Students from the Creative Art Club get to attend different workshops to pick up the skills to work in different media.

In total, the exhibition will showcase 52 award-winning artworks by students from secondary schools, junior colleges and the centralised institute, centred on the SYF theme of "Torch of Friendship". It will offer visitors a glimpse into the inner worlds of our youths and how they see themselves and their relationship to the world at large.

Mastering different art media

The works have been executed in diverse art forms such as painting, ceramics, photography and animation. Just consider the range of work from St Margaret's Secondary School alone: True Friendship (seal carving), City of Life (contemporary Chinese ink painting), The Inaugural Youth Olympic Games (clay and acrylic) and Landmark of My Life (pencil). All are team efforts, except for the last which is the work of one student.

Creative Art Club teacher-in-charge Ms Jane Hoe is pleased with the prolific output of her students. "Enrichment workshops are organised for Club members every year, to expose them to a variety of media," she says. "Acrylic and ink painting workshops are ongoing. These workshops help to build strong fundamentals in art."

City of Life is a five-metre long Chinese ink painting that depicts Singapore as a bustling city teeming with people and life.

In addition, students have a chance to opt for other workshops in seal engraving, ceramics, silkscreen, comic art, batik-making and digital illustration. By the time the girls graduate, they would have mastered at least two art forms.

For this particular SYF exhibition, students were briefed about the theme and selection criteria. They could choose to attend two different workshops (except Sec 1 students, who attended one workshop), each of which lasted 10 to 12 sessions from January to April. After Week 4 of each workshop, students who showed potential in a particular art medium were identified to prepare for the exhibition. The students then formed groups to brainstorm ideas with their teachers before they embarked on the actual artwork.

Collaborating on art

For the artwork The Inaugural Youth Olympic Games, students produced six ceramic pieces. "We want to celebrate the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) held in Singapore this year," says Sec 2 student Caitlyn Velarde. "Each of our cylindrical containers represents an Olympic ring, which in turn represents one continent. Singapore is depicted by a larger container that is shaped like our island, to highlight that the first YOG is being held here." Each of the five members in her group made one container, and the larger centrepiece representing Singapore was fashioned by all of them.

The Inaugural Youth Olympic Games is a six-piece ceramic creation to celebrate Singapore's hosting of this international event.

As the group members are from different classes, it was a challenge to find a common time to meet. They also had to work through some initial disagreements over the concept before coming to a consensus. The girls also stayed till late in the evenings to complete the artwork in time.

However, all the hard work has been worth it. "I was ecstatic to obtain an award, knowing that my group has been recognised for our effort in the SYF Art & Craft Exhibition," enthuses Caitlyn.

Jessica shares her schoolmate's sentiments. "The last time I won an award was in 2008." She adds, "This award encourages me to continue working hard to improve my art skills!"