Green and Sustainable

Green and Sustainable >> Making Art Meaningful: YCIS Beijing’s Wearable Arts Project By Jessica Franklin, Marketing and Communications Specialist YCIS Beijing, jessica.franklin@bj.ycef.com

Summer term at Yew Chung International School of Beijing was dedicated to the topic of Sustainability and the Environment. Across subjects, in assemblies and in co-curricular activities, our students were immersed in lessons, discussions and workshops relating to the environment and how to make a difference.

As part of this, Year 8 were involved in a wearable arts project which culminated in a bold performance of their art pieces. The school’s auditorium was transformed into an eerie dystopian world, where students were entangled in plastic waste, dripping with oil from oil spills, or enacting the destruction of deforestation. We speak to Ms Annette Atkins, Performing Arts Teacher, and Ms Allison Cusato, Art Teacher, about the project.

A Cross-Department Collaboration The wearable arts project was a piece of project based learning between the Visual Art and Performing Art departments. Ms. Atkins’s inspiration for a wearable arts project came from the annual international design competition World of Wearable Art, or “WOW”, hosted every year in New Zealand. The very nature of wearable arts incorporates both art and performance, so it was a perfect opportunity to collaborate between departments.

The uniqueness of the project at YCIS Beijing came from its connection to the Sustainability and the Environment topic. Students were asked to create their wearable art and base their performance on an area of the topic that particularly interested them. The art pieces were made out of waste materials – plastic bottles, old pieces of card, plastic bags – and the performances were evocative of different environmental issues facing our planet.

Acquiring New Skills There are many benefits to cross-department collaboration such as this. Ms Atkins explains how, in school drama productions, performance is usually character-based. So choreographing a wearable art performance exercised very different, more visual skills.

In addition, Ms Atkins gave students the responsibility of putting on the whole performance. This entailed not just costume design and choreography, but stage management, lighting, sound, set design – and even publicity. process”, explains Ms. Atkins.

Ms. Cusato felt that the project was a good opportunity to introduce the idea of making meaning in art. To perform a piece of art, students had to be able to justify the meaning of their work and use it to convey a singular message. Following the performance, Ms. Cusato and Ms. Atkins arranged a review of the pieces where students were asked to rank their peers’ work according to clarity of message and meaning.

A Performance to Remember The performance was the first of its kind at YCIS Beijing and students took fantastically well to the task. Both Ms. Atkins and Ms. Cusato were struck by how the art pieces transformed students onstage – helping them find the confidence to get into character and enact very bold pieces of physical performance.

“It’s worth saying that performing wearable art is certainly not an easy type of performance”, commented Ms. Atkins. “I was impressed by the bravery of our students onstage, and their ability to convey messages about the environment without resorting to speech.”

Valuable Lessons There are several lessons the teachers hope students took away from the project. Of course, one important purpose was to educate on the human impact on the environment, and how we can improve our sustainability. Ms. Cusato commented that just because the topic had come to a close, it didn’t mean that we could leave its lessons behind too:

“I ensured that our students dismantled and re-organised every costume so that the materials could be used for future projects. Nothing was thrown away.”

Ms. Cusato and Ms. Atkins outlined other valuable lessons from this topic. In particular, how breaking with conventions in art can have powerful results. It doesn’t have to look attractive, use traditional materials or be static to be art. Art can be worn, it can be ugly, it can be performed.

Additionally, art and performance can be vehicles to drive social change. Sometimes art surpasses any article, textbook or documentary in its power to make people feel and make a difference.

17th Annual EARCOS Teachers’ Conference 2019

October 27-29,2016 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Strands Physical Education/Wellness/Health Visual Arts Film Design Technology Robotics Performing Arts: - Choral Music - Primary General Music - Dance - Drama - Strings - Band Technology General Education Topics

Place: International School Bangkok Preconference: March 19-20, 2019 Regular: March 21-23, 2019

For more information If you have any questions, please contact the EARCOS office or email Giselle Sison, ETC Coordinator at gsison@earcos.org

Phone: +63 (02) 779-5147 | Fax: +63 (49) 511-4694 | Mobile: +63 928-5074876

PRECONFERENCES (March 20)

Ted and Carolyn Temertzoglou (P.E.)

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dr. Greg Dale (Sports psychology/Coaching) Dr. Marilyn Stewart (Art) Dr. Peter Boonshaft (Music)

SPECIAL PRESENTERS

Jarrod Robinson (P.E. - Use of 21st Century Tools in Teaching PE) Lynn Kachmarik (P.E. - Coaching/PE) Kofi Gbolonyo (Music and Dance) Jonathan Mann (Music - Strings, Conducting) Sofia Lopez-Ibor (Music, Movement, and Visual Arts) Dinah Helgeson (Music - Choral) Pamela Pietro (Dance) Dr. Jennifer Hartley (Theatre/Drama) Joachim Matschoss (Theatre/Drama) Marvin Bartel (Art - Assessment of Creativity) Kevin Jarrett (Makerspaces) Kim Cofino (Technology) Dr. Tom Nehmy (Counselors - Healthy Minds Program - Wellness) Dr. Phillip Moss (Art) Matt Smith (Film/Visual Arts)

EARCOS PRACTITIONER PRESENTERS

Sarah Bailey (Dance) Alex Face (Art) Bob Connor (1 - Wellness, 1 - Fitness) Barbara Sunday (AP Studio Art) Michael Bycraft (Makerspaces) Jaleea Price (Dance) Yek Barlongay (Dance) Breen O’Reilly (Film) Ringo Dingrando (Robotics)