Table of Contents

Please click here for an overview of this blog.

Ms Alvina Lau, Miss Singapore Universe 2004

Dearest Northians,
Please click here to see a stunning photograph of my irresistable sister.

1F Reading Rites

Dear All,
Please upload your Reading Rites homework here by 4 March 2009, 18:00H.

Thank you.

1F Journal Entries

Dearest 1F,
As explained earlier, please include a word count and declaration in all your journal entries. Thank you.

Amongst you, are those who have lost beween 1 to 20 CA1 Marks for the following offences:

1. Refusal to follow instructions to include word count, declaration, and to perform spell and grammar check BEFORE posting)
2. Refusal to submit your writing despite numerous calls to your parents, personal reminders and warnings in January, February and March
3. Submitting work that is horrendously late and with little effort shown

Those who still refused to submit your work or did so after 4 March, 18:00H have received a zero for this CA1 component.

1C Journal Entries

Dearest 1C,
As explained earlier, please include a word count and declaration in all your journal entries. Thank you.

Amongst you, are those who have lost beween 1 to 20 CA1 Marks for the following offences:

1. Refusal to follow instructions to include word count, declaration, and to perform spell and grammar check BEFORE posting)
2. Refusal to submit your writing despite numerous calls to your parents, personal reminders and warnings in January, February and March
3. Submitting work that is horrendously late and that shows little effort

Those who still refused to submit your work or did so after 4 March, 18:00H have received a zero for this CA1 component.

1C Vocabulary List

Dearest 1 C,
Please share your vocabulary lists here.

Remember to include the following:
1. Class, Register Number, Name (1C 09 Shar Rook Can)
2. "I have checked my work for grammar and spelling BEFORE posting it"

Your lists must have:
(i) 1 new/good/interesting word a day
(ii) SIMPLE meaning of the word that you understand
(iii) The sentence that used the word
(iv) Your OWN original sentence to demonstrate (show) your understanding of this new word

For instance,
1. Floccinaucinilipilification
2. The action (or habit) of considering (or describing (or judging)) something as worthless (or unimportant)
3. "I loved him for... his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money"
4. I am upset with mum's floccinaucinilipilification of my excellent examination results of three A stars and an A. She is simply impossible to please!

Amongst you, are those who have lost beween 1 to 20 CA1 Marks for the following offences:

1. Refusal to follow instructions to include word count, declaration, and to perform spell and grammar check BEFORE posting)
2. Refusal to submit your writing despite numerous calls to your parents, personal reminders and warnings in January, February and March
3. Submitting work that is horrendously late and that shows little effort

Those who still refused to submit your work or did so after 4 March, 18:00H have received a zero for this CA1 component.

1F Vocabulary List

Dearest 1 Fantabulous,
Please share your vocabulary lists here.

Remember to include the following:
1. Class, Register Number, Name (1F 03 Brad Ang Pit)
2. "I have checked my work for grammar and spelling BEFORE posting it"

Your lists must have:
(i) 1 new/good/interesting word a day
(ii) SIMPLE meaning of the word that you understand
(iii) The sentence that used the word
(iv) Your OWN original sentence to demonstrate (show) your understanding of this new word

For instance,
1. Floccinaucinilipilification
2. The action (or habit) of considering (or describing (or judging)) something as worthless (or unimportant)
3. "I loved him for... his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money"
4. I am upset with mum's floccinaucinilipilification of my excellent examination results of three A stars and an A. She is simply impossible to please!

Amongst you, are those who have lost beween 1 to 20 CA1 Marks for the following offences:

1. Refusal to follow instructions to include word count, declaration, and to perform spell and grammar check BEFORE posting)
   
2. Refusal to submit your writing despite numerous calls to your parents, personal reminders and warnings in January, February and March
   
3. Submitting work that is horrendously late and that shows little effort
   

Those who still refused to submit your work or did so after 4 March, 18:00H have received a zero for this CA1 component.

BNSS 1C Personal Recount

Dearest 1C,
Please upload your personal recount by clicking the "comments" link at the end of this post.

