About Us

Creative Curriculum

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. The curriculum is especially designed to facilitate students’ development in the realm of design thinking, creativity, problem solving, conceptual development, and visual storytelling.

Top-Notch Instructors

Most of our instructors got Masters or PhD degree in Fine Art or Art Education. They are especially trained to inspire students' creativity, facilitate their self-expression, and refine their art production process. We also provide our students with the necessary technical skills and knowledge of materials. Students should gain a skill set of techniques for achieving their aesthetic goals.

Design Thinking

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. We consult individually with each student as they work independently or collaboratively. We help students to develop their own ideas, collect references, brainstorm the relevant concepts, and explore how the concepts are conveyed through visual elements.

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.

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

Sarah Wang, the founder of Happy Valley Art School, started this art school in 2015 to

provide a safe and inspiring environment that triggers this art learning process. Sarah got her PhD in Art Education from the Ohio State University that has the best art education program. Her research focuses on Creative Pedagogy and how to integrate Design Thinking in education. Therefore, the curriculum in Happy Valley Art School is especially designed to facilitate students’ development in the realm of design thinking, creativity, problem solving, conceptual development, and visual storytelling. In order to fulfill this goal, Happy Valley Art School creates an environment that, on the one hand, is stimulating and challenging enough to confront the student with new possibilities and concepts, and on the other hand provides a secure enough place for the students to express their ideas through their work. Students are encouraged to work with concrete materials, with images, with their hands in such a way that the inner self is reflected.

Sarah Wang, the founder of Happy Valley Art School, started this art school in 2015 to

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!