The Arts

At Hackham East Primary School

Welcome to Another Exciting Term Within The Arts

To begin, I wanted to congratulate all of our students who had the opportunity to submit a piece of Artwork at the end of Term 1 towards the ‘What is Important to Me’ Art competition, held by Communities for Children Onkaparinga. Our school was incredibly successful, with 4 out of the 10 selected artworks all coming from our Hackham East students! The organiser of the competition told me personally that choosing the final 10 was difficult, as such a high calibre of Artwork came from our school. The students who were selected will all have their Artworks printed in next years CfC Calendar! I applaud the creativity of every student who worked towards creating artwork for this competition.

Castle Unit

Currently within Term 3, our Junior Primary classes have had the opportunity to experiment with a variety of different Media Arts applications that can be used to enhance the way we view, respond to and communicate with Art. With technology continuously progressing and evolving, artists have been developing applications and incorporating it within their own art, to further push the boundaries of the way we perceive Art as a medium. One application was ‘Quiver’, an Augmented Reality app that turned two-dimensional illustrations into living characters. Students were thrilled to see their unique pieces of Art come to life. Extending on this, students also experimented with the application ‘Quiver Masks’ – an extension of the original Quiver app. This app allows students to design their own masks based on a template and bring them into the real world, through their iPads. Students were amazed that they could wear the masks they designed, as well as noticing how the app can recognise facial movements. We also have been looking at photo manipulation software and programs such as ‘Toontastic’, a creative storytelling app designed to empower students to draw, animate, narrate, and record collaborated ideas into cartoons. Using technology has also enabled the students to collaborate to create their own Artworks in the style of more traditionally created art – such as ‘Pop Art’ faces.

Stillwell Unit

The Year 3/4 students have been working towards creating a digital storybook, based on a simple story or idea that they have written within small groups. We have been following a process that will enable a created written narrative to be developed into a moving image story that can be viewed by their peers. This will be achieved by allowing students to explore narrative structure, developing storyboards and illustrations that visually convey the content of their stories, before using movie-editing software to compile these images together with the addition of sound effects, voice and music. 

Holly Unit

Our Year 4/5 students have currently been working on Poster Designs. Specifically, they have been working towards creating posters for the Adelaide Fringe’s ‘2021 School Poster Competition’. The winning artwork will appear on the cover of the 2021 Adelaide Fringe Schools Booking Guide and star in an exhibition at the Adelaide Central Market. The focus is artwork that shows what students enjoy about the Fringe or what it means to them, with the winning school also receiving a performance by a 2021 Fringe artist for their school. Hopefully the success we have seen currently this year with our Hackham students will continue! 

The Upper Primary students have been taking this task a step further, by working collaboratively to create a digital storybook that conveys a meaning/idea that is suitable and appropriate for a younger target audience. Considering the target audience you are trying to communicate with within the Arts is imperative, as it changes how the Art Media is interpreted and responded to. By focusing on a younger audience, students have had to think about the language, sound, visual imagery and story content, to ensure that their message is being represented effectively when viewed by children within this age range. Incorporating ideas that consider real world context provides more purpose to the Artwork that the students are creating. 

I look forward to seeing the continued creativity of each student throughout this Term.

Stephen Di Girolamo, The Arts Teacher