YCIS-BJ Students Get Creative with Food Art | 北京耀中学生通过食品艺术展现创造力

Famous visual artists such as Pablo Picasso, Freda Kahlo and Andy Warhol, amongst others, are names often associated with art – specifically painting. Last week, however, in a lesson with his Primary students, Johan Swart, Primary and Lower Secondary Art Specialist, opted to introduce the avant-garde concept of Food Art.

This method, which involves creatively preparing and presenting food has been in existence for decades and was spearheaded by Italian artist, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. “Unlike art that hangs in a gallery or on the refrigerator, though, food art does not last long. It must be consumed before it goes bad ” this is according to Mr. Swart. The technical objective of this lesson was for students to learn the technique of carving fruits and vegetables, improve their artistic expression and their imagination and finally for them to bring interesting eatable creatures to the table, shared the seasoned teacher.

For this activity, students rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Some creative creations that came out of their food art works included underwater fauna and flora made from dried seaweed, tomatoes and M & Ms, a lion made from nectarines, lettuce and carrots , and faces made from grapes, berries, cabbage and a banana to name a few.

He chose this activity for its collaborative nature. Students and their family members had the opportunity to make quality time out of this exercise by turning thing into a family project in some cases. They did this by finding “inspiration through looking at food art pictures, recipe books, food websites and more. This was an ideal way of “Recreate what we find together”.

For parents who would like to experiment with food art with their little ones, below are a few ideas of what you can create using different foods from Mr Swart:

a) Create your own Dragon Boat

b) Build a Great Wall of China

c) Sculpture a Chinese Dragon

d) "Flowers for my Grandparents"

e) Create Space Rockets and Aliens

e) Manufacturing space rockets and aliens

To read the full article and to find out more details about crafts activities you can do at home, click the “Read More button below”

著名的视觉艺术家，如Pablo Picasso, Freda Kahlo和Andy Warhol等人的名字常常与艺术—尤其是绘画联系在一起。然而，上个星期，小学和初中部艺术教师Johan Swart先生在给小学生们上课时，选择引入了前卫的食品艺术概念。

这种创造性地制作和呈现食物的方法已经存在了几十年，由意大利艺术家Filippo Tommaso Marinetti率先提出。“不过，与挂在画廊或冰箱上的艺术不同，食品艺术不会保存很久。”Swart先生如是说。这节课的技术目标是让学生学习雕刻水果和蔬菜的技术，提高他们的艺术表达和想象力，最后让他们把有趣的可食用的作品带到餐桌上，分享给经验丰富的教师。

为了这次活动，学生们挽起袖子开始创作。在他们的食物艺术作品中，有一些创造性的创作，包括用干海藻、西红柿和M&M豆做成的水下动物和植物，用油桃、生菜和胡萝卜做成的狮子，还有用葡萄、浆果、卷心菜和香蕉做成的人脸等等。

他选择这个活动是因为它需要合作完成。在某些情况下，学生和他们的家庭成员有机会通过把这个活动变成一个家庭项目来度过宝贵的时间。他们通过查找“食品艺术图片、食谱书籍、食品网站等来寻找灵感”。这是一种“共同创造我们所发现的东西”的理想方式。

对于那些想要和孩子们一起尝试食物艺术的父母们来说，以下是Swart先生提供的一些可以使用不同食物来进行创作的建议:

a)创造您自己的龙舟

b)建造中国的长城

c)雕刻一条中国龙

d)“献给我祖父母的花”

e)制造太空火箭和外星人

如欲阅读完整的文章，并找到更多关于您可以在家操作的手工艺活动的细节，请点击“阅读原文”。