ART CLASS
I see children as artists already, not artists in training. There is no set picture for everyone to reproduce. Children take the starting point in their own direction, with techniques introduced when they need them to develop an idea or make something possible.
Why I Teach Art
From studying fine arts, to completing a Master of Art Therapy, and now doing a doctorate related to art education, I have never stopped exploring children’s art and art education. The courses come from therapy and art education. Art-making is at the centre, with subjects that can lead into embodied knowing and reflections about identity, values, relationships and everyday life. I am very grateful for the ten years I have spent teaching art to children. In the first year, I focused more on teaching skills. I soon realised that, as an art teacher, what mattered more was being able to see what each child needed at that time, while giving them enough space to express their own ideas. Through further study and years of teaching, I gradually developed my own approach to art education. My doctoral study is also a chance for me to bring together what I have learnt over these years, develop it further through research, and bring it back into practice. I hope my research and practice can bring some new possibilities to art education today. I hope that one day art can become a way for children to form their own ideas and values, understand themselves, and make sense of other people and the world around them. I truly enjoy this work and find it meaningful. I don’t plan to make the groups very large. I hope to meet students who genuinely enjoy making art, are curious about things, and are willing to take their time to explore. Let’s keep exploring together and see where it takes us.
Faye Zhuang
Art Educator, Art Therapist, Mindfulness teacher, and Doctoral Researcher.
Art & Creative Exploration (6–8)
Creative Art Exploration is a small-group course combining drawing, painting, making, stories and imagination. Each session is developed around a selected artist and a theme such as family, friendship, feelings, dreams, nature or places. Stories, artworks and other prompts are chosen to open up the theme, giving children a rich starting point for their own work. Children have room to decide what they want to make and how they want to make it. Skills come in along the way, when a child needs them to take an idea further.
The course is designed for only four children in each group. This gives me time to work closely with each child as their artwork develops — talking through their ideas, asking questions, helping them reflect on what they are making, and introducing new possibilities when they feel stuck. Guidance is there throughout the process, while each child still has room to think, express and develop ideas of their own.
As AI becomes increasingly present in how children learn and create, there will be no shortage of images, answers and ideas available to them. What may become more precious is what comes from the child themselves — their imagination, their questions, their sense of what matters, and the confidence to make something that is genuinely their own.
This is what Creative Art Exploration is designed to make room for.
Art & Creative Inquiry (9–13)
Creative Inquiry is a small-group art course for children aged around 9–13. It introduces children to artists, materials and ways of making, with a particular focus on using art to explore ideas and questions that are becoming relevant to their lives.
Each session is developed around an artist, a topic, an experience, a question and a related story. Children consider the topic together, then decide what they want to make in response. They may work with different materials, follow different ideas and arrive at very different work. Skills and techniques are introduced along the way, according to what each child is trying to create
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The course is designed for only four children in each group. This gives me time to work closely with each child — to ask questions, listen to what they are trying to express, help them reflect on their work and introduce other ideas or possibilities that may take their thinking further. Art-making and conversation work alongside each other, particularly when we explore subjects such as identity, values, relationships and the society children are growing into.
Around this age, children are beginning to form stronger ideas about who they are, while also becoming more aware of what friends, school, social media and the wider culture expect of them. AI adds another influence, with answers, opinions and images available almost instantly. Creative Inquiry gives them time to slow this down: to think about what they encounter, question it, work out where they stand, and express something that has meaning for them through art.
