Visual Arts News

Prep

Recently in Visual Arts, the preps read the picture story book, “The Rainbow Fish”. After discussing the setting of the story, the students drew an ocean scene in crayon, including features such as sand, rocks, seaweed and shells. They then used cool-coloured watercolour paints to wash over their details and create an ocean background. In the following week, students coloured a rainbow fish template, added textured scales using crepe paper, and added one special shiny scale. These were then added to the background they made in the previous week. Last week, the prep students read the picture story book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. They created a sculpture of the caterpillar in the story using coloured plasticine and pipe cleaners. They focused on manipulating clay by rolling and pinching/pressing pieces together to form their sculpture. 

Grade 1 & 2

The grade one and two students recently learnt about natural materials and how they can be used in artworks. Students were guided to draw a tree, stump or branch using crayons and markers. They collected and added natural materials (leaves) to their work to complete a textured artwork. Last week, the students were introduced to artworks created by New Zealand artist, Raewyn Harris. Raewyn’s artworks often feature the koru plant (unfurling fern fronds found in New Zealand), which is a symbol often used in Maori artwork. Students were inspired by the artist to create their own koru designs. They used line to draw spiral koru plants, as well as other fern fronds, leaves and vines. They will continue to work on these designs and add colour this week. 

Grade 3 & 4

Recently, the grade threes and fours learnt about the Japanese art of “Kintsugi”. Kintsugi is the art of repairing broken pottery with gold, saving the item and creating a new piece that is more precious than before the break. The students created a kintsugi-inspired collage by ripping patterned paper and gluing it piece by piece on to white paper, making sure to leave a small gap between the pieces. Students used gold paint slick to fill the gaps between their pieces. In the following week, students used their kintsugi-inspired collaged paper - they drew a design for a piece of pottery (vase, teapot, cup etc.) on top, cut it out and outlined their work with black marker where needed. 

Grade 5 & 6

The grade five and six students have been focusing on different projects over the last two weeks. Some classes worked on creating a sculpture inspired by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Yayoi is well known for her contemporary artworks, which often feature dots. The students used her sculptures and installations as inspiration, creating a dotted background on coloured card and using black paper magi-clay to sculpt an object. The students then used coloured magi-clay to add more dots to their work. Other classes created a textured natural disaster painting. Using a canvas as a base, they sketched a natural disaster, then used Modroc (plaster bandage) to build up textured areas. This week they will use acrylic paint to colour their work and add small pieces or paper or glitter for extra texture.