Visual Arts Prep - Year 6

Foundation - Year 3

Over the past few week’s students in Foundation to Year 3 have been looking into Cultural Celebrations and events. They have observed various forms of Arts and associated stories that are celebrated by different cultures. Through this process, students develop their knowledge and connect with cultures through producing meaningful artworks. 

In week 6, students acknowledged and reflected upon those who gave their lives for Peace, while learning about Remembrance Day. Through students’ discourse and reflection, it was rewarding to see that most students connected Remembrance Day with Anzac Day! After much discussion on the two events, students were given the opportunity to choose to remember our fallen heroes by completing one activity from various options. They used their creative skills choosing from materials such as pencils, crayons and oil pastels to complete their tasks. Below are some art pieces completed by students. These included using materials to shade a poppy, cutting and pasting skills to create a dove bunting and cutting and folding skills to complete a messenger bird. 

These activities build on students' skills within the art room and consolidated upon the Elements shape, colour and space, while thinking about the principles of Balance and Proportion. 

Foundation 

In week 7, Foundation students continued to complete their ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar activity. Students began this activity earlier in the term, using their prior learning of Line and shape Elements. 

Students painted their own water colour backgrounds before watching a video on how to cut-out and piece together the different parts of the caterpillar. Students reflected on one another’s artwork during a gallery walk. 

Year 1 and 2 

Following on from our Cultural celebrations and events, students in Years One and Two continued working on the next stage of their illustrations using watercolours. These works are inspired by the work of Bruce Whatley, from the book ‘Flood’ by Jackie French. Students thought about the materials they used, the application of the material as well as the choice of equipment to get the desired effect. It was encouraging to see students experimenting with watercolours and using the watercolour techniques they learnt about earlier in the term. It was also rewarding to see students sharing their ideas with one another and growing in their learning during reflection time. 

Year 3 

Students in year Three continued to work on their steampunk-inspired illustrations that they started earlier on in the term. Students left off from sketching their own mini beasts, inspired by the work of Lance Balchin’s book, ‘Mechanica'. They had to think about ways they, as artists could enhance their audience’s understanding of their artwork, through their choice of materials, while thinking about elements and principles such as Balance and Space. They reflected on and communicated their decisions for the placement of materials and discussed their reasoning. 

Community Art Competition

Please see the flyer below for all those interested in participating in a community art competition where your art work will go on display at Saltwater community centre.  

Year 4

Students in Year 4 have have been continuing  learning about the life of Ned Kelly and the Kelly gang. They have explored the concept of causation, as they questioned 'What caused Ned Kelly to become an outlaw? As well as  perspective through the eyes of the Kelly's, how did they feel they were treated by the government and the wealthy land owners?  These past weeks students have further developed their drawing skills as they practised creating Ned Kelly inspired Wanted Posters in both monochromatic shades of grey and in colour. Students have practised creating old style typography and fonts where the writing is heavily bolded to stand out and show contrast. In the Wanted Posters for Ned Kelly or a family member, students have listed attributes of the the subject, why they are wanted and a reward if they are found. Some students have chosen to create positive Wanted Posters depicting all the positive attributes about the person they were describing. Students showcased their skills in flexible and creative thinking as they applied these ideas in their posters. 

Year 5

Students in year 5 have been continuing and completing their graffiti projects and have been developing their skills in expressing themselves and their opinions as part of their inquiry unit "How we express ourselves".  Some students have created Tags or words that they would like to use to represent how they feel or create a message that they would like to share with others.  Students have learned to develop their 3D writing skills and create "throw ups", a graffiti technical word for showing contrast and bolding the border of a font. They have also tapped into and expanded  prior learning of colour theory to create analogous or contrasting colour themes in their work. Students have  recently learned how to blend colours using drawing materials to reflect colour gradation using  monochromatic or contrasting colours. The graffiti project was completed as students explored tessellation and blending skills when they created their own brick walls as the background for their graffiti tags.  

Year 6

Students in year 6 have continued to develop their oil pastel skills and apply them as they create their replica of Van Gogh's Starry Night. They have learned to use various oil pastel skills and techniques such as stippling, colour blending, scraffito, scumbling, hard and soft pressure to create an impasto effect in their work. These techniques and use of oil pastels showcase the Impressionist style strokes which are highlighted in the famous Starry Night painting. Students have also explored the art elements, principles and concepts of line, contrast, value, movement, rhythm and colour as they created the swirls of the night sky and stars in the background; buildings and mountains in the mid ground and for the cyprus tree in the foreground. This project will take several weeks to complete as they will continue layering their paper to reflect the impressionist style strokes and create a finished piece showcasing unity.