The Arts at Hackham East Primary School

Welcome to another exciting term within The Arts

To begin, I just wanted to applaud all the students for their commitment, persistence and resilience over the duration of the last 5 weeks of Term 2, as they all worked hard towards practicing different choreography for the Hackham East ‘Dance Extravaganza’. All their hard efforts paid off through the culmination of the whole school performance at the end of Term 2, which garnered an overwhelmingly positive response. Well done!

With the ‘Dance Extravaganza’ preparation now at a close, this term within the Arts we are continuing with our exploration within Media Arts as a focus and how we can use this approach to aid in enhancing the meaning of our creative ideas.

Castle Unit

Castle Unit students have had the opportunity to experiment with a variety of different Media Arts applications that can be used to enhance the way we view and respond to and communicate with Art. One application was ‘Quiver’, an Augmented Reality app that turned two-dimensional illustrations into living characters. We also have been looking at photo manipulation software and programs such as ‘Toontastic’, a creative storytelling app designed to empower students to draw, animate, narrate, and record collaborated ideas into cartoons. Using technology has also enabled the students to collaborate to create their own Artworks in the style of more traditionally created art – such as ‘Pop Art’ faces.

Stillwell Unit

The Year 3/4 students have been working towards creating a ‘Claymation’, based on an animal of their choosing and facts about their chosen animal that they have researched within small groups. We have been following a process that will enable these facts and ideas to be developed into a Stop Motion Animation that can be viewed by their peers. This will be achieved by allowing students to research information, develop ideas that visually convey the content of their Animation, creating a scene/set of the animal habitat and a clay representation of the animal, before using movie-editing software to compile images together with the addition of sound effects, narration and music. This will result in an activity that not only visually represents their chosen animal in its habitat, but also informing the viewer about the animal through narrated facts.

Holly Unit

The Upper Primary students have been taking this idea a step further, by working collaboratively to create a Stop-Motion Animation that conveys a meaning/idea suitable for a younger target audience. Considering the target audience you are trying to communicate with within the Arts is imperative, as it changes how the Art Media is interpreted and responded to. Students have been following a process to allow them the time in small groups to brainstorm ideas, create an engaging story and storyboarding their Animation in order to visually represent their ideas. Through this process of planning, students have already begun creating some interesting and unique story ideas, as well as different ways that they can visually convey their story – for example, animating using Lego characters, paper cut outs and collage, as well as traditional drawn animation.

Art Exhibition

I would also like to note that in conjunction with the Hackham East Open Day on the last day of Term 3 (27/9), there will be an Art Exhibition held within the Stillwell Unit Arts area. This will be a showcase of all the work that students have been creating thus far, with a focus on Visual Arts and Media Arts. This will be a great opportunity for students to have their work on display for the wider community. I look forward to seeing you there.

Stephen Di Girolamo, The Arts Teacher