Grade 11 Students Connect with Ugandan School in Art Project

In the Grade 11 Visual Arts classroom at the Western Academy of Beijing, art is about making connections and driving change. This semester, students are carving more than just wood; they’re carving pathways of empathy and global citizenship through an ongoing project that links WAB with a school in Uganda. 

The initiative began three years ago as part of the Cultural Canvas club, when Visual Arts Teacher Mr. Daniel Avila and students connected with a project in Africa. Their shared goal: to use art as a bridge between communities. 

“When we realized how difficult it was to send resources from China to Africa, we thought about how art could help us raise funds,” Mr. Avila said. “Through woodcut printing, students could create meaningful works that could be reproduced and sold, and that’s how our idea of printing with a steamroller was born.” 

The first Steamroller Printmaking Event raised over 20,000 RMB, these funds were used to purchase iPads for students in Uganda. Those devices now serve as creative tools and communication links between both schools. 

This year, using photos taken by their Ugandan peers, WAB artists are creating large-scale woodcut pieces that reinterpret the images with their own perspectives and stories. 

“It was very new to see people living in such different conditions,” said Sirius, a Grade 11 student. “I was inspired by how close they live to nature, and I wanted to capture their connection to the environment and traditions in my work.” 

Another student, Angelina, explained that her artwork explores the relationship between people and their surroundings: “The earth supports us, but we also need to take care of it. It’s about a reciprocated relationship with nature.” 

For Mr. Avila, this project goes beyond technical art skills. “Students are learning empathy, humility, and respect,” he said. “They’re seeing how people live in completely different circumstances and learning from them, not seeing themselves as having more or less, just different contexts.” 

The collaboration will continue to grow: this February, Mr. Avila and Global Citizenship Coordinator Ms. Angie Crouch will travel to Uganda to lead a woodcut workshop, sharing what WAB students have learned and continuing to build an art-based learning community across continents. 

“Creative work can be an engine for change,” Mr. Avila said. “It’s not only about making something beautiful, but also about empowering others and showing that art can be a way to make things happen.” 

Through projects like this, WAB students are living the school’s values of global citizenship and making a difference: one print, one connection, and one act of creativity at a time.