National Gallery Singapore delivers art education beyond walls with new Roving Art Truck

National Gallery Singapore takes art education on the road to bring a fun and immersive learning experience to students. From July 2022, the Gallery’s new Roving Art Truck will travel to Primary and Secondary schools across the country, inviting students to participate in hands-on interactive activities centred around artworks from the National Collection. Launched with support from Applied Materials, this new initiative builds on the Gallery’s continued efforts to make art more accessible to the public through encounters beyond the museum’s walls.

This unique art programme on wheels brings art encounters out of the museum and into familiar everyday spaces, inviting students to learn through play as they participate in activities with their peers and allow art educators to provide authentic art encounters for their students. The Art Truck encourages students to interact with the artworks and observe them up-close with a Look, Imagine and Tell Stories! feature wall, where they will be able to learn about artistic techniques and materials through 10 artworks from the National Collection by prominent Singaporean and Southeast Asian artists, including Georgette Chen, Jaafar Latiff and Raden Saleh. They will also be able to share their observations and thoughts, and co-create with their schoolmates via a collaborative Inspiration Wall and Co-Creation Wall – fostering curiosity, imagination and visual inquiry among students with community learning. Each school will receive the collaborative work by its students at the end of the Art Truck’s visit.

Beyond the activities, artworks from the National Collection have also inspired the colours and patterns of the Truck’s design. The colourful camouflage façade of the Truck offers students a vibrant environment to discover artworks beyond the conventional classroom and museum settings. Feedback from teachers and art educators were also taken into consideration when designing the Truck and its activities to best support a variety of students’ development and learning outcomes. These include modular and portable props, making it easy to configure into different variations to suit the needs of different schools, education levels, locations and spaces.

Ms Suenne Megan Tan, Senior Director, Museum Planning and Audience Engagement, National Gallery Singapore says, “The Roving Art Truck is another signal of our commitment to offer accessible and inclusive art experiences for all audiences in fresh and novel ways. It is important to provide accessible resources and opportunities for audiences to engage with art, especially from a young age, to encourage play as a creative process and to allow for interdisciplinary learning and exploration of topics beyond their school syllabus. We are grateful to find a like-minded partner in Applied Materials who shares our vision to take art out into the community.”

As a major programme partner, Applied Materials will support the Roving Art Truck education programme over a period of three years – from 2022 to 2024.

Mr. Brian Tan, Vice President, Applied Global Services and Regional President, Applied Materials South East Asia Pte. Ltd. says, “As a company built on innovation, we understand the power of focusing creative minds on solving complex challenges and developing new breakthroughs. We believe that art plays a vital role in inspiring a creative spirit and a vibrant community, thus we are proud to support National Gallery Singapore’s Roving Art Truck programme to enhance art learning in Singapore and nurture intuition, creativity and learning agility amongst our younger generation.”

The Roving Art Truck will premiere at Children’s Festival 2022 at Gardens by the Bay on 18 and 19 June. Members of the public are invited to be one of the first to experience the Roving Art Truck at Supertree Grove and participate in various art-making activities under the magnificent Supertrees. As the school semester begins in July, the truck will begin its journey to seven schools, including Bedok Green Primary School, Park View Primary School, Saint Anthony's Canossian Secondary School and Xinmin Secondary School.

AN ARRAY OF ART EDUCATION RESOURCES

The Roving Art Truck adds to a range of free educational resources the Gallery has developed to enhance art learning and foster appreciation for art amongst students. Schools and educators have access to a range of onsite and online programmes to tailor to their students and carry out deeper discussions about the works beyond the walls of the museum.

Available for loans to schools, the Gallery’s Travelling Art Carts! introduce children to the basics of lacquer and batik painting, as well as offer a glimpse of yesteryear with dioramas and paintings by prominent regional artists. These mobile museum art education stations encourage role-playing and imaginative conversations on art, history and social studies, providing a dynamic learning experience for students.  

The Gallery also offers an e-learning programme, the Virtual Assembly Programme, for Primary and Secondary School students. Featuring a series of videos, quizzes and drawing activities, teachers can complement classroom learning with online lessons for a blended learning experience.

Within the museum, the Gallery has also developed a range of education programmes, focusing on interaction and co-creation to encourage younger audiences to learn about art through play. This includes the beloved children’s festival Gallery Children’s Biennale which feature immersive installations that foster curiosity and encourage art making. Visitors will also be able to visit the Gallery’s Keppel Centre for Art Education – a dynamic space dedicated to offering workshops, immersive experiences and activities centred around art for youth, children and families.

Media assets are accessible via this link. Information on referenced artworks in Roving Art Truck is in Annex A and information on activities that students can engage with in the Roving Art Truck is in Annex B. More information on the Gallery’s other art education outreach resources and programmes for schools can be found in Annex C. To view these Annexes, please refer to the downloadable PDF version of this release.