Art

This term the Junior students (Foundation, Grade 1 and Grade 2) have all been learning about art made with textiles. A textile is any material made of interlacing fibres. It can take a variety of forms and has many functions. No matter one's environment or situation, textiles are probably part of it. Found in clothing, furniture, bedding, carpeting, and even some car parts, textiles are everywhere!

The Foundation students started their exploration of textiles by making a woven turtle. They first had to wind the wool around the centre of the icy pole sticks to make a ‘body’ for the turtle, and then learnt a weaving technique that required them to go around each stick and then rotate to the next stick. This gave their turtle a ‘shell’ for its body, a face and claws were also drawn on. 

Grade 1 and 2 students have been learning about the long history of weaving, with a focus on the Tjanpi Desert Weavers from Central Australia. Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a social enterprise of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council, working with women in the remote Central and Western desert regions who earn an income from contemporary fibre art. Tjanpi artists use native grasses to make spectacular contemporary fibre art, weaving beautiful baskets and sculptures and displaying endless creativity and inventiveness. Tjanpi embodies the energies and rhythms of Country, culture and community. 

Inspired by these artists, the students have been been weaving their own baskets. The students first created a beautiful spiral pattern on the base of their basket with twine. They have begun weaving their baskets on a loom using the ‘over/under’ technique and will continue to weave until the loom is full. Here are some of the students from 1L creating their spirals from twine: