Specialist Report - Visual Arts

What's been happening in Visual Arts?

Visual Arts Competition!

Our Visual Arts captains have been busy planning for and running our very first Aitken Hill Visual Arts Competition! Ebony & Gracie created a challenge that allowed students to use their imagination and creativity to turn a random scribble into a drawing. As the judges, our arts captains awarded extra points for the most imaginative ideas and for putting in considerable effort! 

There were a lot of fantastic entries, and our judges had a hard time choosing only 3, but congratulations to the following winners: 

Achilles (Prep)

3rd Place – Mannat

2nd Place – Sarah

1st Place – Shreya

Argus & Xenica (Year 1/2s)

3rd Place – Ayra

2nd Place – Subira

1st Place – Grace

Ulysses (Year 3/4s)

3rd Place - Natalya

2nd Place – Jessie

1st Place – Mehar

Icarus (Year 5/6s)

3rd Place – Taren

2nd place – Avi

1st Place - Akki 

The winning entries, as well as all other entries will be on display outside the artroom. 

Our competition will change each fortnight, so please keep your eye on out for our next one. We look forward to celebrating the amazing work of all students! 

Achilles – Foundation

What’s been happening for Achilles in Visual art? Exploring textures in clay, paint and recycled materials! Students have come up with lots of words to describe the things they have been making in art, talking about how they feel and how they think they might feel based on what they look like. It’s been fun learning to describe things. They enjoyed using clay, rolling and squishing it to make a pendant. Students then used different materials to indent a pattern onto it, creating texture. Next, they moved onto adding colour using paint slicks and colour apps. The results were fun, colourful pendants that students wore home as necklaces. You have probably seen them wearing them at home and around the school!

Following on from this, students looked through recycled materials and used some of our newly discussed texture words to describe them. They then used these materials as inspiration to plan for and create a collagraph robot plate, which was used for some print making before being painted silver. Achille’s students enjoyed using the metallic paints to give their robots a finished touched. Their work will soon be on display in the artroom.  

Xenica & Argus – Year 1/2s

Argus and Xenica have been creating artworks that are all about using force! It’s the push and pull force that helps us to create some amazing art! We can push and pull a marker across a page, we can push and pull a paint brush and we can push and pull a paint scrapper for some really cool effects! 

They started the term using paint makers and colour slicks, adding complementary colours and patterns to wooden shapes, which they then pieced together to create a symmetrical design. Connecting the pieces together was a challenge, students had to use force by pushing and pulling open a jump ring that the wooden pieces were put on, before being closed. Check out all the amazing colours and patterns in the pictures below! The students did different things with their interesting designs. Some became wearable art, other’s mobiles and lastly class murals, where everyone’s worked was combined to make a collaborative piece. 

Xenica and Argus then experimented with using acrylic paints and paint scrapers, to created a textured painting. They experienced layering the paint down, so that the scrapers revealed the colours underneath. It was a bit like magic, they were sure I was crazy when I told them that we would put warm colours on...and then completely cover them with cool colours! "But why? Then we won't see our colours that look like fire." They were all delighted when they discovered that the scraper, with the push and pull force, partially removed the top layer, so you could also see the colours underneath. The finished artworks look so different, despite everyone using the same colours! At the moment we are practicing some drawings that we will place over the top using oil pastel. 

Ulysses – Year 3/4s

The Ulysses Community started the term by finishing their paper name sculptures. They had already coloured them with bright patterns, using shape and their own personalised ideas, but this term, students worked together to build their sculptures so they could stand upright. Some rearranging of the letters and experimenting with adding supports were needed by the students, so the sculpture could stand on its own! As you can tell by the finished results, they were very successful at this activity. Students were happy with their name sculpture, proudly taking them home to share with their families. There are a small number that are still on display in the artroom, but most have made the proud trip home! 

The rest of the term has seen Ulysses students’ creating ‘Steampunk’ sculptures from recycled materials. They spent time exploring interesting ‘Steampunk’ style artworks before designing their own in their Visual Diaries. Students explored the recycled materials available to them, before planning for their work, indicating how they would piece together their sculpture to resemble an animal or object of their choice (but with a twist)! They have begun gluing their artwork together, using their problem-solving skills to create a sculpture that is both strong and securely held together. There have been many different ideas implemented into their work, with no two sculptures looking the same. Students are at the stage of adding smaller details onto their work, to create texture in their piece. The next steps will be painting, to give their work a rustic and metallic appearance. They are looking forward to sharing their finished artworks, so watch this space, in the next newsletter for the results! 

Icarus – Year 5/6s

Icarus students began the term piecing together their Pete Cromer inspired collages. They collected their painted papers and combined them with plain coloured paper and markers. Using scissors, they carefully cut shapes, which they connected together to appear as Australian animals. Students experimented with adding different shapes to their design, giving their collages more character! The results are a stunning array of colours, now on display in the Gym. 

After completing their collage’s, Icarus have started experimenting with sewing. There’s been a lot of concentration in the art room as students have battled with threading the needle, knots and tangles. They have explored different types of stiches, including a running, batch, whip and catch stich. As a practice, Icarus used wooden pieces with holes to thread the wool/cotton through. They experimented with colour, creating some eye-catching decorations. Now students have moved onto plushies, which they have designed in their visual diaries and will be cutting and stitching together in the coming weeks. 

Suzie - Visual Arts Teacher