Riley Lieng: From Doodles Creativity Blossoms.

Cultivating Creativity, Where to Start?

Started at US Fine Art at the age of 3, being educated under the CTA curriculum.
Riley Lieng started attending US Fine Art at the age of three, and has been educated under the CTA curriculum ever sense.
Before Riley was even born, Riley’s mother had started looking into potential art schools during her pregnancy. Riley’s mother was very dedicated to planting the seeds of creative education for her daughter, and had been asking all of her friends for recommendations, including a friend who’s own child was attending US Fine Art. So as soon as Riley was old enough to attend US Fine Art, her mother brought her to school.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate her works:

Age 3: a piece from her first class at US Fine Art, the doodle of a young artist. During class, we inspire, and more importantly build confidence, through encouragement and admiration, building her interest in art.

Age 4: after a year of guidance from US Fine Art teachers, we can see the steady development of putting creative thoughts on paper, and the change in her work from the previous piece. In this piece, we can see her usage of the LEGO construction worker concept to build a world of her own.
Even though her teachers felt that Riley’s young mind was growing strong, with boundless limits to her imagination, her foundational classes were going as well. After all, the most difficult part of cultivating a child’s creativity wasn’t the child, but a parent’s misconception.

When Should a Child Start Learning to Sketch?

After a few years at US Fine Art, Riley’s mother because anxious. Her daughter still wasn’t drawing competitively, nor was she doing sketch art of acrylic art, but instead was still attending a “children’s class”. Riley’s mother, in flurry of worry, went to see the principal, insisting that six year old Riley should learn how to sketch. She had a lot of friends with kids that had started learning how to sketch at a young age, so Riley’s mother was always anxious that Riley had yet to start her education on sketching or painting. Riley’s mother simply couldn’t understand why.
It is better err on the side of caution when it comes to sketching, as the process of learning to sketch can build a sense of right or wrong within the artist, which can negatively influence the creativity of younger artists, discouraging them to be courageous with their originality. Starting early, instead of providing them with tools that can take them further in the form, can build a sense of fear in the process, wasting the child’s time and cause them to lose interest in the subject.
Only after several meetings with Riley’s teacher and the principal did Riley mother began to grasp the intricacy involved in the cultivation of a child’s creative seeds.

A Positive Teaching Philosophy Leads to a Positive Education

From misunderstandings that almost lead to the discontinuation of Riley’s art education to persistence that lead to Riley still learning today. It took a bit of patience to see, but ultimately, Riley’s mom was glad they persisted.

After the guidance Riley received in the beginner level, she began her studies in sketch from the age of 7 to 8. A slightly more mature age than when Riley first started, but an ideal age for students to better grasp the concepts behind more advance artistic skills such as sketching. At the same time, they are still vastly imaginative, and with their newfound skills, they are able to better express their creative thoughts. When we look at her sketch works today, we can see that she has a firm grasp on her sketching ability but has also retained her creativity. Her paintings have also increased in depth and expression, displaying the growth in her capabilities. Riley truly has grown up, and so has her passion for art!