Truva spent three weeks in Shanghai, China, as part of a RISD foundations art program.
Truva is on the right
Pre-senior year summer, I spent the month of July in Shanghai, China at the Rhode Island School of Design Teen Art Institute Foundations program.
After years of canceled school trips due to Covid or lack of participation, I found an opportunity to combine my two interests; art/ design and Mandarin.
This was my first time in China, although I've visited other countries, but never this far and for this long... by myself.
First week of the program was brutal. Getting back into the school mindset, while adapting to a 12 hour time difference. Plus, I was staying on campus with 25 other students, and a roommate I'd never met until move-in day.
This was something new for me, and gave me an opportunity to learn what it would be like in college. I hadn't drawn alot until now, and when the first assignment was 10 drawings due the next day I knew I needed to take this seriously.
For the foundations courses, we had two primary classes, design and drawing, that we alternated everyday from Monday through Thursday, while Friday was an all day open studio so we could work on our assignments.
In design we focused on line's, colors, patterns, shapes, and textures. We maintained a daily sketchbook to keep our exercises and warm-ups in as well as thumbnails, small depictions of our project concepts. Our main materials consisted of pens, paint brushes, and Gouache paint.
For drawing class the course begins with the fundamental platform of traditional works exploring objects, human figure, and spatial contexts in light, shade, proportion, perspective, and composition. The materials consisted of graphite pencils, charcoal (blocks or compressed), pen/brush and ink, collage and pastels, as well as working with mixed medias like adding newpapers and other materials for projects. Each of the two classes required new projects to be completed for every class each week, totaling 6 or more works of varying sizes for both classes at the end of the three weeks).
For someone like myself who has never taken art this professionally I found it very challenging, but it definitely drew my interest and pushed me to work harder and improve my skills.
The second week was much better as I became familiar with the fast pace of the program and the time consuming expectations.
Saturday's were my favorite, reserved for social and cultural explorations, which entailed visiting art museums in the area. We went to the Museum of Art Pudong and Power Station of Art. I really enjoyed the variety of the mediums used, and methodology. Made me believe that art can be anything, and accessible to anyone.
Sunday was open for personal activities, and catching up on assignments. It was also a time for me to do my laundry, watch some shows and plan for the next week.
The third and final week was both stressful and sad. We had to complete our work/final project and had to prepare to present our artwork to our friends and family at the final show on Saturday morning. As we set up on Friday, we were going around everybodys art work and looking at our own. It became clear that the end was near and soon would be the last time I would potentially see my friends.
Saturday afternoon was move-out day, and I was the only one left on campus as my flight was the day after. During the afternoon on Saturday I was roaming around in and outside of the campus, and everywhere I went I could almost picture the moments where I spent time with my friends or went for class, I could almost hear their voices. Voices that have now become whispers as time passed by.
This experience also showed me what life will be like at the end of highschool and the end of college, when we leave most of us will not see each other again headed down our individual paths.
As of now I was the first non-Asian foreigner to attend this program, and I had a fun experience while improving my drawing skills and building a portfolio for my college application. I would highly recommend this program for anyone who wishes to pursue art in life, and likes a little extra adventure.
After years of canceled school trips due to Covid or lack of participation, I found an opportunity to combine my two interests; art/ design and Mandarin.
This was my first time in China, although I've visited other countries, but never this far and for this long... by myself.
First week of the program was brutal. Getting back into the school mindset, while adapting to a 12 hour time difference. Plus, I was staying on campus with 25 other students, and a roommate I'd never met until move-in day.
This was something new for me, and gave me an opportunity to learn what it would be like in college. I hadn't drawn alot until now, and when the first assignment was 10 drawings due the next day I knew I needed to take this seriously.
For the foundations courses, we had two primary classes, design and drawing, that we alternated everyday from Monday through Thursday, while Friday was an all day open studio so we could work on our assignments.
In design we focused on line's, colors, patterns, shapes, and textures. We maintained a daily sketchbook to keep our exercises and warm-ups in as well as thumbnails, small depictions of our project concepts. Our main materials consisted of pens, paint brushes, and Gouache paint.
For drawing class the course begins with the fundamental platform of traditional works exploring objects, human figure, and spatial contexts in light, shade, proportion, perspective, and composition. The materials consisted of graphite pencils, charcoal (blocks or compressed), pen/brush and ink, collage and pastels, as well as working with mixed medias like adding newpapers and other materials for projects. Each of the two classes required new projects to be completed for every class each week, totaling 6 or more works of varying sizes for both classes at the end of the three weeks).
For someone like myself who has never taken art this professionally I found it very challenging, but it definitely drew my interest and pushed me to work harder and improve my skills.
The second week was much better as I became familiar with the fast pace of the program and the time consuming expectations.
Saturday's were my favorite, reserved for social and cultural explorations, which entailed visiting art museums in the area. We went to the Museum of Art Pudong and Power Station of Art. I really enjoyed the variety of the mediums used, and methodology. Made me believe that art can be anything, and accessible to anyone.
Sunday was open for personal activities, and catching up on assignments. It was also a time for me to do my laundry, watch some shows and plan for the next week.
The third and final week was both stressful and sad. We had to complete our work/final project and had to prepare to present our artwork to our friends and family at the final show on Saturday morning. As we set up on Friday, we were going around everybodys art work and looking at our own. It became clear that the end was near and soon would be the last time I would potentially see my friends.
Saturday afternoon was move-out day, and I was the only one left on campus as my flight was the day after. During the afternoon on Saturday I was roaming around in and outside of the campus, and everywhere I went I could almost picture the moments where I spent time with my friends or went for class, I could almost hear their voices. Voices that have now become whispers as time passed by.
This experience also showed me what life will be like at the end of highschool and the end of college, when we leave most of us will not see each other again headed down our individual paths.
As of now I was the first non-Asian foreigner to attend this program, and I had a fun experience while improving my drawing skills and building a portfolio for my college application. I would highly recommend this program for anyone who wishes to pursue art in life, and likes a little extra adventure.