Every year at this time in GIS, as part of our international primary curriculum, drawing mania takes hold, and everyone starts drawing everywhere. It’s the Big Draw! The Big Draw is an international drawing festival that aims to celebrate the power of drawing as a tool for creativity, learning, wellbeing, and self-expression.
Engaging your Senses
Every lunchtime during the Big Draw we invite our community to come together in specially crafted drawing activities which aim to inspire creativity, build confidence and explore a different aspect of drawing. This year, the theme was Drawing with Senses and our activities were based on four of the five senses. A student favourite was Draw What You Eat, where students were asked to create popcorn characters in response to the work of local artist May Chan. It is wonderful to see our primary artists draw alongside our secondary students, each learning from the other.
Inspiring Student Creativity
This year, the Student Arts Strand leaders ran the secondary assemblies during the Big Draw. They generated interesting discussions about how the Arts enhance our lives, giving personal examples. In primary, there was a world-beating and frankly awe-inspiring drawing challenge which saw 750 primary students draw in response to music performed by some of our primary school musicians. No one could doubt the power of drawing upon seeing the concentration and focus of 750 little faces as they drew quietly for ten minutes.
Learning Through Art
As part of the Big Draw, we harness drawing as a tool for learning in all subjects, with Draw Your Learning happening in many lessons across the school. Drawing is a great way to help students remember key pieces of information or understand complex ideas or concepts. From Year 7 students, illustrating the story of the plague to Year 13 psychologists exploring adherence to medical advice, students throughout the school find ways to use drawing to help them understand and remember. In art lessons, students were given opportunities to try something different – Year 4 students tried drawing blindfolded, and Year 10 students created large collaborative abstract paintings.
ARTober Challenge
ARTober is part of our celebration of the Big Draw. It is a month-long sponsored drawing event which asks students, staff and parents to draw for at least 10 minutes every day in response to a fun daily prompt. Each daily prompt encouraged students to use one of their senses along what a topic/item (eg, sound and laughter, sight and nature, smell and durian, touch and bubble, etc). By responding to different prompts each day, ARTober also helps develop creativity.
This year, the response to ARTober, especially from the primary school, was overwhelming. We received over 2000 amazing drawings uploaded to our ARTober padlet. ARTober promotes the practice of drawing, beneficial for wellbeing. Similar to mindfulness, drawing has been proven to lower stress levels.
In GIS, recognising the profound impact of artistic expression fosters a holistic educational environment that nurtures not only academic excellence but also the flourishing of individuality, student wellbeing and a lifelong appreciation for the arts.
Interested to learn more about GIS? Book your personal tour now or call our friendly admissions team on +(603) 6209 6888 for more information.