Young artists gather at Yadanarbon art gallery in Yangon on May 27. Pic: Lwin Maung Maung

THE gallery was alive with the kind of activity not normally seen at art exhibits.

Whereas most art openings are sedate affairs in which a roomful of wine-sipping adults assume an air of insight about the paintings on the walls, this one was characterised by a refreshing lack of pretension.

It was the artists who made the difference because the creative geniuses behind the works on display were children. They ran around among the visitors, playing and teasing one another and occasionally pausing to stand in front of their own creations.

The one-day show, held on May 27 at Yadanarbon art gallery on Merchant Road in downtown Yangon, showcased paintings and sculpture by young students from the YNG painting school.

Sixty-eight children between the ages of five and 14 took part, each of them showing two or three artworks using watercolours, wax or acrylic paints.

Daw Aye Nyein Myint, an instructor at the school, explained that the exhibit marked the end of a three-month summer class that the all participating artists had attended.

“Children make much more of an effort when they have a goal, so creating art for this show helped them develop their ideas and skills, and vastly improved their ability to make art,” she said.

The adult visitors could not help smiling when they looked at the art that the children had created, which focused on everyday scenes like home and school, and familiar people like friends and family members.

This straightforward approach was reflected in the titles of the paintings, which included “Four Animals,” “Boiled Pea Vendor Is Coming Home” and “This Is a Picture of Elderly Brother Hein Linn Htet”.

One of the artists, eight-year-old Thiri Nandar Aung, was happy to take a break from playing with her friends to explain the content of her painting titled “Student”: “The two girls in the picture are me and my younger sister. I love her very much so I put her in it with me.”

She seemed quite proud of her painting, never straying very far away and frequently coming back to talk to visitors about it.

Artist Kunt Kaw Naing said she was very happy that so many people, including her parents, had come to see the art.

The mother of one of the artists said she was proud to see her daughter’s art hanging on the walls of a well-known gallery in Yangon.

“I think painting is a good way for children to build up their self-confidence,” said the mother, Ma Thidar Lwin.

“Since attending the summer class my daughter seems to have matured a bit,” she said. “To create a painting, a child first has to come up with an idea and then make decisions like what colours to use. I think this helps develop self-confidence and the ability to concentrate.”