启明星首届IBDP艺术展示： 孕育2年的种子，在红砖开了花……
还有36个小时，大幕就要拉开……红砖美术馆里，10位创作者开始在自己的展位里忙碌：
他们小心地拆放一件件作品；用心计算、思忖展品之间的距离和关系；弯转射灯的角度以便得到最佳的光影效果；也随时突发奇想，在原本的布展计划里揉入新的想法或元素……
一番忙碌和紧张之后，3月24日“启明星艺术之夜”准时开幕：
这是启明星学校10名12年级学生的IBDP视觉艺术课结课环节，也是他们的“艺术为自己说话”的现场。
70余件系列或独幅作品展出2天，迎来了师长、同学，以及那些在红砖与孩子们作品有缘邂逅的陌生人。
展示代表了启明星最高年级学生的巧思、视野和艺术表达技巧，更因为全部由学生自己策展、布展而殊为可贵。
“学生在努力解决展示中的各种问题，比如设计和决定作品的呈现方式，测量自己的展位空间，让展品打动观众……看到他们每个人都这么努力是非常激动人心的！” 本次展示的策展人、启明星艺术与设计部门负责人Zoë Woodcock说。
01
惊喜
出生在青海藏区的增周加措对身份和文化认同有着长久的思考，每两年他都要回一次自己的原乡。这一次，他用图片和玛尼石把藏区搬到现场。
上图：《倒牛奶的女人》
“我最得意的作品是《倒牛奶的女人》。”增周加措说。那是他在海拔5000多米的牧区拍摄的。女人倒牦牛奶的样子唤出了他脑海里长辈劳作的样子，而光线透进屋子，和腾起的烟雾配合的刚刚好，主体与背景的强烈反差构成了完美的画面，他毫不犹豫地按下快门，捕捉到那短暂但照射进自己记忆的一刻。
刘峥特别关注人与人的关系。他用版画、绘画和装置作品进行表达，最有意思的是《47号避难所》。这幅大尺寸的作品是刘峥花了2个星期设计、采买木料，之后在木工坊亲手磨出来的。
“有研究显示，47公分是我们社交距离的临界值。小于47公分是亲密关系的距离；大于47公分是陌生关系的距离。”刘峥说。
观众站在《47号避难所》里，通过调整手柄降低或升高伞顶来体验与周围事物距离远近对自身心理感受带来的变化。“因为展示场地大小有限，我的作品不能按照实际设计尺寸展示。在足够大的空间里，《47号避难所》可以容纳进3个人去真正体验47公分的社交临界距离，我希望它能足够启发人们思考、甚至模糊彼此之间的物理界限，在繁忙的都市生活中寻回那些丢失的亲密关系。”
作为女生，郭千睿关注女性自身。她最骄傲的作品是名为《茧》的断臂维纳斯。她将断臂维纳斯视为被舆论覆盖和包裹的对象——美丽而无辜的女性。手象征舆论，断臂维纳斯被无数的舆论（手）包围、压迫，却没有自己的发声途径。“受害者有罪论就像一层层茧一样包裹着每一个受伤害的女性，茧房内的人被凝视所伤害，茧房外的人却永远无法知道真相。 ”郭千睿在作品阐释中说。
上图： 《茧》
陈华霖的作品主要是纹案，比如这幅彩铅作品《车来车往》。看似简单的色带实际上代表着北京阡陌的地铁网络。
上图：《车来车往》
“我平时主要在这里活动。”陈华霖指着画面右上角的一片区域说，“这是15号线，马泉营在这附近。北京是我生活最久的城市，而地铁是北京快节奏的最好表现。在我即将毕业离开北京前，我想用这幅作品记录北京地铁现在的样貌，在未来的五、六年后作为对比的参照。”
雕塑、绘画、摄影、装置、服装、扎染……个人、群体、社会、女性话题、心理、文化、宗教……多样表达手段的背后，是这些涉世未深的少年人围绕自身和社会、发自本心的广泛观察与思索。
徐菲作品
温佑诚作品
钱珈倍作品
赵子墨作品
“展示是学生完成2年IBDP艺术课程的最后环节，大家为了完成展示非常努力！他们也是幸运的，能够在这样的空间展示自己的艺术作品。”Anna Zhu（朱宁）说，“他们每个人都有独特的表达方式和想要表达的内容。疫情期间，他们遇到很大挑战，学习资源有限，但他们还是排除困难，很有决心，最终拿出很棒的作品完成展示。我为他们骄傲！12年级的学生总能给你惊喜！”
Anna是启明星中学部IBDP视觉艺术课教师，也是她陪伴这些孩子在艺术里找寻并发出属于自己的 “声音”。
02
突破
是的，展示现场，谢雨霏的妈妈就被女儿惊喜到了。
