Art at Home Session to create a 3-dimensional apple

United Overseas Bank (UOB) has launched the UOB Art Explorer, an online visual arts programme designed to bring the benefits of art to everyone from children to adults in homes around the world. Against the backdrop of uncertainty and social isolation experienced by many people amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the UOB Art Explorer aims to connect all to new worlds and perspectives through its five art initiatives.

The UOB Art Explorer is part of UOB’s broader global #UnitedForYou COVID-19 Relief Programme, which brings together the strength of the UOB network and our like-minded partners such as UOB Painting of the Year (POY) artist alumni to help see communities, customers and colleagues through to better times.

Beyond art appreciation, the UOB Art Explorer aims to promote mental well-being through the process of creating art. Sixteen art therapy sessions are being offered through its Art as Therapy initiative. These sessions were formulated with the 2016 UOB POY (Singapore), Most Promising Artist of the Year, Emerging Artist Category winner Ms Yoko Choi. Ms Choi, who holds a Master in Art Therapy, is also a registered art therapist and art educator.

The UOB Art Explorer also enables people of all ages to create their own artworks through Art at Home, which features tutorials led by POY winners on various art techniques using home-based materials such as coloured pencils and crayons. A new tutorial will be released every fortnight until December 2020.

For those looking to fill in their time by exploring their creativity, the programme’s Art in Colours initiative offers eight line art adaptations of artworks from the UOB POY art collection. These line art adaptions can be printed out or uploaded onto most digital colouring apps for aspiring artists to experiment with different colouring mediums and to define their own interpretation of the artwork through the colours they choose.

Viewers will be able to explore works by selected artists and artworks from the region through Art Virtually, a series of virtual exhibitions displayed at the UOB Art Gallery and Art in Story, which features selected artwork from the UOB Art Collection every month. By the end of the year, more than 60 Southeast Asian artworks will be featured on the UOB Art Explorer.

To take part in the five initiatives of the UOB Art Explorer, namely Art as Therapy, Art at Home, Art in Colours, Art Virtually and Art in Story, please visit www.UOBandArt.com.