Art & Creative Expression
An aspiring artist plans creativity days for children
Yeonwoo Oh teaches art to primary and intermediate school children at a local art class, and is planning creativity days with a couple of peers for children who are less fortunate within New Zealand.
Back in primary school, a piece Yeonwoo Oh made on an aquarium was chosen to be displayed at the Bruce Mason Centre. "I realised that I would love nothing more than to have my work known," Yeonwoo says.
Art had been there long before that.
“I have always loved and engaged in art ever since I developed the ability to hold a pencil.”
Yeonwoo Oh
Yeonwoo, a student at Rangitoto College, is "an aspiring artist and anthropologist". Yeonwoo currently teaches art to children in primary and intermediate school as a teacher helper at a local art class. Yeonwoo also posts art online, and is in the process of accumulating new work to build a stronger platform on new accounts.
The path here had a hard stretch. "love is not equivalent to talent and that is something I did not learn fast enough when I was younger," Yeonwoo says, and the result was "a major confidence setback". It has not fully passed. "I still have not entirely recovered," Yeonwoo says. Even so: "I am always willing to become greater".
"I hate the idea of being mediocre in art," Yeonwoo says. Yeonwoo knows the idea can be viewed as toxic, but sees it as a form of passion, and says it "has pushed me to my limits in my artistic development so that one day I may become incredible in what I love."
Support came eventually. "I am a lucky individual to have people willing to support and see me now but I know that there are so many people out there who are similar to me," Yeonwoo says. They are "people who love art like I do but have lost their spark or are in a place where theirs cannot be kindled."
"I deeply feel for these people as I could have very easily walked their paths as well," Yeonwoo says.
That is where the creativity days come in. Yeonwoo has been planning them with a couple of peers, for children who are less fortunate within New Zealand. "I want to make art accessible to those who may share the same passions as I do," Yeonwoo says.
The hope is to "offer opportunities and rekindle, or kindle for the first time, their passions for my passion."