Room 13 art studio opens for children

An art studio, which adapts the model of world-renowned Room 13, opened in Ho Chi Minh City on July 26 for young people to share their creating and thinking through art, Tuoi Tre newspaper has reported.

Every Sunday morning from 9-11 a.m., around 20 children aged eight to 12 come to the studio, located inside the Vietnam branch of TBWA, a top international advertising agency in the city.

Under the guidance of free lance painter Vo Binh, the participants learn how to blend and balance colors, as well as draw complicated patterns. Every week, the students are asked to create artwork according to a certain theme, which encourages them to think independently.

“We don’t give comments on their work, but encourage them that if they draw whatever they like it will be beautiful,” Tuoi Tre quoted Binh as saying.

According to Patrick Tom, creative director of TBWA, Room 13’s sponsor, since it is an art studio, the students are free to discuss and express their ideas. The children can organize and arrange the room on their own, but they also receive help from adults, including community artists, educators, and other professionals.

Akiko Yabuki, a volunteer from Japan and program producer of TBWA, told Tuoi Tre that as a child, “I was scolded by my parents for drawing a picture of a toad with pink skin while my peers drew black ones.”

“So with this art project, we hope that young people have a chance to freely express their ideas, and not be afraid of pressure from others,” Akiko said.

In the future, the organizer will hold exhibitions to display artwork by the students in public as a way to draw attention from the community and to promote the project.

The original Room 13 is from Caol Primary School, Fort William, Scotland and set up by a group of local students in 1994. So far, the worldwide network of Room 13 covers 20 countries and territories, including America, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, and recently, Vietnam.

They run the studio as a business, raising funds to buy art materials and employ a professional artist to work with them.

Each Room 13 studio facilitates the work of young artists alongside a professional adult artist-in-residence, providing an exchange of ideas, skills and experience across all ages.

Project aims for better conservation of Old Quarter

Hanoi is expected to ratify a project to reduce the level of population density in its Old Quarter in August to better preserve historical and cultural architectural sites in the quarter.

With a total area of 81ha, covering 10 wards of Hoan Kiem district, there were now more than 66,660 people living in the Old Quarter, at a population density of around 840 people/ha.

Poor infrastructure and haphazard building extensions have had a negative impact on the living conditions of people in the area, and also affected the preservation work of historical and cultural architectural sites in the Old Quarter.

In late 1998, Hanoi took a proactive role in the project research and aimed to reduce the population density in the Old Quarter to 500 people/ha by 2020. The plan estimated a need to relocate around 26,200 people (equivalent to 6,550 households) to more than 40ha of land in other districts of Hanoi .

Between 2012 and 2015, around 1,800 households will be relocated to the 11.12ha Viet Hung urban centre, in Long Bien district. An estimated 4.3 trillion VND will be invested in this stage. The second phase of the project will start in 2015.

Although the project received support from many residents in Hoan Kiem district, various assistance schemes were given to households whose lives and earnings were dependent on this so-called “land of gold”, including The lower interest rates on bank loans for people to buy houses.

Hanoi ’s Old Quarter took shape early in the 15 th century, with a northern boundary of Hang Dau, a southern boundary of Hang Bong, Hang Gai, Cau Go and Hang Thung, an eastern boundary of Tran Nhat Duat and Tran Quang Khai, and a western boundary of Phung Hung.

The Old Quarter consisted of people working in a range of handicraft trading industries, and small businesses, making it different from all other Old Quarters in the world. 121 cultural heritage and historical monuments, and over 1,080 ancient houses were found in Hanoi ’s Old Quarter, attracting a significant number of foreign visitors every year./.

Champa culture antiquities discovered in Quang Binh

Two ceramic vases of the Champa culture have been discovered in the central province of Quang Binh.

According to the Quang Binh Museum, these two brown terra-cotta vases with designs of five-petal apricot blossoms are utensils for daily activities of the Champa people from the 7th century to 8th century.

