interest: Bukit Panjang Junior Campus

See you there!

Thousands of students have come through the doors of ARTARY to participate in the best art experience. Our children Fine Art programmes are designed to deliver a holistic, disciplined, and engaging art learning experience.

ARTARY’s industry leading e-Services provides a convenient and personalised experience to access ARTARY’s services online. Through the 24/7 online e-Services portal, students can make payments, reschedule sessions, make instant trial appointments and access other common services from the convenience of wherever they are.

Today, we are proud to announce that students can now access their Education Plan through e-Services.

Your ARTARY Education Plan is unique. Beginning from the time of enrolment, the Education Plan journals every lesson attended, allowing parents and students to relive and review themes, artworks, learning experiences and mastery of skills. The Education Plan also presents upcoming artworks, so that students can look forward to their next lesson, or even conduct brief preparations if they so wish! Every ARTARY lesson has been carefully designed for the best art experience and skills mastery for students. Now equipped with the Education Plan, parents can play a part too!

Students are expected to progress through the different ARTARY Fine Art programmes as they reach appropriate ages and successfully gained the required mastery of skills. The Education Plan provides transparent and up to date information on advancements, unique to every student.

Your Education Plan is deeply integrated with ARTARY’s students management system. Students will receive an invite to review their Education Plan upon their attendance in campus.

It is important to know your Education Plan. Access your Education Plan through e-Services online, or in campus.

Education Plan is only available for enrolled students.

Punggol Junior Campus is honoured to host the cast of Mediacorp Vasantham’s popular drama, Kannaadi Pookkal, starring Nithiyia Rao & Shafinah Banu.

Watch the episode: http://video.toggle.sg/en/series/kannaadi-pookkal/ep28/453410

We are proud to announce the successful campus opening in Hillion Mall!

Our newest campus will deliver the same popular ARTARY’s Fine Art children art programmes, with the warmth and friendliness that students and parents love.

Three lucky winners will walk away with one free month of classes in ARTARY Bukit Panjang Junior Campus! Visit ARTARY’s Facebook page for lucky draw details. Terms & conditions apply.