About the Workshop

A part of the largest landmass on Mother Earth is known as “Asia”. Is it large, too? Of course! It is home to more than half of the world’s population. In fact, Asia is such a large continent that people living on it may not understand each other’s language. At a specific time of a day, pupils at one location are having lunch, while those at another location are embracing the early morning sunshine peeping through their windows; some are having cool ice creams and wearing dresses while others are in thick coats. Why is that?

Read the labels on your clothes, snacks, bags and other things you have to see where they are from. However, you can only get to know where a product is finally made. What about the raw materials? Where does the cotton used to make your clothes come from? And the sugar in a cake? Are the raw materials and the final products from neighboring countries? Where are they located? On the coast or in the hinterland? Are there any high mountains or vast plains? What kind of animals and flowers do they have? Do children in these countries go to school? What games do they often play after school? Do they celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival as we do?

This workshop contains two sessions. In Session I, instructors will help students pinpoint the places of production of all the products they identify in the classroom on a world map with push pins of different colors, and link each place to Shanghai with a red line if the place is in Asia, or a blue line if it is outside Asia, so that students may see how the surrounding products are connecting us with countries both in and outside Asia. Every time a line is drawn, the instructors will introduce the geographic location of the place and the culture and life there with some vivid pictures displayed. Students may feel free to ask questions during the session, and are encouraged to look for answers to their own questions after the session with the support of teachers, parents and classmates. What they do to find the answers and the possible answers (if any) are expected to be written down and shared in the next session.

In Session II, instructors will first introduce the printmaking as an artistic technique, and classic patterns featured in prints emerging from different Asian cultures, as well as the stories and cultures behind these patterns. Then students will be guided to design and create prints reflecting their impressions of Asia.

About the Instructors

Gong Siyue is an experienced practitioner of public education of art. She studied printmaking at a Shanghai-based arts academy. 

Chen Dan is Education Manager at Rockbund Art Museum with a master’s degree in interpreting from Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation at Shanghai International Studies University.