Blending art and culture – Dover Campus's Primary School exhibition commemorates our 50th anniversary

By Communications Department
12 November 2021

Introducing the UWCSEA Dover’s rotating art exhibition in commemoration of UWCSEA’s 50th anniversary, which features local ceramics artists in Singapore and the inspiration our Primary School students have drawn from them. Among these artists in residence, was Shayne Phua who represents the new generation of ceramic artists.

Blending the history of UWCSEA in Singapore and the art that it inspires, the final creative works of the students would be featured around campus bearing symbolic meaning to the 50th anniversary.

Formerly trained in Fine Arts, Ceramic is predominantly the medium of her practice. She enjoys exploring the functionality of vessels and objects, thus as a method of appreciating their forms, she reconfigures them. Shayne also collects vintage pastry moulds to reinvent their purpose – sometimes utilising their clay reliefs to form body parts of the Ceramic vessel, other times collaging their clay reliefs to tell stories. Most of the works look into oral traditions, Chinese folklores, and cultural semiotics with the intention of learning and embracing traditional cultures amidst cultural homogenisation.

“Some enjoy my recent works with socio-political commentary, some enjoy the use of pastry motifs in many of my works, or if not Chinese mythology and symbolism that often comes with them. That said, sometimes my work can be a combination of all, or none of the mentioned because they could also be about the exploration of forms inspired by functionality."

Under the guidance of Primary School Art teacher, Caroline Sebunya, Grade 5 students recently had a lesson from Shayne, learning how to interpret the practice of artists and the stimuli they are given before translating them into their own creative work.

In Caroline’s words, “I am interested in them learning from other artists and have a growing appreciation of traditional and contemporary Singapore culture.  What is also very important to me is that they are able to learn new skills that they can transfer into other aspects of their learning.”

“Shayne was able to relate her practice to local culture and the students responded very well, they both taught me so much. “

Echoing those sentiments, Shayne hopes they learned about the many methods to create shapes, textures, and patterns. 

“Apart from my art, I also hope they are inspired by their own imagination, reasoning, and problem-solving skills which were developed in the process of choosing, making, and collaging shapes created from cookie cutters, onto their vessel. I am motivated by the students myself, by their creativity, and especially the way they visualise and justify their own placement of shapes. I am amazed by their creation of vessels, which was inspired by my pieces. I really enjoyed the variety of forms they have created. Very Impressive!”

Check out the featured art from their lesson below!