"What I am painting is a military uniform, which belongs to a veteran who participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. When I painted the first draft, I always felt that something was missing, and I couldn't paint a sense of solemnity and old vicissitudes. Later, with the help of Teacher Zhao and my classmates from the Fengxian Oil Painting Club of Gezhi Middle School, I understood and became familiar with this history, and when I painted the second draft, I naturally felt full. What impressed me more than this medal was the words Chinese Volunteer Army. This creative process made me deeply realize that as a middle school student in the new era, we must not forget the glory days of the past, but should bravely assume the mission and responsibility of the new era. ”
The person who said this was Guo Xinyi from the first (8th) class of The Fengxian Campus of Gezhi Middle School. Today, she and her oil painting "Medal" appeared together at the "Greeting the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China and the 5th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Gezhi Oil Painting Creation Base" at the teacher-student art exhibition.
Two years ago, in 2019, the oil painting creation base held an exhibition of teachers and students celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on the Bund, when only one-third of the students' works were selected. Just two years later, among the 100 oil paintings exhibited by the Huangpu Cultural Center today, the number of students' works has quietly exceeded half. And these works are completed by students using their spare time to see stitches and needles. Guo Xinyi's "Medal" alone was painted for two months.
"Our teaching goal is to closely integrate students' artistic creation with current life, and this year coincides with the centenary of the founding of the party, so we have also vividly integrated the curriculum with party history education, and there are some innovations in figure painting, landscape painting, still life painting, copying and other aspects." Zhao Yuqian, the instructor of the Gezhi Oil Painting Creation Base, said that when painting still lifes, students are no longer allowed to draw bottles and cans as usual, but old objects, and the red army's straw shoes, straw hats, and water bottles have become the students' creative content. Zhao Yuqian said that in the process of creation, students can deeply understand the history behind these red themes. When students are familiar with the emotions and stories of the characters in these paintings, they can express these emotions from the aspects of color, light and shadow, and lines when painting. ”
Green lanterns, old song scores... Before the first year (11) of Ban Xiezhen's work "Carry a Few Words", many young audiences stopped and watched.
Speaking of the original intention of the creation, Xie Zhen frankly said: "I think the green oil lamp and the old song score are very iconic objects of that era. The immortal oil lamp is like the hope in people's hearts at that time, and the old lyrics behind the oil lamp that are covered by the corners are "Carry a Few Words", the lyrics are full of the people's hard work and state of mind, when I see these two old objects, I have the impulse to combine the two in an instant. I hope that when people look at this painting, they can deeply appreciate the inheritance of the red spirit. ”
At the scene of the event, Yu Xiaofu, the dean of the School of Fine Arts of Shanghai Normal University and a painter, explained the creation story of the painting "Fang Zhimin" to the first year students of Gezhi Middle School and the children of the fourth grade of Cao Guangbiao Primary School: "This work was painted by me many years ago, and it is a moment before the revolutionary martyr Fang Zhimin took the righteousness..."
Wu Zhao, vice chairman of Gezhi Education Group and principal of Gezhi Middle School, said that the fundamental task of education is to cultivate socialist builders and successors who can develop morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor in an all-round way. This exhibition is not only a display of the achievements of the Gezhi oil painting creation base, but also a vivid display of Gezhi art education and party history study and education. The content of the work is in line with the main creative line of "a hundred years of party history, red genes, knowledge of qualities, pioneering and innovative", and strives to show the Shanghai citizens and Chinese and foreign guests who come to the exhibition the experience and achievements of the CPC's enduring century-old original intention, the magnificent century-old journey, and the experience and achievements of Shanghai Gezhi Middle School in educating people with beauty and casting the soul with virtue.
According to reports, in December 2015, the Gezhi Oil Painting Creation Base, jointly founded by Gezhi Middle School and the Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai Normal University, was officially established. As an important measure for Gezhi Middle School to introduce high-quality academic resources from colleges and universities, popularize elegant art, and cultivate young artistic talents, in the past five years, Gezhi Oil Painting Creation Base has regularly organized oil painting masters to enter the campus, carried out oil painting creation guidance and oil painting exhibitions, and simultaneously opened oil painting creation elective courses in the Huangpu and Fengxian campuses of Gezhi Middle School, which was loved by students.
Author: Wang Xing
Editor: Chu Shuting