Art @ PSC

Grant from Creative Victoria with Renowned Artist - Tara Kingston

We are excited that Pakenham Secondary College obtained a grant from Creative Victoria recently. Our application was one of a large number submitted from schools throughout Victoria and we were 1 of only 20 schools that received this substantial grant.

The grant was awarded for our submission for a cross-curricular project between our Year 7.1 English Class and Years 9 and 10 Digital Art Classes - The 'Collaborative Critter Character Project'.

Renowned artist, Tara Kingston, is mentoring students through a studio-based process of exploration, development and design of Claymation 'critters' in the creation of stop motion film.

Our Year 7.1 English Class, through the guidance of Mr Kelly, have provided detailed descriptions and ideas for their critter characters to our Year 10 Digital Art Class. 

Our Year 10 Digital Art Class, with the expert direction of Ms Rhodes-Anderson and our Creative Victoria Mentor, Tara Kingston, are currently working their magic to bring the Year 7 students' critters and characters to life. The Year 10s are using their creative skills to craft polished and vibrant renderings that will capture the essence of the imaginative critters.

The two classes will be working in collaboration, whereby the Year 7s are acting as 'the clients' and providing feedback to the Year 10 students on the artistic designs of their written creations. Collaborative learning has been shown to not only develop higher-level thinking skills in students, but it can boost their self-esteem and confidence as well. Students learn how to work with different types of learners and develop their leadership skills.

In time, the Year 10 Digital Art students will provide 2D vector designs of the characters to the Year 9 students, who will then be creating (next term), a 3D Claymation - they will create sets, plan scenes and use claymation techniques to bring the critters to life on screen.

All of this will culminate in the final product of a stop motion film, which will then be shared with our community through a film screening.

We look forward to following this exciting project over this term and next! Please see below photos of our Year 7 students working on their descriptions, our Year 10 students creating their designs and our younger students collaborating with the senior students by providing feedback and working together to finalise their 'critter creation' ideas.

Artist in Residence - Samantha Richards

Please visit our Student Voice page to find out about one of the projects that Sam was working on this week with our students.

We have some exciting projects coming up with Sam, so please look out for more information and photos through our social media channels and next month's newsletter.