Page 24 - NAFA Annual Report 2017/2018

Excelling in examinations by Beijing Dance Academy

and Royal Academy of Dance

Our Junior Dance and Junior Drama students achieved Four groups (comprising 48 students) achieved three
outstanding results in various grading exams. In April 2017, Distinctions and one Merit at the Trinity College London’s
99 Ballet students took the Royal Academy of Dance’s Grade 2 Drama exam, in May 2017. In November 2017, two
exam. 100% of our students passed, and 93.9% were groups (comprising 33 students) took the Grade 2 Group
awarded Distinction or Merit. In November 2017, all 134 Exam, and 21 students took the Grade 3 Solo Exam; in an
Chinese Dance students who took the Beijing Dance exceptional achievement, every one of our students achieved
Academy’s exam passed, and 98.5% achieved Distinction a Distinction.
or Merit.

Hak Tai’s Bow, Brother’s Pool
and Our Children: Tang Da Wu More Space 空间:

唐大雾: 学大弓麦脑池和 Hong Sek Chern

我们的孩子 Born in Singapore in 1967, NAFA alumna and Young Artist
Award recipient (2000), Hong Sek Chern is recognised
for her stylistic interpretations of Singapore’s urban
A double bill exhibition by local artist Tang Da Wu was held landscapes. In this exhibition, held at the Lim Hak Tai Gallery
at The Ngee Ann Kongsi Galleries, assembling several in September 2017, Hong presented new experimentations
installations as critical gestures toward contextual art making in Chinese ink within contemporary contexts, using single
through the generations. The first exhibition featured large- and multipoint perspectives to create pictorial and abstract
scale installations, Hak Tai’s Bow and Brother’s Pool, a compositions. Looking beyond flat surfaces, she investigated
homage to pioneering art principals, Lim Hak Tai and the use of 3D in ink painting by using boldly reconstructed
Brother Joseph McNally. The second, Our Children, was surface textures to expand our views of Chinese ink
a showcase of installation pieces that illustrated Tang’s traditions, and redefined the definition of space.
teaching experiences as a long-time art educator.
Alongside the exhibition, a Studio Talk for School of Art
A full programme of fringe activities accompanied the and Design students and registered members of the public,
exhibition, including a performance on specially constructed gave audience members a rare opportunity to hear from the
on-site scaffolding, by Station House da Opera on 9 artist herself and to learn about her contemporary practice
September 2017, followed by the fourth instalment of the in Chinese ink. The session was moderated by student,
Southeast Asian Art Clinic on 13 September 2017. In this Lee Ju-Lyn.
dialogue session, the artist discussed his work in the context
of the historical and political landscape of his time. Selected On 7 February 2018, Fine Art students from Chinese Ink
students from the School of Art and Design analysed the and Printmaking attended the forum, Ink Practice: Exploring
artist’s installations, and presented their interpretations to New Possibilities, which officially launched the post-
their peers, resulting in a meaningful exchange between the exhibition publication More Space 空间 Hong Sek Chern.
artist and the younger generation. This book documents her traditional and experimental works,
showcased in the exhibition.
In August and September 2017, a series of Art Teachers’
seminars took place, aimed at generating discussions on art
teaching as a way of nurturing the future generation. This
seminar series evolved from discussions beginning in 2000,
when the artist first joined the National Institute of Education.

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