Visual Arts

The term has flown by! Here are some of our highlights of Term 1. 

The first 3 weeks of term saw us complete our whole school collaborative 'tree murals' in the Prep-2 and 5-6 corridors. Students in Grades 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6 made a range of different type of paper flowers, practicing folding, cutting, gluing and designing. Prep pupils created some very cute paper chain caterpillars to add to the tree. Art teachers created large paper branches on bulletin boards in both corridors and have added every student's flower, butterfly or caterpillar to the displays because, "at Roxburgh Park Primary School, we learn and grow together". 

Students in Prep and 1/2 spent some time in February creating some Valentine's Day inspired heart. Linking in with their STEM curriculum, we practiced scrunching paper to cover our heart shaped cardboard. The cardboard heart gave our hands (and fine motor skills!) a good work out as we cut out the tricky rounded edges. 

Later in the term, students in 1/2 grades completed a 'line' workshop, where they played various art 'games' to create abstract artwork whist practicing drawing and printing different types of lines. Children learned that practicing these lines will help them with their handwriting and drawing skills. 

Both the Preps and 1/2s made paper lanterns for Ramadan. I hope lots of families are enjoying the festive touch in their homes! Children had to follow complex instructions in the correct order to bring the lantern to life correctly. They followed directions, practiced cutting in straight lines and supported each other to form the lanterns shape and glue it into place. 

These students also completed further scissor skills and line practice workshops by creating magic carpets out of paper. Using a template of various types of lines with varying degrees of challenge including waves, scales, zigzags, bumps and dental molding, students practicing cutting a series of paper strips then gluing them down to form a magic carpet. 

Students in Grade 3-6 looked at artist Jessie Roulet and her company EttaVee, and, inspired by her 'glass hearts', also created some heart art in theme for February. The children were able to mimic Roulet's style using bright colours and lines of different lengths and varying shades to create their own hearts on artist paper. Many children were inspired by current events to show solidarity with the Palestinian community. They worked with paint sticks, paint markers and different types of paper to create their artwork. 

Later in the term students began looking into 'Op Art' (or, optical illusion art), and demonstrated being able to follow a complex drawing tutorial to create a 2D artwork with a 3D dimension. 

During Planning Weeks, for Ramadan students in Grade 3/4 enjoyed creating a crayon resist food dye wash painting featuring starts and moons. The children created designs for Ramadan (or another occasion if they chose) using crayon, then watched as the water colour paint was repelled by the wax in the crayon making their drawings 'pop'.