Please include your NAME, REGISTER NUMBER, CLASS and WORD COUNT.

Remember to check FOUR times:
1. First for content (how can I make it more interesting?)
2. Secondly, for vocabulary (can I use better words? eg. best friend vs beloved pal)
3. Thirdly, for grammar
4. Lastly, spelling

Please include the following remark at the BEGINNING of each post:

• "I have checked my work four times, firstly for content, secondly for vocabulary, thirdly for grammar and lastly for spelling BEFORE posting it"
  
  Thank you.

BNSS 1F Personal Recount

Dearest 1F,
Please upload your personal recount by clicking the "comments" link at the end of this post.

Please include your NAME, REGISTER NUMBER, CLASS and WORD COUNT.

Remember to check FOUR times:
1. First for content (how can I make it more interesting?)
2. Secondly, for vocabulary (can I use better words? eg. best friend vs beloved pal)
3. Thirdly, for grammar
4. Lastly, spelling

Please include the following remark at the BEGINNING of each post:

"I have checked my work four times, firstly for content, secondly for vocabulary, thirdly for grammar and lastly for spelling BEFORE posting it"

Thank you.

My Pedagogic Creed

Towards an integrative education that challenges one to examine the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate disciplines, by integrating Visual Art, into the wider context of a child’s holistic education, so that he may discover that academic subjects have an existence that is ultimately dependent on one another..

Curriculum Vitae

Education

1993 – 1996
Bedok South Secondary School
Pure Science

1997 – 1998
Tampines Junior College
Science Faculty
Physics, Economics, Mathematics C, Art (Graphic Design, Portraiture & Batik Painting)

2001
Nanyang Technological University
College of Engineering

2002
Nanyang Technological University
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering

2003 – 2005
Nanyang Technological University
National Institute of Education
Diploma in Education (Distinction)
Visual Art & English Language Teaching at Secondary Level
Anugerah Khas Mendaki Award 2005 for excellent academic achievement.
Nominated for the AY2004 Rotary International Gold Medal for outstanding academic achievement, leadership & dedication to student activities in the institute & services to the community (Finalist).

2005 - 2007
Nanyang Technological University
National Institute of Education
Bachelor of Arts (Education)
Visual Art & Social Studies Teaching at Primary Level

Clubs and Societies

1993
Bedok South Secondary School Choir
Tenor

1993 – 1995
Bedok South Secondary School Military Band
Tuba Player
Singapore Youth Festival 1994 Central Judging for Bands (Outdoor) - Bronze

1995
Bedok South Secondary School Prefectorial Board
Vice-head Prefect

1995
Bedok South Secondary School Chinese Orchestra
Percussionist
Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging for Chinese Orchestras - Gold Award, Certificate of Distinction (Top 5)

1995
Siglap Community Club Concert Band
Tuba Player

1995 – 1997
Toa Payoh East Community Club Chinese Orchestra
Percussionist

1997
Tampines Junior College Oratorical & Debating Society
National Plain English Speaking Award Competition organized by the British Council, YMCA & Ministry of Education, Singapore
College Representative

1997
Tampines Junior College Drama Club
Annual College Production
Male Lead

1997 – 1998
Tampines Junior College Chinese Orchestra
Percussionist

1997
Tampines Junior College Symphonic Band
Guest Player, Tuba
Concertante IX, Victoria Concert Hall, Singapore

1997– 1998
Tampines Junior College Art Club
College Representative
Singapore Youth Festival 1997 Central Judging for Art (Graphic Design)

2001 – 2002
Nanyang Technological University Muslim Society
Member

2001
Nanyang Technological University Symphonic Band
Tuba Player
Music Exchange Programme with Shanghai Ming Hang Zong Zhuan University, July 2002


