North artist inspired to teach young ones
"The art classes with the children help to create a friendly and fun environment which helps them to learn very fast and communicate any problem they may have."
A passionate Soshanguve artist has taken it upon himself to pass his knowledge on the importance of art to the youth. Mojalefa Ngobeni (28) believes that good teachers always find a way to get more interested in what they teach and to make it more fun and simple for children they teach.
Ngobeni said he was passionate about drawing and painting, and wanted to teach children from his community about how to be creative.
“Teaching through arts can present difficult concepts visually, making them easier to understand. Children need to learn how to tell stories from pictures from childhood,” he said.
Ngobeni said he provided free classes for children in his neighbourhood on painting, drawing, making school art projects and sculptures.
“The art classes with the children help to create a friendly and fun environment which helps them to learn very fast and communicate any problem they may have,” said Ngobeni.
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He has been providing free art classes for children for three years now.
“The progress has been amazing. The children have grown to be confident in the arts and they developed so much love for what they do,” he said.
“They have become attached to painting and drawing. Some came not knowing how to use pencils and draw; but now years later, they have taken art seriously and are improving,” said Ngobeni, who was inspired to start teaching children art by her daughter.
Ngobeni said he was happy with the commitment of the children to the classes.
“I am hoping to grow the initiative into an NGO to reach communities outside my own area to help children develop creative problem-solving skills,” he said.
Art experiences boost critical thinking and teach children to take the time to be more careful and create a special they observe the world.
“I would teach my daughter how to paint and draw and it came to my mind that I can do it for other children in my community too,” said Ngobeni.
“Teaching my daughter was my biggest motivation, it was fun but it also helped to boost her confidence and social skills.”
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Ngobeni said art education connected children with their own culture as well as with the wider world ‘and helped develop motor skills, language skills, social skills, decision-making, risk-taking, and inventiveness”.
“When I started I had hope that the initiative will grow rapidly and day-by-day it is actually happening,” said Ngobeni, who has a diploma in logistics and an honours degree in fine arts from Wits University.
He aims to spot budding artists among the children and nourish their gifts and hopefully produce the next top artists in the world.
“I want to wake up one day, and see my art gallery or a museum packed with paintings and artworks from different children,” said Ngobeni.
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