Nepal Exchange a Success!

Apologies for the delay in this post – the holidays got a bit hectic for us all!

It has been so fascinating to see how the children in different countries and cultures have responded to this project.  Our last expedition, through the Trivani Foundation and Choice Humanitarian with Chris Peterson of the Great West Institute, was facilitated in the villages of Lamjung District of Nepal.

Here is the story, told by Chris Peterson:

Chris Peterson drawing from his imagination

“In November 2009, I was able to join CHOICE Humanitarian on an expedition to villages in the Lamjung District of Nepal. The journey was exceptionally long and difficult, but completely rewarding. The CHOICE Nepal staff has worked in this region for nearly a decade and has established a very strong relationship with local villages and their leaders. We had the opportunity to stay in the homes of villagers and be fed by the villagers themselves. There was much celebration, dancing and feasting as we visited the villages of Khatri Tanti, Turlong, Duscheni, and Parunokot. We worked side by side with villagers building a school in Turlong and broke ground for a health clinic in Parunokot.

While staying in Parunokot, I had the opportunity to conduct a short art lesson for the nearly 100 students there. Kiran Neupane – one of the CHOICE field staff- explained to headmasters that we wanted to share some art supplies, do some drawings and participate in an art exchange. We had expected to come back the next day to conduct the workshop, but they immediately organized and brought desks out into the courtyard (/volley ball court) and had the children sit down together. They were packed onto the school benches very tightly, with very little elbow room.

Kiran introduced me, and then translated to the children in their native dialect what I was saying.I attempted to explain the concept of imagination in hopes of spurring creativity. I showed them a stack of ten drawings that I had brought from the states that included drawings from children in Kaberamaido Uganda and Salt Lake City Utah. Many of the drawings were of animals and I asked the children to identify the drawings they saw. They were very shy, but some of them gave good guesses. (Some animals – like a giraffe – were complete mystery’s to them). After showing them the drawings, we handed out the paper, crayons, and colored pencils (donated by International heART Exchange, Great West Institute, and other individuals) and turned them loose. There was some discussion in Nepali between the adults and children in the group, and based upon the amount of time it took many of them to get going, I sensed that the idea of drawing from imagination was foreign to them. I took a few minutes while they were drawing to quickly sketch a fantastical animal that was half kangaroo, giraffe and bird primarily for the sake of modeling the free-form drawing I was hoping they would draw.

However, as they drew, we noticed that there wasn’t a lot of original thinking going on. Perhaps it was that the teachers were roaming about and they weren’t able to loosen up enough in that environment, but   the majority of the drawings were very similar: the official flag of nepal, the official flower (rhododendron), the shape of Nepal (with provinces), their school, and some mountains. A lot of repetition. We also noticed that they weren’t very interested in the crayons; they wanted the colored pencils. I think this is because of the precision the pencils allow. Many of them used rulers to make exact straight lines.

Most of the curriculum and lessons for these students are based around the sciences and mathematics. I gathered that there is very little creativity that is encouraged in the school setting. We ended up leaving a pile of supplies for future creative art sessions, but I’m not sure how it will really be implemented; many of the teachers seemed a bit uncomfortable with the artmaking as well.

I expect to return to these villages in the coming year and try to conduct another art workshop for the children. I am excited to see if any of them are better able to access their imaginations and individual creativity.” – Chris Peterson

After speaking with Chris about his experience, I was very interested in understanding why children draw what they draw – from a cultural perspective.  In this case, the children mainly drew pictures of the Nepali flag,  the school, the different provinces of the country.  I was speaking with a professor of anthropology at the University of Utah, who specializes in Tibetan/ Nepali culture, and he said it was most likely because the country is very nationalized and there is so strong sense of national pride – and that this is highly promoted in schools.

I also think that the concept of drawing something from your imagination (our theme of the heART projects) can sometimes be a hard concept to grasp onto in different cultures. I think some cultures promote individualism and individual thought and creativity more than others.  From a western perspective, we put a lot of emphasis on our individualism and what we feel, think, want, dream.  We are sensitive that not all cultures promote this like we do.  So some cultures may grasp on to this project more that other, but we give them an option – an outlet to find their voice – to express themselves… and have fun – through art.

The feedback from these expeditions is so important.  We observe, listen, and learn from the children of different cultures and allow them to express what they want to their international peers.  We feel that if children have access to art on a sustainable level, that they may be able to cultivate how to express themselves through this medium.  Our goal is not only supply kids with art materials for the one art project, but  to leave art supplies with the classes that will last them until our next visit, so they have the opportunity to further explore their creative voice.  I am excited to continue learning from these children and seeing how they respond to art and drawings from other children in other cultures.  – MS

These were some example of the drawings we gave the children of Nepal from their international peers in Uganda (last 3 images) and Utah (first 2 images):

Some of the drawings from Nepal expedition will go to Cambodia in February and others to Uganda in March. Here are a few of the drawing from these wonderful Nepali children (notice common themes of home, animals, and running water from a tap – as is with the drawings from the US and Uganda)

Special thanks to Chris Peterson with Great West Institute, Trivani Foundation and CHOICE Humanitarian for making this trip possible. And thank you to all those that donated at the Mondo Fine Art fundraiser – the money raised from the silent auction paid for the art supplies for this trip as well as our next trip to Cambodia!

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