Courses/Skills


2008
Intro to Corel Painter X & Wacom Graphic Tablet
Eccential Solutions

2005
Adobe Premiere 6.0
Visual & Performing Arts Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

2005
Ulead VideoStudeo 8
Learning Focus Technologies

2004
EndNote 7
Instructional Services Division, Nanyang Technological University Library

2004
MindManager X5 Pro
Learning Sciences and Technologies Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

2004
Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004
Learning Focus Technologies

2004
Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Learning Focus Technologies

2004
Macromedia Authorware 7
Learning Focus Technologies

2003
Adobe Photoshop CS
Visual & Performing Arts Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

2002
AutoCAD 2002
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University

2002
C Programming
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University

2002
Construction Saftey Certificate
Occupational Saftey & Health (Training & Promotion) Centre, Ministry of Manpower, Singapore.

2001
ProEngineer
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University

1997
Batik Painting Workshop
Mr Sarkasi Said

Modules Read at NTU

DIPLOMA IN EDUCATION

Visual Art

• ECA120 Processes of Visual Representation and Expression I: Painting & Drawing
• ECA121 Visual Arts and Multimedia I: Still Photography & Digital Imaging
• ECA122 Processes of Visual Representation and Expression II: Ceramics
• ECA220 Processes of Visual Representation and Expression III Printmaking
• ECA221 Visual Arts and Multimedia II: Digital Video Production
• ECA222 Contextualising Artworks

• ETA120 The Development of Adolescent Art and its Educational Significance
• ETA121 The History of Art Teaching
• ETA220 Developing Thinking Skills and Creativity in Visual Arts

• EAA120 Introduction to Visual Literacy I: DBAE Approach & the Nanyang Style
• EAA121 Introduction to Visual Literacy II
• EAA220 Issues of Contemporary Southeast Asian Art: Postmodernism

English Language Teaching

• ECE121 English Language Teaching at Lower Secondary Level I: Listening & Speaking
• ECE122 English Language Teaching at Lower Secondary Level II: Grammar Pedagogy
• ECE221 English Language Teaching at Lower Secondary Level III: Reading & Writing
• ECE222 English Language Teaching at Lower Secondary Level IV: Lesson Planning & Integration

English Language

• ETE121 Introduction to the English Language I: Grammar
• ETE221 Introduction to the English Language II: Error Analysis
• ELE121 Use of English in Teaching: Written Communication
• ELE222 Spoken English in Teaching: Phonology

Education Studies

• EED100 Introduction to Instructional Technology: microLESSON Planning
• EED101 Introduction to Learning and Testing
• EED102 Providing for Individual Differences in Learning and Teaching
• EED200 Social Context of Teaching and Learning
• EED250 Empowering learners to learn

General Electives

• EAD184 Elementary Malay
• EED281 Computer Applications for School-based Testing
• EED280 On Becoming a Creative Teacher

Teaching Practicum: Changkat Changi Sec Sch

• EPR120 Practicum I (credit)
• EPR220 Practicum II (distinction)

BACHELOR OF ARTS (EDUCATION)

ESSENTIAL MODULES

CEM101 Environmental Studies and Global Issues
CEM102 Critical Reading and Writing
CEM205 Singapore Studies
CEM231 The Teacher and Society

ACADEMIC SUBJECTS
Visual Art

CAA203 Processes of Visual Representation and Expression III
CAA204 Visual Arts and Multimedia II
CAA205 Developing Thinking Skills and Creativity in Visual Arts
CAA301 Issues of Contemporary Southeast Asian Art II
CAA302 Processes of Visual Representation and Expression IV
CAA303 Visual Arts Teaching Research Project I

CURRICULUM STUDIES

Visual Art

CCA201 Visual Representation in Infancy and Childhood
CCA301 How Children Use and Organise Visual Media
CCA302 Concepts in Art Education
CCA403 Curatorial Practices and Exhibition

Social Studies

CCL301 Teaching Social Studies in the Classroom
CCL302 Investigating Social Studies through Fieldwork
CCL401 Advanced Strategies in the Teaching of Social Studies

CURRICULUM CONTENT
Social Studies

CTL201 Selected Geography Topics for Primary Social Studies Teaching
CTL202 Selected History Topics for Primary Social Studies Teaching

TEACHING PRACTICUM

CPR401 Practicum III Chong Zheng Primary School

GENERAL ELECTIVE

LM80 Malay Language Level 1

PRESCRIBED ELECTIVES

G140 Engineers & Society: Our country. Engineers in society. Our world in the new Millennium.

