Visual Arts

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2021, and welcome your input:

Danielle Haines (Visual Arts)  Danielle.Haines@education.vic.gov.au 

A big thanks to all the amazing students and families at Upwey South for welcoming me to the school. I was so happy to see every single student show resilience and perseverance in the art room to produce art work that shows me a glimpse of the great things to come. 

In this edition of the newsletter, we are very excited to be able to share with you an overview of our learning in the art room.

An Overview of our Learning

Foundation students had a great start to the year in art, getting outside to explore different textures in our school by doing oil pastel rubbings. They then learned how to do a watercolour wash, exploring how water resists the oil pastel textures and how to blend the colours together to make an interesting background.  

Students are using their knowledge of lines and patterns and applying their watercolour wash to create a mixed media butterfly. This piece will allow students to practice holding textas correctly, drawing, cutting and watercolour painting. So far they have drawn line patterns, cut out a complex shape and seen how primary colours mix together on their butterfly to make a secondary colour. 

Year one and two students had a fantastic start to the year exploring colour, pattern and symmetry to create a collaborative artwork for display, inspired by the modern quilts of Maritza Soto. We discussed unity and variety and how their design would contribute to the overall project, choosing how their circle would be arranged and where it would go to best compliment their design and their classmates. 

Students have begun an abstract art piece inspired by Australian artist Melinda Harper using oil pastel and watercolour paints. Students discussed words to describe the works such as bold, vibrant colours and shapes.

We began week three with a focus on the element of line and how it can be used to make simple and complex patterns. Students each had a chance to experiment with different patterns and designs which will be used in our first portfolio piece over the coming weeks. It was great to see every student having a go at different designs as this can sometimes take a lot of patience and resilience to complete neatly.  

Students have explored the element of line in some wild and wacky hair portraits, and the elements of shape and colour in oil pastel tie dye drawings, some of which can be seen on display outside the art room. These foundational elements help students begin to break down the visual images they see every day into individual techniques.