Visual Arts

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2024, and welcome your input:

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

Foundation students got creative by making some stars that were a little bit different. We read "The Star Maker's Apprentice" by Sam Hay and Xin Li. It is a story about a little boy who wanted to help his Father make stars when he wasn't feeling well and got things a little bit wrong, but ended up making something amazing. 

This week foundation have been talking about their families and drawing a family portrait. It's wonderful to see how far they have come from our house drawings at the start of the year, to see them draw with confidence in this task. 

Year 1 and 2 have been adding the finishing touches to the hot air balloons, and they're nearly ready to fly. They have worked in their team to create a design and started painting with acrylic paints. Each student is also drawing a self portrait to make sure they can fly in the basket too.

We have put them on pause however to get on with the last major project of the year. We read the story "Fly Away Katie" by Polly Dunbar. It's a story about a little girl who was feeling a little grey, and went on a magical colourful adventure to hang out with some extraordinary birds. They have been creating a collage with paper and drawing extra details to create their own version of Katie.

Year Three and Four students are the first to jump in on decorating the art room for Christmas by drawing some Christmas lights. They used stencils and a variety of pastel techniques to create glowing light bulbs for the festive season. 

This week students have explored the Japanese art of Nōtan. The theory behind Nōtan is positive and negative areas should complement one another. They must coexist without one dominating the other. They have spent time sketching ideas in their art books before drawing it onto their black paper. They will cut out complex shapes and expand their square by flipping the pieces to reflect the edges. 

Year Five and Six students made the finishing touches to their coil bowls, smoothing one side to reinforce it. Some chose to add colour to their work, influenced by the Chinese pottery we discussed at the start of the unit and adding a hint of gold highlights. There is a beautiful variety of shapes and designs in these pieces. We are hoping they will travel home safely.

This week students have begum their final piece of the year. They will demonstrate their understanding of all of the elements of art we have discussed across their time in the art room and create an accordion book. Each page will represent an element of art using a design of their choosing.