Nghe An teachers and students 'fight the epidemic' with... paintings

Inspire through pictures

With nearly 20 years of teaching Fine Arts, Ms. Le Tra Giang (Hung Binh Secondary School, Vinh City) is known as a teacher who has the talent to "hunt for prizes" for her students. After 16 years of teaching at Nghi Phu Secondary School and 2 years of teaching at Hung Binh Secondary School, Ms. Giang's students have achieved many high achievements in provincial and national drawing competitions. Her Fine Arts Club gathers many students with passion and talent for painting. Not only does she guide students to draw, she also looks for suitable competitions, spends money to buy paint and paper, and encourages students to participate. The achievements of her students in recent years have changed the way many parents view this subject.

Ms. Giang once took her children to visit an art exhibition. Photo: FB

Not only is she a dedicated teacher, Ms. Giang always maintains her creative activities to hone herself and record life's emotions. In her small apartment, every space is scientifically arranged and shows respect for beauty. The paintings given by friends, by her, and her son... are all framed and hung up in a solemn and delicate manner. Ms. Giang confided: "I paint not only because of my passion but also for my students. To inspire and motivate students, teachers themselves must set an example. Only when we are diligent and persistent with our paintings can we say that our students are passionate and dedicated to our work."

This "exemplary" viewpoint is also part of the motivation for Ms. Giang to complete paintings on the theme.COVID-19 preventionShe recalls: “During the recent outbreak, I happened to see disinfectant spraying vehicles on duty on the central route of Vinh City. I was stunned by the sparkling water jets under the sunlight and the urgent, serious atmosphere of the soldiers. At that moment, I told myself that I must capture this beauty.”

The image of the Chemical Corps spraying disinfectant in Vinh City inspired Ms. Giang to create her work. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Thinking is doing. As soon as she returned home, Ms. Giang started looking for materials, referring to real images, sketching her painting and setting up a "studio" right in the living room. The 2 weeks she spent creating the painting were 2 weeks she lived fully with the work, only thinking about it. Not only researching the composition, Ms. Giang also experimented with new strokes to portray strength, decisiveness but also romance and poetry.

“During the drawing process, I asked for advice from other professional artists and received enthusiastic advice and comments. This was also the first time I drew a car in a realistic form. Unlike oil paint, acrylic paint dries quickly and is difficult to fix, so I had to concentrate and be careful with the details,” Ms. Giang shared.

Ms. Giang's emotions combined with her serious working attitude created the work "Chemical Soldiers Spraying Disinfectant" with harmonious colors and tight composition. In her painting, in the midst of the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic with no end in sight, Ms. Giang depicts the beauty of the heroes.Chemical troops on dutywith the main color blue - the color of faith, hope and peace.

Ms. Giang next to the work "Chemical soldiers spray disinfectant chemicals". Photo: NVCC

Immediately after being completed and posted on social networks, Ms. Giang's work "Chemical soldiers spray disinfectant" was quickly shared and received many compliments. She herself could not have expected her work to be so well received by everyone, especially the precious feelings from the soldiers. At the same time, soldiers from the Chemical Corps of Military Region 4 and the Chemical Corps of the Political Department all expressed their wish that Ms. Giang would give the painting back.

Inspire passion in students

In her Art Club, the topics that Ms. Giang often guides students to are love for their homeland, country, Uncle Ho, soldiers and real-life issues such as domestic violence, gender equality, environmental protection... Also because of being close to reality, from last year until now, the paintings of the children in the Art Club of Hung Binh Secondary School have reflected the content of preventing and fighting the Covid-19 epidemic.

Ms. Giang's Art classes are always new and interesting in terms of methods, approaches, locations... Photo: FB

With a non-imposing viewpoint and respecting each student's own perspective, Ms. Giang always lets her students decide the content of the painting and only gives directions and comments after they have sketched out ideas. This approach has created a richness in ideas and expressions, conveying many meaningful messages through funny, innocent lines and bright, clear colors.

Work by Nguyen Kim Hien, a 7G student at Hung Binh Secondary School. Photo: NVCC

As one of the members with many paintings on this topic, Nguyen Kim Hien (class 7G) completed her paintings by drawing pencil sketches, then taking photos and sending them to Ms. Giang for comments on the content and ideas. In the painting that Hien liked the most, she expressed her wish for Vinh wholesale market to return to normal. Hien confided: "If everyone followed the 5K message well, the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic spreading inVinh wholesale marketjust passed".

To complete a painting, Ms. Giang and her students have to invest a lot of effort and time. If before, teachers and students communicated directly with each other, each painting took about 2 days to complete, now the club maintains its activities online, teachers and students spend up to a week on 1 painting with dozens of times of patiently giving comments and editing. One such painting is the painting inspired by the 5K message of the Ministry of Health and the image of people joining hands to repel viruses by Minh Trang (class 8C). Trang shared: "Through the painting, I hope to contribute to raising people's awareness of self-awareness in epidemic prevention and control and send my sincere thanks to the frontline uncles and aunts fighting the epidemic."

Work of Bao Ngoc, student of class 6H, Hung Binh Secondary School.

Among the youngest students, Bao Ngoc (class 6H) completed a very cute work from the image of children in Son Hoa, Phu Yen province who had to go into centralized quarantine. "In my painting, the children wearing protective gear going into quarantine still carry their favorite stuffed animals, bravely facing difficulties like cranes carrying hope, like stars carrying the belief in victory" - Ngoc presented.

Other works with the theme of Covid-19 prevention and control made by students of Hung Binh Secondary School. Photo: FB

Sharing about the Covid-19 prevention painting movement of teachers and students of the Fine Arts Club of Hung Binh Secondary School, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien - Principal of the school said: "Since the school year, the products of the Fine Arts Club have been strongly supported by teachers, students and parents in the school. Not only nurturing the love of painting and honing students' talents, these paintings also have a strong meaning of propaganda for epidemic prevention and control and help make the students' summer days more meaningful."