Artists in Schools program (A.i.S #8 ): Everybody is an artist. That’s the most encouraging quotation we heard today.
It came from our 8th AiS’s artist, Aris Aziz, or better known as Pak Aris The fortunate school to be entertained by him today is SMK Taman Maluri, Kuala Lumpur. If you love your job, you’ll never have to work a single day. That’s what Aris Aziz is all about. For him, who became a professional painter in 1970 in Singapore, nothing is more gratifying and more pleasant than doing what you are passionate at and, at the same time, makes a living out of it. There is no such thing as working hours for him.
Famously known as Pak Aris, AiS 8’s guest artist, has been in the Malaysian arts scenario just shy of five decades, he is no stranger to the entire Malaysian arts community.
A painter of few words, Pak Aris’s precise yet impactful talk at Sekolah Menengah Taman Maluri, Kuala Lumpur, renders his passion and commitment to his beloved genre of expression – painting. Perhaps it is the passion that made his talk prudently listened to by the students.
His message is simple: everyone is an artist. Physically, a “bad” painting doesn’t exist. The difference is how one sees the subject and how one freely expresses his thoughts. The subject could be very simple but the presentation phenomenal and message deep.
Demonstrating how to sketch, he convinced his audience that the process of producing an artwork need not be painstaking. Pak Aris also proved that, despite his age, he can easily adapt to new technologies by applying a visualizer to enable all the students observe him draw, making the teaching easier and faster.
The assignment for the day: draw a watch using pencils. Pak Aris was suprised at the diversity of the styles used by the students. “It shows that everybody has the capacity,” he said. “Its up to them to develop it seriously or not. That’s their choices.”
The school teachers effectively coordinated the program. Mr Kamarulzaman, the teacher in charge, provided us with a very good friendly atmosphere comprising his 50-odd students and comfortable room.
We would like to thank SMK Taman Maluri school management for kindly providing AiS with the opportunity to conduct the program at the school. We hope the students have benefitted significantly from the session.