Art project brings joy to people

November 11, 2017 - 09:00

Artists have been travelling around Việt Nam telling people about art and showing them how it can make their lives better.

Good fun: Gieo brought joy to children and adult across Viet Nam.
Viet Nam News

Artists have been travelling around Việt Nam telling people about art and showing them how it can make their lives better.

By doing this project they give people the chance to think about their dreams and their favourite memories.

Both children and adults have become involved.

A singer has even made up a special song about the project.

In September, a group of  16 young and talented artists and students began a journey across the nation to bring art closer to different community groups through a project titled Gieo (Sowing). They wanted to prove that art connects people - and that art can heal everyone.

By Nhi Liên

The group took 45 days to complete a nationwide journey through eight destinations from North to South. They interacted with about 700 people, teaching them art, and inspiring up to one million followers through social networking

The project entitled Gieo (Sowing) was organised by Toa Tàu (Train Wagon), a creative learning hub established in 2014 in HCM City. Đỗ Hữu Chí, founder of the group, said he wanted to create spaces to help people learn and enjoy art, writing, drawing, playing music, dancing and play acting.

He said that by giving blue-collar workers a chance to be aware, connect and perceive general art, the project helped them find their true soul. 

Gieo involved adults, disabled children, parents and people struggling from the burden of living and with little time for self-reflection

"We showed them how to use art as a tool to cure the heart. People can be themselves and show off their emotions when enjoying art, connecting with others and finding serenity,” Chi said. “We wanted to be a wagon to sow joy across the nation.”

The group raised VNĐ300 million to operate the project. Members met child patients in Hà Nội, workers at Ford Motor company in Hải Dương, cancer patients in Huế, inhabitants living in Lý Sơn Islands in Quảng Ngãi, fishermen in Phú Yên, members of the K’Ho ethnic group in Lâm Đồng, and workers making salt in Ninh Thuận and bronzes for pagodas in Sóc Trăng.

They were invited to draw dreams on canvas, play guitar or tell about their 10 most memorable moments with drawings and paintings.  

Gieo used writing, drawing, photography, movies and music to bring novel experiences to everyone, at the same time, to preserve and spread interesting, beautiful and original stories about contemporary daily lives of Vietnamese people.

“I had never painted before, but I enjoyed the experience of drawing my dream. It’s a nice house with a garden and a pond in the countryside. It is not hard to draw, art is not something complicated,” said Nguyễn Văn Năm from Hải Dương.  

In 2016, Gieo completed a six-month pilot period in HCM City. It has so far this year continued its journey on a broader scale and at a deeper level of interaction with community groups.

Educational and interactive activities at Toa Tàu were designed for both children and adults and available in a variety of formats such as short courses, workshops, talks, music, nights, movie, screening, creative products, and community projects.

The project received much support from artists and young peope. Singer Lê Cát Trọng Lý composed the song Gieo dedicated to the project.

Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh, Việt Nam’s former ambassador to the European Union and Belgium, and one of Việt Nam’s 50 Most Influential Women for 2017, praised the project for connecting people with beautiful moments. VNS

GLOSSARY

The group took 45 days to complete a nationwide journey through eight destinations from North to South.

A destination is a place to which people travel.

They interacted with about 700 people, teaching them art, and inspiring up to one million followers through social networking

To interact with people means to mix with them.

To inspire someone means to make them feel creative and want to go out and do something positive in the world.

Social networking means getting to know more people and getting more people to know you.

The project entitled Gieo (Sowing) was organised by Toa Tàu (Train Wagon), a creative learning hub established in 2014 in HCM City. Đỗ Hữu Chí, founder of the group, said he wanted to create spaces to help people learn and enjoy art, writing, drawing, playing music, dancing and play acting.

A hub is a place where people come to and go from.

He said that by giving blue-collar workers a chance to be aware, connect and perceive general art, the project helped them find their true soul. 

Perceive means to see something in a particular way.

Gieo involved adults, disabled children, parents and people struggling from the burden of living and with little time for self-reflection

People who are disabled suffer from having one or more parts of their body not working properly.

A burden is something that makes your life harder.

Self-reflection means looking at yourself and thinking about things.

"We showed them how to use art as a tool to cure the heart.”

To cure the heart means to make the heart better after it has been sore.

“People can be themselves and show off their emotions when enjoying art, connecting with others and finding serenity,” Chi said.

Emotions are feelings.

Serenity means calmness.

“We wanted to be a wagon to sow joy across the nation.”

To sow means to plant.

They were invited to draw dreams on canvas, play guitar or tell about their 10 most memorable moments with drawings and paintings.  

Memorable moments are times you will remember.

Gieo used writing, drawing, photography, movies and music to bring novel experiences to everyone, at the same time, to preserve and spread interesting, beautiful and original stories about contemporary daily lives of Vietnamese people.

To preserve means to keep something as it was when it was young and strong.

Contemporary means as it is in these days.

“It is not hard to draw, art is not something complicated,” said Nguyễn Văn Năm from Hải Dương.

Complicated means not straightforward and possibly quite difficult to understand.

Educational and interactive activities at Toa Tàu were designed for both children and adults and available in a variety of formats such as short courses, workshops, talks, music, nights, movie, screening, creative products, and community projects.

A variety of formats means a number of different formats.

The project received much support from artists and young peope. Singer Lê Cát Trọng Lý composed the song Gieo dedicated to the project.

To compose a song means to write a song.

WORKSHEET

Find words that mean the following in the Word Search:

  1. The job that Tôn Nữ Thị Ninh once did for Việt Nam in the European Union and Belgium.
  2. Lê Cát Trọng Lý’s job.
  3. A disease people were suffering from when the project met them in Huế.
  4. The opposite of North.
  5. Something made in Ninh Thuận.

Answer:

© Duncan Guy/Learn the News/ Viet Nam News 2017
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Ambassador; 2. Singer; 3. Cancer; 4. South; 5. Salt.

 

 

 

 

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