Boorai - The Children's Art Gallery

Expressive Thoughts : East meets West through children's art
An exhibition...

• Gallery 1: By the children from The University of Melbourne's Early Learning Centre, Melbourne Australia
• Gallery 2: By the children from Tianjin Pre-School Normal School, Tianjin China

The Expressive Thoughts exhibition represents the culmination of a rewarding relationship between the Tianjin Pre-School Normal School, China and the Early Learning Centre. It links cultures through a shared belief in the capacity of young children to enjoy, invent and learn through art. The exhibition presents the ideas, life experiences and aesthetic preferences of Australian and Chinese children aged 3-6 years. Through artworks that range from fine and practiced to bold and spontaneous, the exhibition provides insight into varying approaches to perception, problem solving, skilful manipulation, visual design, creativity and aesthetics.

Contrasting Values on Art

Contrasting views on art evident within both Western and Eastern cultures inform what adults value in the art processes and products of young children. Ideals associated with twentieth-century Western art include free-expression, innovation, spontaneity and individualism, all of which have become closely associated with art practices in early childhood. Traditional Eastern approaches to art revere quite different ideals, namely the mastery of and respect for established images and techniques which reinforce cultural knowledge. In early childhood contexts this philosophy has been extended to include an emphasis on controlled mark-making and design and practiced copying of traditional and contemporary images.

Creativity in Western contexts is often associated with the exploration and development of unique ideas and techniques through processes that encourage risk taking and individual interpretation. This philosophy supports open-ended responses and minimal teacher direction. In contrast, within Eastern cultures creativity is expressed through subtle variations and modification to a socially-valued and teacher directed repertoire of symbolic forms which are valued for their technical mastery.

The arts are centrally placed in the curricula of both the Tianjin Preschool Normal School Kindergarten and the Early Learning Centre. The Expressive Thoughts celebrates the creative achievements of children whilst also highlighting the contrasting emphasis given to skills and expression in these two diverse early childhood settings.

Gallery 1: By the children from The University of Melbourne's Early Learning Centre, Melbourne Australia

Joshua 4 yrs Martin, me and Julian are at Healesville. The lyre bird is getting some food, he eats bugs and slugs. There are bird houses for the little birds and ponds with islands in the middle.	Bob 5 yrs That's a cool sunflower and the sun got out.	Claire 4 yrs Observational Painting: Banskia Flower.	Paula 4 yrs It's a playground across the road from Annie William's where I sometimes have a sleep over. That's a trampoline and a bumpy slide that you can see if you look close. That's the flying fox and the monkey bars.
Louis 5 yrs It's a picture of the world. The big bit is the sun and the bumps at the bottom are the world. The doughnuts are England and that's Australia. That one is Paris and that one there is India. That one is America.	Sophie 4 yrs It's a wall painting. I made all the sections and then painted around them, and then used chalk inside all the little sections.	Lydia 3 yrs The happy woman. (In response to Pablo Picasso's - the Weeping Woman).	Jeremy 4 yrs Observational Drawing: Banskia Leaf.
Sophie 4 yrs Abstract (Stage 1) Eucalypt leaf collage created on transparent paper on a light-box.	Sophie 4 yrs Abstract (Stage 2) Drawing of leaf collage projected with an overhead projector.	Sophie 4 yrs Abstract (Stage 3) Painting with reference to the stage 2 drawing.

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Gallery 2: By the children from Tianjin Pre-School Normal School, Tianjin China

Tianyu 6 yrs Counting tall buildings.	Guangyin 6 yrs Lovely shrimps.	Yue 6 yrs The Monkey King fighting the Wolf.	Yimimg 6 yrs Monkeys crossing the river.
Pieda 6 yrs Daddy took me back to China from Australia by plane.	Zijie 6 yrs A mother chicken and her children.	Cheng 6 yrs Sugar-covered hawfruit.	Shangdian 5 yrs My grandma teaching me to paint.
Ping 6 yrs Pretty flowers.	Xinyuan 5 yrs My mummy.	unknown child A bus trip.

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