At present, a local woman, Nguyen Thi Van, in Quang Trach district owns these antiquities.

The provincial museum plans to buy these artefacts to serve its Champa culture display project in the province.

Sculptures on show at Museum of Fine Arts

An art exhibition opened last weekend at HCMC Museum of Fine Arts, showcasing sculptures of passionate local artists.

This is a sign there is a strong development of sculptures in the country, which is an area of art which has been neglected for a long time.

The exhibition features more than 120 offerings made by 100 artists around the country. Pieces are made from diverse materials such as iron, steel, synthetics, ceramics and bronze, mixed media, oil on canvas, lacquer and paper.

In response to the country’s sovereignty over the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa Archipelagos, many works express the patriotism of artists with offerings such as Hai doi truong sa made of oil on canvas and paper by Nguyen Quang Vinh, Vietnam’s Navigation Army made of ceramics by Nguyen Thanh Cong and Truong Sa’s Eyes which is made of oil on canvas by Phan Oanh.

The organizers highlighted the four best artworks of Bat made of synthetics by Tran Viet Hung, Ky uc ve nguon (Memory of coming back home) made of metal by Phan Van Thang, Giu lay me thien nhien (Protecting mother of nature) made of synthetics by Nguyen Hong Duong and Con loc bien Dong (Whirlwind on the East Sea) made of iron by Tran Mai Quoc Khanh.

The exhibition runs until August 15 at the museum, 97A Pho Duc Chinh Street in HCMC’s District 1.

Four friends join forces at Tu Do

Friends Dinh Cuong, Tran Trong Minh, Hoang Trong Ban and Pham Van Hang on Sunday jointly hosted an exhibition at Tu Do Gallery in District 1.

The ‘Four Friends’ show has around 50 oil on canvas works and five statues. The works are mainly portraits, landscapes and images of daily life.

However, each artist has a different style to bring to viewers with varied tones of feelings. Ban favors the female form as most of his work depicts the beauty of women, while Cuong’s offerings are striking with portraits of poet Bui Giang with diverse faces of happy, sad, crazy or drunk.

Cardiologist Minh expresses his passion for art with a set of daily images, which are simple but strong, while Hang expresses his hope for peace with his statues.

The exhibition runs until August 28 at the gallery, 53 Ho Tung Mau Street in HCMC’s District 1.

Vietnam holds cultural weeks in Russia, Ukraine

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will organize Vietnam cultural weeks in large cities in Russia and Ukraine in September and November to promote Vietnam’s image in Eastern Europe.

In Russia the cultural weeks will be held in Moscow and St Petersburg in September. Some tourism agencies will take this chance to join in the autumn tourism fair in Moscow and the cultural weeks in Russia.

The cultural weeks in Ukraine will take place in Kiev, Odessa and Kharkov.

Apart from introducing Vietnam’s culture features and tourism potential, the organizers will try to attract support from Russian and Ukrainian people to vote for Halong Bay to be one of new Seven Wonders of the World.

Vietnam is a popular tourist destination for Russian travelers.

Missile Cave recognized as historical remains

Hoa Tien (Rocket) Cave and Railway Martyrs’ Cemetery in Nghe An Province has received recognition as two national cultural and historical remains by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Unit C271 was set up by the Ministry of Transportation to protect the Thanh Hoa-Vinh (Nghe An) railway on April 27, 1965 during the American War in Vietnam.

This unit was divided into several teams, including team four, with the task of quarrying stones for the construction of Hoang Mai station’s railway. But at 9 a.m. on April 28, 1966, U.S warplanes bombed the position that team four was working in, killing 33 youth volunteers.

The Railway Martyrs’ Cemetery was built in 2001 to honor the volunteers that had sacrificed their lives. The cave in which the team had been working on was embellished and named Hoa Tien Cave, and memorials were put in front of this cave. In 2003, the youth volunteers were recognized as martyrs and awarded State Recognition. Both sites are located in Hoang Mai Town, Quynh Luu District.

PV