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About

Our Mission, The School, The Mentor

Our Mission

L'Observatoire was set up as a residency programme by artist Isabelle Desjeux and Blue House International Preschool in January 2017 as a means to develop a symbiotic relationship between local arts practitioners and the Blue House community at large. 

 

We invite artists to propose experimental projects where the risk is understood. We provide the tools, mentorship, community networking, and a safe space where the artist can create freely and develop their ideas. In turn, resident artists are expected to share some of their processes and techniques with the school community. Nonetheless, the studio remains as a safe yet experimental space for artists to utilise.

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The school community gets to engage with a diverse pool of artists at work, while artists-in-residence are presented with the opportunity to interact with school-going children, parents, and staff members, all of whom they may not encounter otherwise. Thus, sites of the artist residency can expand into a robust space for the artist's project development, as well as conversations and exchange of ideas across communities.

 

The studio offers a one-month residency, the outcome of which emphasises the sharing of experience and processes rather than conventional modes of art exhibitions. Currently, the residency is by invitation only, for artists who can work collaboratively on specific themes that are being explored.

The School

Blue House Nursery & International Preschool was founded in 2008 by Ben and Shona Sanosi, and is inspired by the principles and values of Reggio Emilia approach to early year’s education. Created by inspirational Educator Loris Malaguzzi in the 1940’s, the approach is an educational philosophy of worldwide acclaim, based on the image of the child as capable, curious and full of potential, as a subject with rights who learns and grows through relationships with others.

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The Blue House programme begins with children 6-36 months through a series of parent and child Playgroups, Classes and Drop-In Sessions across two Infant & Toddler Atelier locations.  

 

Then a 2, 3 or 5 day Nursery programme begins for children from 18 months to 3 years old, then on to Preschool and Kindergarten programmes for children 3 – 6 years old.  This is all supported by an enrichment program of music, art, and Mandarin, run by specialist educators and experts in their field.

Meet The Mentor

Isabelle Desjeux

Director, Mentor

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Isabelle Desjeux is a French artist living in Singapore, and has a PhD in Molecular Biology and an MA in Fine Arts. Isabelle has been working with children since 2000, with a focus in the scientific method and teaching drawing through observation. Her artistic, scientific, and educational practices started to merge in 2012 when she founded a teaching studio of art and science. Since then, many subsequent artworks have been collaborative and participatory. In 2017, after a stint as  Creative Director at Playeum’s Children’s Centre for Creativity, she was invited back to Blue House International School where she runs the studio and residency.

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