G143 Communication Skills 1: Reporting technical information. Writing technical reports. Visual elements. Technical Writing Style. Group oral presentation of a technical topic.

G160 Electric Circuits: Resistive circuits and circuit theorems. Energy storage elements and transient response. AC circuits. Laplace transformation in circuit analysis.

G161 Electronics: Operational amplifiers. Diode circuit analysis. Bipolar junction transistors. Small-signal BJT amplifiers. Transistor Switches. Logic Circuits.

G162 Statics: Statics of particles. Rigid bodies: equivalent systems of forces. Equilibrium of rigid bodies. Distributed forces: centroids and centres of gravity. Analysis of structures. Forces in beams. Friction. Distributed forces: moments of inertia of areas and masses

G163 Dynamics: Planar kinematics of particles. Planar kinematics of rigid bodies. Planar kinetics of particles. Planar kinetics of rigid bodies

G164 Mathematics 1A: Complex numbers, vectors and matrices. Limits and continuity of functions. Derivatives. Applications of derivatives. Integration. Integration methods. Application of integration.

G164 Mathematics 1B: Partial differentiation. Multiple integrals. Sequences and series. First order differential equations. Second order differential equations.

G166 Engineering Physics: Electricity. Magnetism. Optics. Quantum physics.

G167 Engineering Chemistry: Chemical equilibrium. Solubility and precipitation. Acids and bases. Ionic salts and inorganic compounds. Activity and activity coefficient. Reaction kinetics and reaction mechanisms. Steady state approximation. Electrochemistry. The Nernst equation. Organic chemistry.

G168 Computing: C language fundamentals: data types, operators, standard library functions. Flow of control. Modular programming. Functions and pointers. Data structures: arrays and strings. Basic file processing.

G169 Materials Science: Structure of solids. Defects in solids. Properties of materials. Phase equilibrium. Phase diagrams.

G170 Engineering Graphics: Orthographic Projection. Pictorial Views and Technical Sketching. Drawing Standards and Practices. Sectional Views and Intersections. Development of Surfaces. Machine Drawings. Rendering drawings with Proengineer & AutoCAD software.

G171 Laboratory 1A: Principles of Measurement; Instrument Characteristics; Measurement Errors; Data Sampling and Acquisition.

G172 Laboratory 1B: Laboratory experiments related to: Statics; Electrical Circuits and Components; Engineering Physics; Dynamics.

Academic Writing (Word Documents)

Art Theory & Criticism
Analysing a Work of Art
Designing & Evaluating Interdisciplinary Fieldwork
Longitudinal Study 1of5: The Art of Childhood
Study 2of5: Visual Representation in Infancy & Childhood
Longitudinal Study 3of5: Digital Media & the Child
Water Conservation (Webquest)

Never the Twain Shall Meet

Alvin Lau, Semiosis, 2005.

Mixed Media, 876 x 620 mm.

------------------------------

Semiosis (noun): "The Process of signification."

Oxford Talking Dictionary, 1998

I've always been intrigued by the wearying polemic against seemingly disparate discplines - such as Art and Physics. Semiosis - just like my project on "Text as an Image", is a manifestation of my desire to examine the allegedly divergent fields of Physics and Art.

Text as Image or Image as Text?

Alvin Lau, Balanced Equations, 2005
Mixed Media, 350 x 328 mm.

What looks like hieroglyphics at 1st glance, is actually fanciful text, inspired by the creators of the animated sitcom, Futurama.

Text as Image

The use of textual language in the visual arts has long been derided by puritanical artists and art educators, who are adamant that a "true" work of art must be able to communicate the artist’s message to the art viewer, without the need to rely on textual language, therefore relying entirely on the visual product, as a vehicle of communication.

