Art STAR ChampionsPedagogicalExhibition 2016

Salted Fish

NameClusterSchool

Hazel Huang

CONTENT/ BACKGROUNDA 7-week lesson unit for Primary 4 students on making their storybooks based an artwork “Salted Fish” by pioneer artist Cheong Soo Pieng.

 

ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGArt reveals artist’s experiences and imagination.

ELEGANT ART TASKCreate an alternative story titled “Salted Fish” by making a picture book with one sheet of paper.

 

LESSON OBJECTIVES1. Pupils will be able to create images that illustrate the meaning of the print text.2. Pupils will be able to create picture books

Lesson 1 & 2Pupils were shown a behind-the-scene image of a traditional Wayang Kulit performance. They were asked to generate words or short phrases that they thought of when viewing the still image. The group worked together to classify the words based on its association with the senses. For e.g. Dim Sight, Hot Touch

Pair workPupils were shown 2 extracts from the book Salted Fish by Yeo Wei Wei. They analysed the text and translate the images in their head into drawings. A paper consisting of 3 frames were given to them for distributing the drawings according to introduction, middle and end with reference to the text.

The Wayang Kulit image will foreshadow the subsequent lessons as Cheong Soo Pieng’s Drying Salted Fish has distinctive stylization of the human features which is thought to be “inspired by the sticklike figures of the wayang kulit and also Indonesian figure carvings, which the artist likely came across during his visits to Indonesia” [Ong Zhen Min, Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore]. In addition, activating pupils’ senses is crucial as the book Salted Fish by Yeo Wei Wei has many

sensing verbs.

Students may not be familiar with translating text to images. Make

reference to their ‘guided writing’ in English

Language class and explain that in Art lesson

we are just doing the opposite.

Lesson 3The class played a game involving guessing the theme of the dollar note denomination for the Singapore note currency. 2 images by artists Cheong Soo Pieng and Chen Wen Hsi on the back of the $50 note were then chosen for in-depth discussion.

Possible questions: Where do you think this place might be? Who might these people be? What do you think they are doing? Comment/ describe about their attire/ heritage and

features

Pupils compare and contrast the traditional Wayang Kulit image from lesson 1 with “Drying salted fish”.

Possible questions: Are there any similarities between these artworks? What

are the similarities? Are there any differences between these artworks? What

are the differences?

Art STAR ChampionsPedagogicalExhibition 2016

Salted Fish

NameClusterSchool

Hazel Huang

Lesson 4 & 5Teacher recapped the lesson by reading the 2 extracts of the story Salted Fish. The elegant art task will be explained: Create an alternative story titled “Salted Fish” by making a picture book with one sheet of paper.

Lesson 6 & 7 Pupils will walk around and read each other’s stories and complete their self and peer evaluation forms - PQP. Teacher will select some samples of pupils’ work and share with the class. Teacher will also close the lesson by going back to the image of the painting Drying Salted Fish, mention that Cheong Soo Pieng is one of the early artists of the Nanyang School who were largely immigrants from China; this group of artists include Chen Chong Swee, Liu Kang, Georgette Chen, Chen Wen Hsi and Cheong Soo Pieng.

If this was the first time that students

are giving peer feedback, do go

through the etiquette on giving and

receiving feedback. Some students

may use their personal experiences

or their friends’ names while writing

the stories, you can relate these

attempts to how artists are inspired

by their experiences and

imagination to make art.

One of Cheong Soo Pieng’s most distinctive attributes as an artist of the Nanyang school is his ability at

synthesising Western, Chinese and South East Asian influences in his art. Drying Salted Fish is rendered

in a manner that combines Chinese ink brush techniques with a local subject matter. The intricate line

work, akin to gongbi (meticulous brush technique), demonstrates Soo Pieng’s strong foundation in

Chinese ink painting. However, the general dimensions of the work are based on a Western painting’s

dimensions, rather than the typical scroll form. This merging of Eastern and Western approach is one of

the stylistic attributes commonly found in many Nanyang works.Therefore, artist can use their experiences and imagination to make art.

Through both text and imagery, pupils’ handmade picture books express their imagination and communicate ideas. According to the Physical, Art and Music (PAM) research, one of the effective art teaching practices is to build pupils’ understanding of an art form through multiple entry points (p. 53). As described in the lesson unit, pupils’ storytelling activity is anchored by discussion of the images on local currency, Cheong Soo Pieng’s painting, reading excerpts from an inspired story written by Yeo Wei Wei and their observations of the features of a published book with their inputs. Discussion revolving the parts of the book such as the book’s shape and size, the kind of paper, pop-ups or the choice in which the readers view one two-page spread at a time frequently took place during the book-making sessions. Close examination of the relationship between images in the book, the combination and arrangement of the images, the pace at which the artist guides the turning of pages, the play between the images and the words, the way in which the artist uses colour and the form of the book are also embedded in our discussion.

If I were to repeat this lesson, I will make more attempt to adapt this lesson unit for the lower progress pupils who are weaker in writing. Although I have been explicit to tell pupils that writing even one sentence is suffice on each page, I think that it is an even higher order to be able to write concisely.

To value add to this lesson unit, I would think similar lessons can be done with both text and imagery so that pupils can learn how “images communicate social values and be able to identify visual stereotypes” (Considine, 1986).

Reference

Considine, D. (1986). Visual literacy and children’s books: An integrated approach. School Library Journal,

33(1), 38-42.Lim, K. B., Teo C. H., Kehk, B. L., & Loy, V. (2016). Development of

21cc through art in Singapore schools: Re-assessing Singapore

art teaching. PAM research report. PESTA and STAR: Singapore.