Educators and artists agree art can be a valuable outlet for children.

IN actor Lwin Moe’s tastefully decorated house, one room stands apart from the rest. His daughters’ bedroom is bright pink – because “pink is my daughters’ choice”, the actor says by way of explanation. “I let them choose the colour of their room,” he adds, a smile spreading across his face.

Scattered around the bedroom are many “arty” toys, while the walls of each room are covered with numerous paintings.

There’s no arguing he has a passion for art and creativity but Lwin Moe is also determined to foster a similar attitude in his children. He is not the only parent in Myanmar hoping to boost his children’s creativity and stimulate their education through visual art but, admittedly, the number is still small.

Many are still yet to discover the benefits and possibilities of educating their children via visual art, says artist Zay Yar Aye, who is also an assistant lecturer at the National University of Art and Culture.

A child from Yangon participates in an ASEAN drawing workshop last year.

“This philosophy started here perhaps about 1990 and we can say that it is thanks to increased exposure to foreign countries and the curriculum of private, ‘international’ schools run by expatriate educators,” Zay Yar Aye says.

Today even some state schools arrange art-training programs for their students and let them enter competitions.

But Zar Yar Aye, who has a masters degree in Art Education from a Japanese university, says pressuring children to aim for winning competitions is not healthy for their development.

“Children can’t get the benefits of visual art properly in this way. The aim of teaching visual art is to give children an outlet away from studying more academic subjects and to let them express themselves – not to put extra pressure on them,” he says.

Local artist Maung Maung Thein, the owner of Sunflower gallery and art school in Kamaryut township, agrees there is support for the concept in Myanmar but it is yet to become mainstream.

“Even though educational experts around the world agree visual art can play a vital role in children’s development and particularly communication skills,” says Maung Maung Thein, whose artist name is Pathin, “many local parents are still yet to learn how visual art can assist their child’s education.”

Zay Yar Aye attributes this – at least partly – to the financial cost of art materials and notes almost all of the children who attend art classes are from middle to upper-income families.

He says another problem is that some parents confuse the concept of enhancing their children’s education through visual art with training to become a professional artist.

Zay Yar Aye says parents should be aware that the aim of the art classes is instead to improve children’s thinking ability, self-realisation, imagination and observational skills.

He says, for example, that to create a painting, a child has to collect the necessary input data – to find their inspiration or idea – by observing their surroundings. This is then processed in their brain and the child will then imagine how to present that on paper, or whatever medium they are using. Repeating this process again and again is the essence of teaching visual art, he says.

“Through this process, a child learns to observe their surroundings and then use that inspiration creatively,” concludes Maung Maung Thein.