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 

Welcome Back!

We've had a great start to the year in the art room with Year's 1-6 jumping straight in to a study of colour and shapes. We examined the incredible quilts created by an artist named Libs Elliott who uses AI to create designs, which she then hand makes with traditional quilting techniques. Students used her work as inspiration for their own geometric design, each creating a square. Some of these have been combined in the art room to create an incredible display. 

Foundation students have been navigating the art room learning about lines and colours in the first steps to our mixed media butterfly project. They are certified 'Line Ninja's' and can show you all the actions. Be sure to ask them about vertical, horizontal, diagonal, thick, thin, straight and curved lines to see their ninja moves in action. They took these action moves to paper by drawing a variety of lines across the page. 

This week was all about colour. Students explored the colour wheel and learnt the names of our rock star primary colours and what they make when we mix them together. We used food dye to add two primary colours on our butterflies to watch them mix together into a secondary colour. Each class is a different team, are you team orange, green or purple?

Year One and Two have been using their knowledge of shapes to construct a Shape Robot. Using oil pastel, they drew a variety of shapes and added some fantastic ideas to make their work unique. Students continue to practice brush control to paint bright colours with watercolour, concentrating on variety and contrast to make their robot stand out. 

Year Three and Four students have been applying their knowledge of the colour wheel to an art work, breaking from the traditional wheel and celebrating all things colour with party balloons. Students practice brush control and correct application to achieve vibrant colours before preparing their own work for display by framing it and adding details.

Year Five and Six students explored the elements of shape and colour using oil pastels. They made design choices to draw concentric shapes in their choice of colours and blended them together to create a tie dye effect. Students had to think about how their work would be displayed, choosing mounting paper to compliment their work. 

This week we explored story telling in art. Students engaged in discussion about how we identify types of art and try to bust some assumptions we make about styles and who made it. We explored some of the work of Indigenous artist Melanie Hava, a Mamu Aboriginal woman who uses the reef and forest as inspiration for her many works. She tellsg stories to bring the diverse wildlife of Australia to the world. Students are planning an artwork of an Australian animal that is important to them. They are practicing drawing their animal and designing their layout and colours ready for the coming weeks.