The Department of Early Childhood Education (ECE) invited Dr. Betty Wong to host an online talk named “Looking at art with kids: On the street, in picturebook” for its students and colleagues on January 25, 2021. The talk attracted more than 100 registrations. Dr. Wong is a former ECE colleague who is now a researcher and consultant with expertise in visual art appreciation.
Dr. Wong emphasised that art is everywhere and not limited to museums. During the talk, she led the participants to go through the artworks in public areas including drawings in MTR Art in MTR stations and sculptures located in City Art Square at Shatin. She also suggested ways to appreciate public art for children to apply in their daily lives. As public art is visible and tangible in the community, she advocated that public art exploration could be a starting point of art appreciation.
Besides public art on the street, Dr. Wong also demonstrated the use of the activity card set published by ECE in 2019 and picture books so that parents can plan parent-child games in order to continue art appreciation activities at home.