Get canvas, painting brushes, and acrylic paints ready, take two or three hours out of your busy schedule, and you can enjoy the fun of painting at Suzhou Basel Contemporary Art Museum at Ligongdi.

Everybody can paint
The museum introduced the creative painting class in early November for those interested in painting but without professional training. Acrylics differ from oil paints in that they have shorter drying times (10 minutes or so) and are soluble in water, which makes them a perfect choice for beginners. At the class, the students are required to do the work from choosing a painting to copy, drawing sketches, blending and applying colors in less than three hours.

Yu Ximan is one of the young artists at Basel as a classroom instructor. "The art museum gives us the best environment for painting and opportunities to communicate with people," she said.

Learning from young professionals
Basel started a program in 2013 selecting and sponsoring young artists with potentials in the country to be painters at the museum. All the artists are graduates of prestigious art schools including China Central Academy of Fine Arts, University of Southampton, and Ukrainian National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture.

Yu came to Suzhou in August this year and was also interested in teaching. "The program for starters is different from traditional course at school," she said. "They don't have to start with basic sketch training on gypsum geometry. We encourage them to paint with colors at first lesson to cultivate interest and enhance self-confidence. As for those wanting to learn more, we'll give them follow-up advanced classes."

Serving as a platform connecting people and art
The museum held a charity sale at the end of November and auctioned the paintings by teachers and students of Ulink College. They sold 21 paintings and raised 12,350 yuan in total for the central primary school of Caiji Town in Suqian City, north Jiangsu Province.

Some of the paintings by students for the charity sale

In addition to charity auctions, Basel also arranges regular art shows to promote the relations among artists, public, and works. "An art museum should serve as a platform connecting people and art," Yu summed up her introduction.