Visual Arts & Crafts – B2 English Listening Exercise

9 fashion designer 10 curious 11 recycled paper 12 spaceship

13 portrait 14 watercolours 15 abstract

16 future city 17 plastic bottles 18 collaboration

Chloe: Hello everyone! I’m Chloe, and I’d like to tell you about an amazing experience I had last weekend. I attended a youth-oriented ‘Art Day’ hosted at our local arts centre. It was organised to get teenagers like me more involved in visual arts and crafts, giving us a space to express ourselves outside of a typical school environment. The whole event was spearheaded by two incredibly creative people who guided us through the various workshops. One of them was Marcus, who is a well-known independent filmmaker in our town. The other was Sarah. A lot of people assume she’s a professional photographer because she always carries a camera around with her, but she actually spent several years working as a fashion designer before she moved into teaching art full-time.

I’m usually someone who gets quite anxious when meeting new people in unfamiliar situations, so I genuinely thought I’d be a bit stressed. However, when I walked through the doors of the centre and saw all the colourful displays and friendly faces, I actually just felt incredibly curious about what we were going to do.

To kick things off, Sarah handed each of us a drawing book to jot down our ideas and do some initial sketches. I was expecting standard glossy white pages, but I was thrilled to find that the books were entirely filled with recycled paper. I’m really passionate about the environment, so that was a big plus for me!

Our first warm-up task was to personalize the cover of our drawing book. At first, I was going to draw a landscape, maybe the hills around our town, to keep it simple. But then I changed my mind and sketched a spaceship instead, as I’ve been reading a lot of science fiction lately. It turned out looking pretty cool, especially after I added some neon markers!

Next, we moved into the main studio for a painting session. We had free rein to paint whatever we wanted. While a few people decided to paint the bowls of fruit set up on the tables, I opted to do a portrait of my younger brother from a photo on my phone. It was tricky getting the proportions right, but Marcus gave me some helpful tips on shading.

Later, we had a short break, which gave us the chance to wander around and see what everyone else was working on. There were some impressive charcoal sketches of animals, but I was absolutely blown away by some watercolours that a girl sitting near me had painted. The blending of the colours was just stunning and so delicate.

Looking at my own work, I felt it was a bit too rigid and realistic. Sarah noticed I was struggling and suggested I loosen up. She showed me a few unconventional brush techniques to make my work more abstract. It felt strange at first not painting exact lines, but it really freed up my creativity!

After a lovely lunch in the courtyard, Marcus introduced the afternoon activity: a giant collaborative sculpture made from discarded materials. We had to brainstorm a theme first. A lot of people voted for ‘The Ocean’, which sounded great, but after a quick debate, we finally settled on a future city. We thought it would allow everyone to build their own unique structures.

We were then sent out to scavenge for clean waste materials from the centre’s large recycling area. I went out hoping to find cardboard boxes, but they had all been taken. Fortunately, I stumbled upon a huge bag of plastic bottles, which were absolutely perfect for constructing the tall skyscrapers of our sculpture.

By the end of the day, we had built something truly spectacular. I learned so many new techniques, but for me, the collaboration with other young artists was the absolute highlight. Just sharing ideas and working together made the whole event unforgettable. I’ve already signed up for the next session!

9 watercolours 10 cardboard 11 recycled paper 12 leather

13 dragon 14 gold paint 15 glass beads

16 landscapes 17 imaginative 18 college library

Maya: Hi everyone! My name is Maya, and I’m currently in my second year as an art student. Our course covers a wide variety of visual arts and crafts, which keeps things really exciting. When the term started, I fully expected our main focus to be working with acrylics, since they are so versatile. But as it turned out, we’ve actually dedicated most of our classes to mastering watercolours, a medium that I’ve genuinely grown to love for its delicate washes.

Recently, our tutor introduced a rather unique craft assignment. Instead of just drawing on standard pads, we were tasked with manufacturing our very own sketchbooks from scratch. We had to find materials for the front and back covers first. I initially considered cutting up some stiff plastic sheets I found at home. However, I eventually decided that thick cardboard would provide a much more stable and traditional foundation for what I had in mind.

Once the covers were sorted, we had to source the inside pages. A few enthusiastic students actually attempted to create their own handmade paper from wood pulp, which looked incredibly messy! I took a slightly different route and simply gathered a large stack of recycled paper that was going to be thrown away in the studio. It gave the inside of the book a wonderful, textured, and rustic appearance.

The next challenge was figuring out how to securely bind the pages and the covers together. A lot of my classmates chose to sew the spine using thick cotton thread, which looked really neat. But I wanted something a bit more durable, so I sourced a strip of scrap leather and used that to bind the edges. It gave the whole sketchbook a highly professional finish.

Then came the most exciting part: embellishing the covers! We were instructed to select a complex, intricate motif to decorate the front. I toyed with the idea of drawing a fierce eagle, but after browsing through some ancient mythology books in the college archives, I settled on an elaborate dragon for my design. It just felt much more magical and challenging to draw.

To make this cover illustration truly stand out, I had to choose the right medium for the line work. I briefly considered pressing silver foil onto the surface to give it a metallic look. In the end, though, I carefully applied gold paint with a very fine brush. It caught the light perfectly and gave the creature a brilliant, warm shine.

I wanted to add a sort of three-dimensional effect to my intricate motif, so I looked for extra embellishments. I’d brought in some tiny shells from a recent trip to the beach, but they just didn’t suit the mythical theme. So, I switched tactics and glued on several colourful glass beads to represent the creature’s glittering scales, which worked beautifully.

Now that my sketchbook is complete, I carry it absolutely everywhere with me. When I started, I assumed I’d primarily use it to sketch portraits of my friends in the cafeteria. Interestingly enough, sketching landscapes has become my main activity whenever I find a quiet spot outside. It’s just so relaxing.

At the end of the project, we all presented our finished sketchbooks to the class. Our tutor is notoriously strict and usually focuses on how neat and tidy our work is. To my surprise, he didn’t mention neatness at all; instead, he described my overall creation as highly imaginative, which was a massive compliment coming from him!

We’re actually going to put all the sketchbooks on public display next month. Usually, the best student artwork gets sent down to the local gallery in the town centre. This time, however, the exhibition is being set up in the college library, meaning all the students and staff on campus will have the chance to see our hard work. It’s going to be fantastic!