Viewing text, from a purely visual perspective, by “guillotining” it from its semiotic associations within the art viewer’s linguistic sphere, has intrigued me ever since my multimedia lecturer, Mr Lincoln, chided a classmate for using lyrics in her image, to explicitly communicate her message.

It fascinates me, how when dismembered from its semantic and cognitive associations, text presents itself in an entirely unfamiliar, semantically unadulterated and truly enigmatic form to the viewer.

ETA220 DEVELOPING THINKING SKILLS & CREATIVITY IN VISUAL ART allowed me to explore the world’s myriad of languages and their written forms — both living and extinct, in an attempt to get students to use text as an image.

The world’s foremost authoritative and comprehensive database of world languages, (Ethnologue, Grimes 1996), maintained by the Summer Institute of linguistics, lists a staggering 6802 living languages and over a thousand extinct languages. There also exist written languages, which have been discovered, but have yet to be deciphered.


Top 10 Most Widely Spoken Languages
Language....................Number of speakers
1. Chinese (Mandarin) ...1,075,000,000
2. English ...................514,000,000
3. Hindi......................496,000,000
4. Spanish....................425,000,000
5. Russian....................275,000,000
6. Arabic.....................256,000,000
7. Bengali....................215,000,000
8. Portuguese...............194,000,000
9. Malay-Indonesian.......176,000,000
10. French..................129,000,000

Source: Ethnologue, 13th Edition

In the course of my research, written languages familiar to the target audience (lower secondary Singaporean students), such as Chinese, English, Tamil and Malay languages, have been excluded, as comprehensible text will cease to become an image, once the viewer is able to decode its meaning. The research was therefore narrowed down to unfamiliar and extinct languages, and complex mathematical and physical symbols or operators, which present themselves to the viewer, entirely through their aesthetic form.

Mindmap of Objectives, Framework & Processes

Please click here to view MindMap.

The Art-Making Process

The subsequent posts show the images of my artwork, as I explored the myriad possiblities of using mathematical and scientific symbols and intriguing text from written languages - both contemporary and extinct - in search of my elusive Magnum Opus.

High-row-glee-fix

Alvin Lau, Cocophony I, 2005.
Monoprint, 631 x 432 mm.

High-row-glee-fix - Inverted

Alvin Lau, Cocophony II, 2005.
Monoprint, 631 x 432 mm.

Borg

Alvin Lau, Borg, 2005.
Ink on paper, 876 x 586 mm.

Borg - Inverted

Alvin Lau, Borg Inverted, 2005.
Mixed Media, 876 x 586 mm.

Borg - Inverted Magenta

Alvin Lau, Borg Magenta, 2005.
Mixed Media, 876 x 586 mm.

Linocut - Borg

Alvin Lau, Borged, 2005.
Linocut, 210 x 148 mm.

Woodcut - Borg Blue

Alvin Lau, Contact, 2005.
Woodcut Print, 420 x 297 mm.

Mixed Media - Borg Inverted

Alvin Lau, Contact II, 2005.
Mixed Media, 865 x 574 mm.

Variations on a Theme

Alvin Lau, Reborg, 2005. Mixed Media, 660 x 504 mm.

Alvin Lau, Contact IV, 2005. Mixed Media, 1024 x 690 mm.

Alvin Lau, Quattro, 2005. Mixed Media, 1024 x 699 mm.

Alvin Lau, Asymmetry, 2005. Mixed Media, 1020 x 336 mm.

Alvin Lau, Grand Canyon, 2005. Mixed Media, 1024 x 338 mm.

Alvin Lau, The Matrix, 2005. Mixed Media, 1020 x 339 mm.

Variations

As part of my creative process, I have created variations of my artwork, as seen in the following images (please click on thumbnails for a larger view):

Batik Painting 1---Variations:

Batik Painting 2---Variations:

Batik Painting 3---Variations:

Batik Painting 4---Variations:

Batik Painting 5---Variations:

Variations of Selected Prints that I have Created: