Creative Curriculum
Top-Notch Instructors
Design Thinking
Every Child is an Artist. - Pablo Picasso

Children have an inherent ability for creating art. Happy Valley Art School looks at children’s concerns, their interests, their creative play and imaginative collections, to make art lessons student-centered. Art is one of the most important ways children tell us how they view the world. Art education should initially focus on children’s ideas and encourage them to explore the world and their identity. Children’s experiences must be valued and built upon through this art learning process.
Our History

Our Teaching Philosophy

Respecting and stimulating the individual creativity of each student is at the heart of our teaching philosophy. Instead of being viewed as an expert, our instructors present themselves as a skilled and enthusiastic facilitator to the students’ design thinking and creating. Our school takes a process-oriented approach, with the focus on design principles and the process of problem solving, rather than on copying the subjects. In the classroom, we consult individually with each student as they work independently and collaboratively. We help students to develop their own big ideas, collect references, brainstorm the relevant concepts, and explore how the concepts are conveyed through visual elements. Our instructors then follow up with students individually and offer assistance and guidance, as they create and finally transform their big idea into works of art.
Through a community of inquiry, students learn to investigate, question, and judge art. During our classes, we invite risk-taking in art making and art thinking that questions the status quo and searches for personal or social truths. Ideally, art should be connected to other academic disciplines. With interdisciplinary studies, students can explore the concepts of a cohesive community interweaving the arts with literature, history, the environment, technology, culture and much more.
Last but not least, we provide our students with the necessary technical skills and knowledge of materials. Students should gain an understanding of the full rage of possibilities offered by the media covered by the class, together with a skill set of techniques for achieving their aesthetic goals. This aspect of our teaching addresses the concept of “craftsmanship”. We also encourage our students to explore and utilize all kinds of art and non-art materials to create. Art should be fun and self-expressive for all the children!