Students~ Shall we draw a picture or go to an art gallery?
Mr. Yoo Duk-cheol of Okryun Girls’ High School
Studying is destiny for the students of Korea. Maybe that is why art education is so important for the students preparing for the college entrance examination. There is a teacher who teaches emotion, intellect and empathic ability through classes in art galleries. Let’s listen to the story of Master Teacher Yoo Duk-cheol (Okryun Girls’ High School), who teaches art by making students stand in front of works of art whenever possible.
Writer Kim Ha-neul
Photos Jeong Dong-myeon
I am a curator who teaches studentsOkryun Girls’ High School is located at Ongnyeon-dong, Yeonsu-gu. In the school, there is a teacher whom many students like. His name is Yoo Duk-cheol, a painter and an artist who draws pictures. He is popular among students not only for his handsome looks, resembling a celebrity, but also for his exciting way of teaching art.
His classes are extraordinary, because he studies hard and puts in many efforts to raise the sentiments and artistic abilities of students who might easily neglect arts to focus only on the college entrance examination.
“To make students the main agents of the class, I often use the Yeonjeong Art Gallery inside the school. I even allow students to have partial options to select the works of artists that will be displayed in the gallery. Through the project of visiting artists, students recommend artists that they like.”
Mr. Yoo operates an art gallery inside the school, something rarely found in the high schools in Korea. Another reason why Mr. Yoo is close to his students is because he acts as a curator who combines art and life into an integrated class through means such as career experience activities.
Due to excessive studying, students don’t have time to visit art galleries. For these students, Master Teacher Yoo plans an invitational exhibition of artists with high educational value, and then calls his students. During lunch breaks or rest periods, students come to Yeonjeong Art Gallery to learn from Master Teacher Yoo. It is a moment of happy learning and healing.
Concentrating on providing lifelong lessons as the Master Teacher
Master Teacher Yoo Duk-cheol’s career clearly shows the two paths of his life, one as a teacher and another as an artist. He has held three private exhibitions and 130 group exhibitions. He is, at once, a lecturer at Gongju National University of Education, the Chairman of the Fine Arts Education Association of Incheon’s Middle and High Schools, the President of the Incheon Office for National Art Education Society, the operation committee member of Incheon Korean Painting Grand Festival, the operation committee member of Incheon Art Festival, and the Chairman of the operation committee for Incheon Students’ Art Contest.
Currently, he is the director of the Incheon Metropolitan City Art Association and the curator of Yeonjeong Art Gallery. He also holds another title, the Master Teacher of Okryun Girls’ High School.
Mr. Yoo said, “To become a teacher, I studied at Gongju National University of Education and Incheon Graduate School of Education. Teaching more and more students,
however, I realized the necessity of more research and better qualifications. Especially in today’s era of globalization, professionalism is truly required in the site of education. That is why I became a Master Teacher.”
Currently in Yeonsu-gu, there are 12 Master Teachers like Mr. Yoo who teach in elementary, middle and high schools. A Master Teacher is like a professor in school who chooses to achieve and take pleasure in ‘teaching’ instead of going into administrative positions by becoming principals or vice-principals.
Mr. Yoo added, “As a Master Teacher, I am involved in expert activities related to art education, such as consulting on education, teaching techniques, teaching methods, materials development, curriculum development, site research and in-school training. For junior teachers, I am also playing the role of a mentor to share my experience on education.”
As curator of an art gallery, an art educator and a Master Teacher, Mr. Yoo thrives to have a better education philosophy. All of his titles are not as important as his students returning to Yeonjeong Art Gallery even today.
