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Drawing Caricatures Across Nambia (view source)
Revision as of 23:42, 6 August 2020
, 23:42, 6 August 2020Created page with "==Article Transcript== Being a member of ISCA has turned me into a globetrotter of sorts. Last year, while planning for my trip to attend the first Korean mini-con in Seoul, I..."
==Article Transcript==
Being a member of ISCA has turned me
into a globetrotter of sorts. Last year,
while planning for my trip to attend the
first Korean mini-con in Seoul, I stumbled
upon a web banner announcing an
international convention of art educators
organized by UNESCO held there just
a few days before the ISCA mini-con.
Being an art-educator, I applied to attend
and was accepted. Besides drawing
caricatures for a living, I also have used
what I learned from the many members
of ISCA I met at the U.S. conventions
and from discussions on the ISCA forum
to develop a successful art-enrichment
program teaching caricature drawing in
Singaporean schools.
At the UNESCO convention, I met many
international delegates. One of them, a
teacher from Namibia, invited me to share
my teaching methods with teachers and
students in their country. The process
of raising funds was rather daunting,
but I was fortunate to eventually receive
generous funding from government
agencies in both Singapore and Namibia.
So on 14th of July, 2011, upon my return
from the Japan mini-con in Osaka, I was
on a plane bound for Namibia.
Namibia is located northwest of South
Africa. This sparsely populated nation is
slightly bigger in size than Alaska with
only 2.1 million people. A young nation
that gained independence recently in
1990, they are eager to develop their
educational infrastructure and welcome
expertise from developed countries.
The mission for me was to travel across
Namibia from Windhoek to Walvis Bay
in 12 days with my assistant and two
Namibian art-educators as our guides
and aides. I would engage students and
local artist communities in art workshops,
mainly introducing the art of South East
Asian batik painting techniques and
conducting caricature drawing lessons on
the side. We found ourselves in different
townships every few days engaging
the overly enthusiastic local population
before hitting the road again. Some of the
places we went to, like the gold mining
towns of Karibib, were very remote. A
visit by strange Asian artists drawing
funny faces was rarer than a meteor
landing in their backyard!
Caricature proved to be the ultimate
communication tool across language
and culture. On one occasion we made
an unscheduled stop to a school for the
hearing impaired. I saw that the kids there
were rather restless, so I offered to draw
them. Very soon we found ourselves
swarmed by the entire school population.
The laughter breaking out in a school for
the hearing impaired is priceless. We were
like celebrities whenever I started drawing.
Well, they had not seen the likes of us retail
caricature artists ever, so everywhere we
went, we left a lasting impression.
Namibia is a beautiful country and the
people we met along the way were warm
and friendly. We had lots of fun too,
like quad-biking in the dunes, feeding
seals and pelicans in Walvis Bay and
enjoying the many magnificent vistas
of the vast landscape, which is simply
breathtaking. I am thankful for having this
exceptional skill of caricature drawing
that has provided me with this expansive
opportunity to travel and inspire others
with art.
-----
''Kamal Dollah is a Singaporean member
of ISCA. He is founder of Cartoon.SG,
a caricature specialty art studio and
operates the caricature concession at
Universal Studios Singapore.''
{{2012.2Navbox}}
Being a member of ISCA has turned me
into a globetrotter of sorts. Last year,
while planning for my trip to attend the
first Korean mini-con in Seoul, I stumbled
upon a web banner announcing an
international convention of art educators
organized by UNESCO held there just
a few days before the ISCA mini-con.
Being an art-educator, I applied to attend
and was accepted. Besides drawing
caricatures for a living, I also have used
what I learned from the many members
of ISCA I met at the U.S. conventions
and from discussions on the ISCA forum
to develop a successful art-enrichment
program teaching caricature drawing in
Singaporean schools.
At the UNESCO convention, I met many
international delegates. One of them, a
teacher from Namibia, invited me to share
my teaching methods with teachers and
students in their country. The process
of raising funds was rather daunting,
but I was fortunate to eventually receive
generous funding from government
agencies in both Singapore and Namibia.
So on 14th of July, 2011, upon my return
from the Japan mini-con in Osaka, I was
on a plane bound for Namibia.
Namibia is located northwest of South
Africa. This sparsely populated nation is
slightly bigger in size than Alaska with
only 2.1 million people. A young nation
that gained independence recently in
1990, they are eager to develop their
educational infrastructure and welcome
expertise from developed countries.
The mission for me was to travel across
Namibia from Windhoek to Walvis Bay
in 12 days with my assistant and two
Namibian art-educators as our guides
and aides. I would engage students and
local artist communities in art workshops,
mainly introducing the art of South East
Asian batik painting techniques and
conducting caricature drawing lessons on
the side. We found ourselves in different
townships every few days engaging
the overly enthusiastic local population
before hitting the road again. Some of the
places we went to, like the gold mining
towns of Karibib, were very remote. A
visit by strange Asian artists drawing
funny faces was rarer than a meteor
landing in their backyard!
Caricature proved to be the ultimate
communication tool across language
and culture. On one occasion we made
an unscheduled stop to a school for the
hearing impaired. I saw that the kids there
were rather restless, so I offered to draw
them. Very soon we found ourselves
swarmed by the entire school population.
The laughter breaking out in a school for
the hearing impaired is priceless. We were
like celebrities whenever I started drawing.
Well, they had not seen the likes of us retail
caricature artists ever, so everywhere we
went, we left a lasting impression.
Namibia is a beautiful country and the
people we met along the way were warm
and friendly. We had lots of fun too,
like quad-biking in the dunes, feeding
seals and pelicans in Walvis Bay and
enjoying the many magnificent vistas
of the vast landscape, which is simply
breathtaking. I am thankful for having this
exceptional skill of caricature drawing
that has provided me with this expansive
opportunity to travel and inspire others
with art.
-----
''Kamal Dollah is a Singaporean member
of ISCA. He is founder of Cartoon.SG,
a caricature specialty art studio and
operates the caricature concession at
Universal Studios Singapore.''
{{2012.2Navbox}}
