Primary Classes Arts Festival

Kindergarten

For our first Arts Festival, the Kinder students looked carefully at the Tasmanian Indigenous designs of Ros Langford's 2004 calendar titled 'Tassie Critters' and chose one of the Tasmanian animals depicted to be inspired by. 

Ros is an Aboriginal artist who lived in Tasmania for some time. Her artwork incorporates symbols and motifs in a contemporary medium and style. The words used in the title for each ‘critter’ are from the Tasmanian Aboriginal language, palawa kani. Some of the Kinder students have found inspiration from their chosen piece and created a work in response to the work while others have looked carefully at the detail to reproduce all or part of the piece.

The students also created some nature inspired sculptures gathering beautiful things from their trips to Lambert Park.

And for the concert the students sang Me and My Elephant, This Old Man and also recited a number of favourite poems.

At present, the Kindergarten House is a veritable Art Gallery for anyone who would like to visit!

Prep

For their Visual Arts pieces the Preps were inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Sunflower’ painting and The Potato People book by Pamela Allen. The Prep students created their own still life painting of a fresh vase of sunflowers using acrylic paint and they created their own ‘potato person’ using a potato and an array of craft materials. 

For their Performing arts piece, in Music classes, the Prep students have been learning the song Driving Along in a Big Red Bus. Students got the chance to play a variety of characters including horses, cyclists, bus drivers, dogs and cars. The students thoroughly enjoyed their performance and showing their parents what they have learnt. 

Year 1

The Year One students have explored the elements of dance, thinking about movements that are locomotor (moving from one place to another) and non-locomotor (any movement that does not travel). Their dances focus on activities people choose to do in summer or in winter, and how the seasons change what activities we do in each season.  Watch out for some of the activities that they have chosen and can you name the season they have chosen?

The Year 1 students worked on the topic of Change in their Term 2 Science Unit.  They have discussed bending, curling, scrunching, heating and freezing materials.  This knowledge was transferred to their work in The Arts, when they looked at the works of Henri Matisse, in relation to their understanding of materials that show change.  In his later life, Matisse, created pictures by cutting shapes from coloured paper and making collages.  Some of Matisse’s works are The Beasts of the Sea and Mimosa. The students experimented with matte paper to cut a variety of shapes to make collages and then transferred their knowledge to create a piece of art for the Arts Festival.  They rolled, flattened, squeezed and blended modelling clay to create a bust of Henri Matisse.  The students used fine modelling tools to add the facial features to their Henri Matisse bust.

In Term 3, the Year 1 students have continued with the topic of Change, this time in their HASS Unit.  They have posed questions about objects both past and present. The students looked at the features of an antique clock belonging to Mrs Anne Haward. They discussed the unique features of the clock face and numerals as well as the outer casing.

This knowledge was transferred to their work in The Arts as they made several attempts at sketching the clock, refining their attempts at each turn. Once mastered, the students sketched the clock onto watercolour paper and used watercolour paints to add colour and definition. The final process involved using black fineliner pens to outline the detail.

Year 2

Year 2 eagerly awaited and excitedly anticipated the celebration of Arts at Mount Carmel during the Arts Festival.

The first piece of artwork Year 2 worked on and presented at the Arts Festival, were two watercolour paintings created as a result of the video of Paddington Bear sharing a cup of tea and a marmalade sandwich with the Queen.  One of the paintings was of Paddington and the other was Paddington in England.  They took on an even special significance given recent events.

Our second work of art was a STEAM (Science, Technology, English, Art and Maths) piece.  The brief was to design and construct a playground suitable for an 8-year-old.  The playground needed to have moveable parts and they had to work out ways to attach their equipment without using sticky tape.   

To end the night on a high note, the Year 2 students performed, with gusto, the classic Beatles song Yellow Submarine.  Many of the students played an instrument with the remainder of the students taking on the role of sailors calling out directions to the submarine captain.  It was truly a wonderful celebration of the many talents of the Year 2 students.

