Visual Arts 

Welcome back to Term 3

It feels like this year is flying past at the speed of light. We are starting this term with a NAIDOC Week celebration. Each year level is participating in Australia themed art project with focus on Indigenous artists or art-styles.

Year 1/2

The Year 1/2s are focusing on landscape pictures. After reading the book "Why I love Australia" by Bronwyn Bancroft, the students will produce a 3D landscape from layers of patterned paper. Their first step was to choose a landscape which they like and represent it using lines. They cut these lines from the edge of a piece of paper and used it as a stencil/template. They rubbed an oil pastel over the edge of the paper to create a landscape picture.

Year 3/4

Our Year 3/4s are examining animal skeletons and re-creating the animal's body and texture without knowing what the animal was. Their first task was to look at the skeleton of a modern Australian animal. We discussed what bones can and can't tell us. The students used the window as a light box to trace the animal's body over the top of the skeleton. They decided on a texture (fur, scales, etc) and covered the animal with the texture by drawing repeated lines and patterns. 

Their next activity is to recreate an Australian dinosaur from just one fossilized bone.

Foundation

The Foundation students are also looking at landscapes and the artist/author Bronwyn Bancroft. Their first task was to draw a landscape which they liked after reading "Why I Love Australia.  They were each given a long piece of brown paper to create their landscape and drew with oil pastels and crayons. The next part of the activity is to add texture and colour to their landscape with tissue paper. They will practice using some tissue paper textural techniques then add detail to their landscape pictures.

Year 5/6

The year 5/6 students are designing their own Australian banknote. They are taking inspiration from their own families and interests to create symbols and meaning in their drawing. They first had a look at Ryan Presley's "Blood Money" banknote painting and pondered what the meaning of his symbols. The students researched thedesign and security features of real Australian banknotes then drafted a banknote of their own. Their next step is to draw and colour a finished version of their banknote.