Hello, from the Art Room

As I sit here typing this, I have 4/5WP in the Art Room... 

Tilly is busy using a spoon to scoop paint onto a piece of flat cardboard and she is swirling it around, experimenting with how much paint and how best to swirl it to get the best 3D texture to what I'm assuming is a lake or pond for the zoo she and Claire are making together.  They have already painted many other pieces of cardboard a variety of colours for the different animal habitats that I'm assuming they will join together once the paint is dry.  It looks like it is a project on an epic scale and they will be working hard on it for weeks to come.

George has come over to show me the tiny surfboard rack he has made out of matchsticks and little oval pieces of cardboard.  It is a perfect miniature replica of a surfboard rack and now he is off to decorate his tiny surfboards.

Zoe just confessed to her group that she wrecked what they have been working on.  She was splattering paint onto the house they had decorated, but it just didn't end up looking the way she imagined it would, and it isn't what they wanted.  Now they have the challenge of figuring out how to fix what went wrong, problem solving and working together to achieve a goal.

Jadah has been working on a canvas painting of outer space for many weeks now, painstakingly adding a new layer of detail each week, thinking carefully about her colours, mixing paint to find just the right shade, and will match her artistic vision.

Gypsy, Ari and Maya have been working hard to make a home for the snail they brought with them to art.  This sort of collaborative project is common in the art room, as students work together on a common goal.  It is a great opportunity for students in all grades to practise skills of compromise, problem solving, and taking turns.  Lucy the snail now has her very own playground, including a surfboard, and the girls are very excited for her media debut in this newsletter.

Archer just realised he forgot to put his name on the back of his painting, which he just finished.  Oh dear!  He taped parts of the paper to make white lines and painted between them, pulling the tape off after he finished all the painting, luckily leaving space for him to add his name.  Now he is recycling a canvas someone else abandoned, and is painting it white to start anew next time.

Jaxon is a powerhouse of creativity in the art room.  Today he has created a cardboard… something I am finding difficult to describe.  It looks amazing, and now he is painting it.  I love the pattern of cardboard pieces he has glued onto the base.  It looks very abstract and I'm sure he will have a great story behind it.  It turns out these were actually roof tiles for the roof of the laboratory he is making.

I just had to shoo them out of the art room, some of them still painting with the last seconds of class time before lunch, and probably wishing we had two hours of Art instead of one!

I was seeing and hearing so many wonderful things going on in the art room today that I decided to record it and share it with you.  I hope you enjoy hearing about their discoveries today.

Sheridan Leversha