“除了1件，其他作品我几乎都没见过！她对我保密，不让我看。（这些作品）真的让我很惊讶！”看着女儿的8件作品，雨霏妈妈开心得不得了。
雨霏的作品主要是探讨心理健康问题，最震撼的是《新生》。那是一个被缚的婴儿，身体上方覆盖着三层写着暴力语言的布条。“这些语言或许是无心的，但它们和有意的语言暴力一样会给生命带来伤害。”雨霏解释说，“这三个层面分别代表童年、少年、成年。”
倒退2年，无论雨霏还是妈妈都预料不到眼前的一切，也不能相信她会在大学申请中选择纯艺术方向，并且已经拿到好几所国外大学的录取通知书。
“我从来没系统地学过艺术或是绘画，是Ms. Anna鼓励了我！”雨霏说，“在艺术的学习中，我想的很多，但欠缺的是表达的技法。我会去问老师，老师也主动帮助我，向我介绍可能激发我的艺术家的作品。”
Josh Sobhani也在艺术的学习中反思、突破着自我：“原来，我总是很喜欢马上开始创作新的作品，进行新的尝试。但是经过DP艺术课程的学习，我学会认真思考过程和进行反思。旁人观看我的作品或许不一定能直接感受到什么不同，但我自己知道，我的作品是有改变的。”
Josh的作品包含大量的图案元素。重复的图案显示着稳定、可靠与安全感，但有时候你也能从中看到突破和改变。这样的平衡与衡量，大概就是他成长和突破的表现。
“每个学生都拥有他们富于创造性的‘声音’。作为艺术老师，我所做的就是引导学生去发现、探索、完善自己的“声音”。然而，我的工作最重要的，也是最有回报的方面就是帮助学生摒除那些掣肘他们的‘杂音’——那些让他们觉得自己不够好、或者某些事情不值得探索的声音。要把我们最内在的情感和想法展示出来，需要巨大的勇气。”Anna说。
01
从石中走出
Anna做到了，孩子们也做到了——
他们仿佛石中的大卫，在良师的启发和牵手下，一个个褪去琐碎和负累，从石中信步走出，在艺术中成为自己，也发出属于自己的声音：
他们不但自信地展示了自己的艺术表达技巧，重温了生命的温暖和美好，也勇敢地探索了人性和社会生活中很多的尖锐话题。
同学、师长来到展示现场，举行庆贺晚宴，和学生们共庆的不只他们的高中艺术学习告一段落，更是他们以艺术的方式直面现实的直白与勇气。
学生们的表现也让2位同为艺术家的启明星家长师建民和陈金庆感慨良多。他们在庆祝晚宴上表示，从这些作品里，看到了青春、细腻、胆大、生命力……艺术创作的道路是孤独的，愿孩子们不断探索，克服生活社会带来的磨难，找到自己的艺术表达方式，自由创作，给更多的人带来启发。
《凤栖丹穴》作者：陈金庆
两位艺术家也慷慨将自己的作品送到展示现场助庆。
《唐太宗》作者：师建民
一段经历的结束必然是另一段旅程的开启。这些借由艺术获得更多“装备”的少年人将在人生的道路上走得更远更长，他们在扎实的学习过程中，发掘了来自心底的自我认知和自信。
正如郭千睿作为学生代表在展示仪式中的致辞：我对艺术的感知曾经是‘术大于道’，我有着精确的艺术表达技巧，却不知道要表达什么。来启明星学习之后我才知道，‘道大于术’。这里的学习、这里的老师让我对艺术有了不同以往的理解。我们的很多同学都很有才华，没有这样的学习平台，我们走不到今天这样的高度……”
学生代表致辞
* 致谢：感谢中学设计与艺术团队同事Zoë Woodcock, Anna Zhu, 张灿为本文提供图片和大力协助。
The curtain will rise in 36 hours. Inside the Red Brick Art Museum, ten artists are busy preparing in their booths:
They carefully place each piece of art, measure the distance, and think about how it relates to their other works. They adjust the angles of the lights to get the best effect and sometimes come up with novel ideas or integrate new elements into their works.
