During the summer of 2023, an unexpected yet inspiring initiative emerged under the coordination of Wendy Yin and Emma A Lu, two passionate and talented artists who saw opportunities where self-expression could flourish within the Pearland community. This project, better known as the summer community art lessons, has since become a vibrant and enriching addition to Aylus Pearland.
This all started with WeChat advertisements and flyer postings around the area, which quickly gained attention from various families. Then leveraging the power of social media, Wendy expanded their outreach to platforms like Instagram and Facebook, attracting a growing number of interested parents and eager artists. The excitement generated by these efforts led to an impressive turnout, which was accommodated by booking spacious rooms at the West Pearland Library equipped with projectors plus adequate seating for all participants. The teaching team then finalized their preparations, providing free sketchbooks for the students and bringing overhead tutorial cameras, drawing supplies, stickers, and various other materials essential for the lessons. This thorough preparation ensured that each session was well-organized and conducive to an optimal learning environment, as well as taught valuable skills like communication and event planning to our team members.
Fast forward to the summer of 2024, these classes now consist of around twenty students of various ages and run almost every Saturday evening at the library. Additionally, the teaching assistant team has expanded to include Wyatt Yin, Jiaqi Ren, Iris Yang, and more recently, Anna Zheng and Caroline Fu. With students as young as three years old to as old as thirteen, the teaching team ensures lessons are both engaging and instructive to all ages. Families are able to fill out a Google form to vote on their preferred mediums, such as colored pencils, sketching, painting, crafts, and more while indicating their skill level for a more personalized lesson.
Classes span a one-hour period, with the first section focused on reviews and special projects (including but not limited to Father’s Day cards and donation gift bag decorating). Instruction is delivered through interactive PowerPoint presentations (designed by Emma) and worksheet activities, allowing students to practice and apply their newly learned skills. Following the instructional portion, students get to enjoy a well-deserved break with provided snacks and drinks, which not only offers a chance for relaxation but also fosters socialization, enabling students to discuss their artwork and share ideas with their peers. The second half of the lesson typically features a whole-class tutorial, where a reference picture is sent out and displayed for everyone to observe while the instructors guide students step-by-step on how to approach, detail, and conclude the drawing. This style of teaching helps students to apply the concepts they learned earlier in the session while allowing other teaching assistants to walk around freely and guide those in need. Past projects have included Pokémon characters, cartoons, Disney scenes, and even recent transitions into more realistic samples.
With many students choosing to stay after the designated end of the class to continue working on their artwork, our team happily learned that this project successfully fostered a supportive and expressive environment, nurturing young artistic talent and also building a strong sense of collaboration among Aylus’ future artists. As these community lessons smoothly continue, both students and teaching assistants have gained valuable experience. Our closely-knit team has learned numerous aspects of teaching a class, lesson planning, inclusivity, coordination, and more, while the students have learned principles of respect, various medium skills, and social interactions. Without a doubt, this team continues to improve and strengthen the engagement of these classes, hoping to inspire our next generation and foster creativity within the Pearland community.
Animal Painting Class: Jiaqi Ren, Iris Yang, Anna Zheng, Caroline Fu, and Wyatt Yin led an engaging animal painting class, guiding participants through techniques to create colorful, expressive animal artwork.
Sketching Workshop: Emma A. Lu, along with fellow volunteers, taught sketching skills, helping students develop their drawing abilities through hands-on practice and creative expression.
Decorative Brown Bag Project: Wendy Yin led students in decorating brown bags intended for children receiving free or discounted school meals, adding a personal and cheerful touch to each bag to brighten the recipients' day.
