James Chan
Teacher of Visual Arts
Teacher of Design
LATEST PROJECTS
Shadow Puppets
Shadow Puppets
Shadow Puppets has it's roots in China, but the tradition spread across the world and reached as far as France. In a collaborative effort with the Drama and Chinese dept., Year 6 students learned about folktales, and Chinese myths, the history of shadow puppets. They later created their own puppets while learning about negative space and performed the play in Drama.
Lines
Lines
Artist Studied - Cy Twombly
Lines is a fundamental element of art that is often overlooked. Y6 Students studied this American artist's style and his use of lines in his famously cryptic paintings.
Constructivism
Shapes
Art Movement Studied - Constructivism
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From studying lines, the Y6 move on to the next step and learn about the relationship between lines and shape. They also learned some history about the Russian revolution and how it influenced this unique art movement.
Food Art
Creating Form
Artist Studied: Wayne Thiebaud
Wayne Thiebaud's whimsical subject matter of cakes and sweets is an excellent example of creating form in a drawing and/or painting. The students studied how shading creates the illusion of a 3D shape in their drawing. Students further understood his intention of trying to make his viewers smile, and then the students themselves chose objects to represent their own personal viewpoints in their artwork.
Giant Sculptures
Scale and Proportion
Artist: Claes Oldenburg
Oldenburg is a artist known for his humor, wit and gigantic sculptures. Students will learn about the concept of Scale and proportion and create paper clay sculptures that will end up being photographed and digitally manipulated into unusual sizes and locations.
Fantasy Fruits
Organic Shapes and Forms
Artist: Kate Malone
Kate Malone is a British artist who creates amazing clay sculptures using plan and vegetation for her inspiration. Her artwork is equally stunning as it is surreal. The year 7 students studied organic forms and shapes for weeks to understand what organic forms are, eventually leading up to their designs for their final clay sculpture.
Organic Abstraction
Organic Shapes and Forms
Artist: Helen Wells
Helen Wells is a mixed media artist that combines drawing, watercolour and ink and occasionally other medium as well. Students learned about organic forms and what is abstract art, experimented with various media, before producing their own mixed media artwork of their own.
Modernist Design
Modernism and Design
The students learned about the concept of modernism and the need for both artist and designers of products to adjust the way they design and create things, at the turn of the 20th century. The students were challenged to design a chair that meets 3 criteria. It embodies the modernist philosophy, it must be aesthetically pleasing and something someone would buy, and it must survive a weight test!
Pop Art Prints
Pop Art Lino Prints
The students studied notable artists during the the art movement, and learned from the likes of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein to understand what is pop culture and commercialism. Using local inspiration from modern day Hong Kong, students produced their own reductive lino prints in the style of Andy Warhol.
Portraiture
Art History Through the Ages
By the end of middle school, the year 9 students have learned about many artists and art movements throughout history. As a final project, students have to choose an artist or movement and create a self portrait in that style. This includes full creative control of the composition as well as the materials used, producing a wide and varied body of work from the students.
2023
Design Challenge: Zipline Racer
Zipline Racers
Drones are increasingly more common place in everyday society, being used for everything, from recreational reasons to medical deliveries to even military uses. Students were challenged to create a zipline drone capable of going at high speeds, carrying a payload, and even go up an incline. This was a school wide 3 day competition.
Tiny Homes
The Value of Space
In many parts of Asia, space comes at a premium including Hong Kong itself. Students researched about the importance of shelter and living space and how tiny but highly efficient homes could benefit society. They then designed their own tiny homes to scale and built it using card, plastic and paper.
Biomimicry Claws
Lessons from Nature
Nature often finds elegant and efficient solutions to many engineering problems. The Japanese bullet train borrowed ideas from the Kingfisher bird's beak, while wind turbine blades were inspired by humpback whales. The students was tasked to create a pneumatic claw inspired by nature for various different industries, requiring various different design specifications.
More Design Lessons to be added...