After hours of busy and nervous preparation, the Daystar Visual Art Show Case opened on March 24 as scheduled:
This is the final IBDP art course presentation for Daystar’s ten Grade 12 students. It is also a place where “Art speaks for itself.”
More than 70 series or individual works were on display for two days to be appreciated by teachers, classmates, and others who visited the museum.
The exhibition represents the thoughts, visions, and art expression skills of the high school students at Daystar. It was even more special because the students curated and arranged all of the works.
“Students are working on the solving the problems of curation in their exhibition, such as how to place and display their artworks, how to measure the space within the booth, and how to put everything in order, so it makes a visual impact… It’s exciting to see every one of them working so hard on it.” said Zoë Woodcock, facilitator of the exhibition, Head of Daystar Art and Design Department.
01
Surprise
Jeremy, who was born in the Tibetan area of Qinghai, has been thinking about his cultural identity for a long time. Every two years, he goes back to his hometown. This time, he moved his hometown to the exhibition via pictures and Mani stones.
above: Woman Pouring Milk
“My best work is Woman Pouring Milk,” said Jeremy. It was taken in a pastoral area at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters above sea level. The woman pouring the yak milk reminds him of how his elders used to work. The photo creates a strong contrast between the dark background and subject and emphasizes the smoke curling up in the foreground, cementing this brief moment in his memory.
David Liu emphasizes interpersonal relationships. He uses prints, paintings, and installations to express his art. The most interesting work is Shelter 47. David bought the timber and spent weeks carving out this large-scale work in a carpentry workshop.
“Studies show that 47 centimeters is the distance between intimacy (<47cm) and personal space (>47cm),” said David.
Standing in Shelter 47, visitors can adjust the height of the umbrella via a controller to experience how the distance from their surroundings affects their feelings. “Due to limitation of the space, I adjusted my work which isn’t big enough to accommodate three people to actually experience the 47cm distance. But I hope that it can inspire people to think, blur the physical boundaries that exist between people, and help them find the intimacy that has been lost in busy city life.”
As a girl herself, Halley Guo cares about women. This work is called Dilemma of Soar, a reconstruction of the famous statue Venus de Milo. Halley sees the statue as the victim of public opinion – a beautiful and innocent woman. The hands represent public opinion, with the goddess surrounded and suppressed by countless hands. She has no chance to speak for herself. “Victim blaming covers every female victim like a cocoon. The woman inside the cocoon is gazed at and hurt, while those outside will never know the truth,” said Halley in Artist Statement.
above: Dilemma of Soar
Nick Chen’s representative work is about patterns, such as the color pencil work The Journey. The seemingly simple colored lines represent the complex Beijing subway system.
above: The Journey
“My life is mostly stationed here,” said Nick pointing at a section. “This is Line 15, and Maquanying Station is nearby. I’ve spent years living in Beijing where I have lived for a long time. Life in Beijing is fast, and the subway best symbolizes its rhythm. I’ll graduate and leave Beijing soon and this work represents my memory of the city as a comparation with 5 or 6 years later. ”
Sculpture, painting, photography, installation, clothing, tie-dye; individual, group, society, women’s issues, psychology, culture, religion: behind these diversified art forms are the extensive and heartfelt observations and reflections of these young and unsophisticated students regarding themselves and the world around them.