Year 3

This term in Music classes our Year 3 students have learnt traditional songs and games from Japan. For their performing arts piece for the Arts Festival, the students presented a song and dance to the famous cherry blossom song, Sakura. Some students played the music on xylophones, while others danced holding fans and cherry blossoms as props. After much anticipation before the event, students thoroughly enjoyed their time on the stage. 

For their visual artworks, Year 3 had a focus on exploring art techniques through literature. For the first piece, students read and analysed the illustrations in the famous Australian picture book, Fox, written by Margret Wild and illustrated by Ron Brooks. The students were encouraged to create an interpretive piece of artwork inspired by the illustrations, using soft pastels and blending techniques.

The second visual art piece was inspired by the illustrations of famous author, Eric Carle. Year 3 watched a video of Carle creating the illustrations for his picture book and the art-making techniques involved. First, the students used paint and various tools to create different patterned and textured paper. When the paper was dry, they cut the patterned paper into small shapes and used them to create a collage in the shape of an animal.

Year 4

Year 4 joined in the celebration of Arts at Mount Carmel with enthusiasm and joy. 

The first piece of artwork Year 4 presented at the arts festival, was developed out of an experiment (in our States of Matter Science unit) to show how a liquid can change state to become a solid. Through this process, students created a pendant necklace made from hardened resin, with their own designs in the centre.

Our second art piece centred around the  life and art works of Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo.  Students reflected on the purpose, style and meaning of the symbols used in the Kahlo’s paintings.  Their task was to plan and paint a self-portrait that represents their connection to Australia, inspired by the artistic style of Frida Kahlo.  

Finally, the Year 4 performance was based on the book The Spiffiest Giant written by Julia Donaldson. The story was chosen as the message reflects the values of the Sisters of Charity, that being to help others in need. The performance focused on Ginny the Giant and her friends who helped each other in times of need. 

Year 5

The Arts Festival performance by Year 5 combined our students individual talents in a variety of ways through music, the movement of dance, singing and theatrics. The students did all this to the song “Drops of Jupiter” by Train and this song was chosen as the focus in the classroom for Term 3 has been Astrology.

Year 5 Navy

Year 5 Navy have enjoyed exploring the topic "We are all Made of Stars". The students researched:

• Stars: an exploding ball of burning gas held together by gravity. It produces great amounts of energy in the form of light and heat. Our sun is a star.
• Supernovae: stars that suddenly increase greatly because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass.
• Nebulae: giant clouds of dust and gas in space. Some nebulae (more than one nebula) come from the gas and dust thrown out by the explosion of a dying star, such as a supernova. Other nebulae are regions where new stars are beginning to form.

The second piece of art that the students in Year 5 Navy created was a 3 Dimensional bird.

Year 5 White

Taking inspiration from the great artist Picasso, Year 5 White created their own Picasso artwork along with 3 Dimensional Cone Drawings.

Year 6

Year 6 students were excited to display their artistic pursuits at the College Arts Festival with both visual art pieces and a dramatic arts performance.

The first art piece was linked to a unit that explored sustainability. As part of our unit, the students created some sustainable art using scraps of fabric otherwise destined for landfill. They created bowls in a process similar to paper mache, choosing the fabric and designing the style of bowl. The fabric is then cut up into pieces in the desired shape and size. Then, using a bowl to help build the shape, glue and modge podge is used to mould the fabric pieces into a bowl shape.

Our second art piece was created as part of an integrated unit, The Making of a Nation. Year 6 students researched and learned about the impact that key figures in Federation had on the development of Australia as a nation. The students then worked with guest portrait artist, Hamish Hall, to develop a black and white portrait of some of the key figures of Australian Federation. They learned about the importance of values in portraiture and how to utilise those values to build a portrait.  We think our results are pretty impressive!

An ongoing focus in Year 6 this year has been the power of gratitude. We have used the Arts Festival performance as an opportunity to show our gratitude to the College, as well as the people in our lives such as our families, friends and teachers. We performed a slam poem about gratitude as well as the song Count on Me by Bruno Mars…in Auslan! It was tricky work learning another language but the students relished the challenge and did a fantastic job on the night. 

Gratitude