Qatar
VCU-Qatar holds third design course for Qatari girl students
VCU-Qatar holds third design course for Qatari girl students
For the third consecutive year, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar has collaborated with the Ministry of Social Affairs to offer a two-week summer art and design programme for 20 female Qatari students aged 14 to 20.They had no background in art or design. |
VCUQatar alumni Yang Soon Ju (skill building) and Esra Kazem (object transformation) and community class instructors Shamim Hatim Dalal (paper quilling), Sangeeta Deepu (clay jewellery) and Asha Mathews (non-traditional jewellery) were the resource persons.
VCUQatar students Omaima al-Abdulla, Noor Suleiman, Rana Jubara and Geetha Rajeswar assisted. The participants attended the skill building session, which involved the development of basic collage, drawing and colouring skills.
They had the option to either learn two different jewelry making techniques – clay jewellery and non-traditional jewellery or two different product design and making techniques – paper quilling and object transformation.
The instructors and teaching assistants agreed the programme was a welcome opportunity to give back to the community and experienced sharing their passion with strangers as highly rewarding. They loved the fact that the students were interested and engaged in their work.
“Although most of the students did a collage for the first time they explored their creativity with great enthusiasm finding out that the process can be very useful for their future work and hobby,” said Ju.
“Students started out by forming simple different shapes from clay and went on to create coloured jewellery components,” observed Deepu.
Family members and friends were invited to an exhibition of the final projects where students proudly presented their work in a show combining ideas for jewellery, lamps, frames, bags and envelopes as well as collages and art works.
VCUQatar dean Allyson Vanstone handed certificates to the students in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs - Noor al-Thani (trainer), Muneera al-Muraikhi (social programme specialist) and AbdulHameed al-Mulla (public relations consultant), faculty, alumni, students and their families.“It was very a joyful experience, especially that the course took place at VCUQatar,” said participant Latifa al-Kuwari.
“We learnt basic skills in sketching, colouring, product design, object transformation and paper quilling, which will be beneficial for everyday life,” maintained Sheikha al-Sulaiti, another participant.
VCUQatar is currently running its Young Students Summer Programme with art fun for children aged 4 to 7 – they exhibit their work today (Thursday 4 July); art exploration for children aged 8 to 10 (exhibition on July 11); and for children aged 11 to 12 (exhibition on July 18). All the exhibitions take place in room 370 from 11.15 am. Students from the Creative Discovery (aged 13 to 15) and Design Intensive (16 and above) programme will showcase their work in an exhibition on July 18 noon in room 390 at VCUQatar.