Danny Xv's works
Bowen Woon's works
Emma Qian's works
Christina Zhao's works
“The exhibition is the finale of the two-year IBDP art course. Everyone worked extremely hard to complete the exhibition. They are also very lucky to have such a space to present their works,” said Anna Zhu. “Each of them has their own unique content to express and methods of expression. During the pandemic, they encountered great challenges because the learning materials were limited. But they overcame all the difficulties, went through it with determination, and finally presented excellent works at the exhibition. I’m so proud of them. These Grade 12 students always surprise us.”
Anna is the IBDP Visual Arts teacher for Daystar’s secondary school. She helped these students find and express their own “voices” through art.
02
Breakthrough
Dora’s mother was amazed by her daughter at the exhibition.
“I’ve only seen one of her works. She kept them a secret from me and wouldn’t let me see them. Her works really surprised me.” Dora’s mother was extremely happy to see eight of Dora’s works at the exhibition.
Dora’s works mostly focus on mental health issues. The most shocking of the pieces is Newborn. The work depicts a baby wrapped in three layers of cloth covered in violent language. “These words may be used without thinking, but they can still do just as much harm as intentionally violent language,” explained Dora. “Each layer represents a different stage in life – childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.”
Two years ago, neither Dora nor her mother could have foreseen any of this. They also couldn’t have predicted that Dora would choose art when applying to university. Now, she has received offers from several international universities.
“I’ve never studied art or painting in a systematic way. It was Ms. Anna who encouraged me,” said Dora. “While studying art, I thought a lot, but I lacked expression skills. I often asked the teachers for help, and they were all willing to assist me and recommend famous artworks that could give me inspiration.”
Josh Sobhani also reflects on his personal art breakthrough: “I used to start creating something new right away. But after the DP art course, I’ve learned to think and reflect carefully. When people look at my works, they may not directly feel the difference. But I know for sure that my works have changed a lot.”
Josh’s exhibition works include lots of patterns and figures. The repetitive patterns represent stability, reliability, and security, but sometimes you can see breakthroughs and changes within. Maybe the balance he achieves in his works is an expression of his own growth and breakthroughs.
“Every student has their own creative voice. As an art teacher, I get to guide my students to find, develop, and refine that voice. The most important and rewarding part of my job, however, is helping students to quiet the multitude of other voices that tell them their ideas aren’t good or worthy of exploring. It takes immense courage to put our innermost feelings and thoughts on visual display,” said Anna.
03
Emerging from Stone
Anna has done it, and the children have done it too –
The students are like David inside the stone – under the guidance and inspiration of good mentors, they slowly cast off their burdens, emerge from the stone, and express their own voices through art:
Through the exhibition, they confidently demonstrated their artistic expression skills, revived the warmth and beauty of life, and bravely explored tough topics regarding humanity and society.
Everyone came to the exhibition to celebrate the conclusion of the students’ art studies and their courage to face reality via art.
The students’ works also impressed two Daystar parents Shi jianmin and Chen jinqing who are artists. At the celebration dinner, they said that they see youth, meticulousness, bravery, and vitality in the students’ art. The path of art creation is destined to be lonely. They hope students will continue exploring, overcome the hardships of life and society, find their own artistic expression, create freely, and inspire more people.
Feng Qi Dan Xue
by Chen jinqing
Art works of 2 artists going along with the show case
Tang Tai Zong
by Shi jianmin
Where one journey ends, another begins. These young people who have equipped themselves with art will surely go further along the road of life. From this solid foundation, they have strengthened their self-awareness and self-confidence.
As a student representative at the exhibition ceremony, Halley Guo said: “My perception towards art used to be ‘technique matters more than content’ – I had precise art expression skills, but I didn’t know what to say in my works. After I came to Daystar, I realized that content actually matters more. Daystar teachers reshaped my understanding of art. Many of my classmates are talented, but we wouldn’t have made it this far if it weren’t for Daystar.”
Students as representatives
* Dedication: Thanks to the support from Daystar secondary school Design & Art team Zoë Woodcock, Anna Zhu, Sylvia Zhang for this post.
END
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