Visual Arts

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2023, and welcome your input:

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

An Overview of our Learning

Foundation students began term 3 with a celebration of NAIDOC week, drawing a picture of the people they respect and learn from and consider their elders. They used oil pastels and watercolour paints to include lots of detail. 

Our latest project has been a true test of fine motor skills as we delve into textile arts and the world of sewing. Each student has been learning sewing techniques to create a running stitch heart. It has been fabulous to see the resilience each student is demonstrating to overcome mistakes and keep going. 

Year 1 and 2 read the story KooKoo Kookaburra. Kookoo is well-known and liked for his ability to tell funny stories about his friends without being unkind. But when no one does anything silly for a while, Kookoo starts teasing them instead. In a story about friendship, humility and forgiveness, Kookoo learns from his elder that kindness is like a boomerang - if you throw it often, it comes back often. Students followed step by step instructions to draw a kookaburra, adding their own details and unique colours. 

Sticking with birds, we have begun our textile unit with weaving. Using a variety of textured wools to weave on a cardboard loom and decorating it to become an owl. I'm so proud of the effort students are putting in and the exclamations of success as students grasp the tricky concept. 

Term 3 has seen the conclusion of our graffiti unit, finishing our positive words with oil pastel and moving on to crazy graffiti characters. Students designed a character based on an icecream, adding unique elements and using coloured pencil to blend colours, creating a bright sticker quality. 

Year 5 and 6 students delved into steampunk construction. Steampunk is a mash up of industrial era machines with futuristic fantasy. Each student selected items from wooden gears and old keys to 80s clip on earrings and bottlecaps to create a textured panel. These were spray painted ready for students to add rub and buff, a metallic paste use to highlight all the interesting textures. These will be arranged into a giant steampunk machine to show off their work. 

This week we began drawing steampunk animals. Combining organic shapes of animals with machine parts. Students are drawing gears and metal plates, painting their drawings with our new pearlescent paints to add the finishing touches.