Visual Arts

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2022, and welcome your input:

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

An Overview of our Learning

What a productive and colourful Semester 1 we have had. We have developed so many creative skills across a range of drawing, painting and collage works. Thank you for a wonderful start to the year. 

Term 3 will see us move into textile and sculpture, trying our hands at a number of projects to explore the elements of form and texture. 

Foundation students have been linking artworks to literacy through story books. After reading the story "I Wanna Be Famous" by Bruce Whatley students created a self portrait, experimenting with coloured markers and water to see the effects on their drawings. They then reflected on what they would like to be famous for,  drawing themselves to reflect their future career or aspiration. It was great to see the variety of choices, from a famous vet and builder, to a famous buddy and Mum. It was an excellent opportunity to think what was important to them beyond riches and celebrity. 

This week we read a story about a cheeky cockatoo who wants somebody to talk to. We used a thong to print a cockatoo head and used oil pastels and acrylic paint to add the details, adding a personal touch by painting with our fingers. 

Year 1 and 2 were feeling hungry so decided to paint some scrumptious donut art, exploring perspective and textures in paint.  We finished off the term with some paper automaton boxes.  These mechanical constructions use a simplified paper spring to pop our boxes back up after we push them down, revealing different expressions. 

Year 3 and 4 students finished their Jen Aranyi inspired landscape paintings. After a series of experiments and drawing practice in their book it was wonderful to see the students embrace the challenge of making their work unique.  The works are full of interesting skies, full of colour or drawings that changed the mountain landscapes to volcanoes, or trees from bush to desert. 

We finished the term practicing our folding skills, creating the ever popular flextangle. This paper fidget toy is challenging to assemble but provides hours of fun. 

Year 5 and 6 students began working on a new project to stretch their planning and problem solving skills. Onomatopoeia is the formation of a word by imitating the sound it is referring to. Pop, bang, zap, fizz, oink, the list goes on. After a quick crash course in Pop Art and the works of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein,  students chose a word that gave them an idea and began planning in their books.  The challenge is to illustrate their word in the pop art style with coloured paper and printing. This week students were able to use bubble wrap to print a spotty background to reference Lichtenstein's stenciled 'Ben-Day dots'.