It's been more than a decade since I've seen Mr. Chia, my art teacher whom I took lessons from when I was 15! If you're in Kota Kinabalu want to send your kid for art lessons, I would suggest him (info below). I've taken some art lessons here and there as a kid but none of it really inspired me to dig deeper to understand art more - I was usually taught to draw in a representational way, and that bored me. I remember being chosen to submit my work for an inter-school competition but my entry was shot down because my sea creatures and monkeys were floating in the sky. I was told that it wasn't realistic, even though I mentioned it was a surrealist piece.
With Mr Chia, he made me think about why I chose to use blue or why I painted with heavy brushstrokes, and what feelings I was trying to express through that. He showed me works by the great masters and then encouraged me to develop my own style. There was not a right or wrong way to make art - instead he got me to question why I chose to draw a specific line, why I chose a certain colour and what I was trying to express.
Many years later and with a bit more experience in art, I still learn so much from him. Last week, I told him about a piece I am working on now and how I'm finding it challenging to pick the right colours - and he ended up explaining the complexity of colours for over two hours. I never knew that colours can be one of the most difficult things to master in art!
I'm lucky I was his student. You can give Mr Chia a ring at +60198600668; his class is in Damai. I told him I'd be sharing his info here. Hello, 'lao shi'!
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