A TEACHER who graduated from an innovative fine arts degree course is trying to make a difference in artistic creations after exploring 'the world beyond normality' during her studies. Carol Mui Ka-wai has been teaching art and design at King's College for 12 years, but following the completion of her part-time Bachelor of Arts (fine arts) degree, she believes she has acquired the skills to inspire her students more than ever. 'I'm encouraging the students to put more contextual background into their work,' said Ms Mui, one of 55 graduates from the course jointly organised by the Hong Kong Arts Centre's The Art School and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Australia. 'If you change the context or environment of your work, it can change the meaning,' said Ms Mui, a former student of King's College. 'My style is quite traditional but I give the students many activities to help them with self-exploration. At the same time I give demonstrations and guidance.' This year's graduates recently held an exhibition, The Fourth Dimension, at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Their drawings, paintings, ceramics and digital imaging were on display. Ms Mui's project, Transience, was an interactive installation with three parts - an eye, a nose and a mouth - made of acrylic on canvas. 'It's about ladies' fashion which has wrinkles and folds for decoration,' she explained. 'The wrinkles on the clothes represent the changing nature of fashion, while the wrinkles on the skin mark the transience of youth. As one grows older, there are more wrinkles.' Visitors were able to pull strings attached to the features and see wrinkles appear on the cloth. Ms Mui's students, aged between 11 and 16, held an exhibition at City Hall in July this year which showcased more than 300 art pieces. 'They produced some very good work,' said Ms Mui, who also has a degree in education from Baptist University. 'There were some paintings, ceramics, crafts, drawings, installations and even tie-dye. 'Nowadays many schools like to have their exhibition in a public area because it brings more prestige to the school. Our school also held an exhibition in 2001. The students enjoy it very much because they want to show their work in public,' she said. 'I would recommend The Art School's fine arts course to prospective students. The course is most suitable for trainee artists.'