Visual Arts

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2021, and welcome your input:

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

USPS students continue to produce some amazing artworks which are making their way onto the walls around the school, brightening up spaces and putting smiles on the faces of teachers and students.

An Overview of our Learning

Foundation students used their imaginations to create a variety of sticker animals. Using a circle sticker as a starting point, students chose an animal from our inspiration sheet to have a go at a variety of drawings or had a go at making up their own animals using their imagination. 

To finish off the term, students used acrylic paint to create a fish, using a combination of painting and printing techniques. After cutting out their fish and painting the background, students used a variety of objects to create patterns with acrylic paint, thinking about contrast so that it would be visible against the background colour. This project further enhances their fine motor skills, using scissors to navigate an outline while allowing them to experiment with smaller printing tools. 

After finishing their fun castles with oil pastels, year 1 & 2 students journeyed to another planet to explore new worlds, learning a little about Earths journey into space and exploration. They used paper collage techniques to create a jagged alien landscape and watercolour paints to create an unearthly sky. Students stepped up to the challenge of cutting complex shapes and placing them in a way that would balance their artwork before finger painting flames from their rocket. 

Students completed their cool and warm modern landscapes inspired by Georgia O'Keefe, either finishing their original to a high standard or creating a pair of artworks with an inverted colour scheme. These striking images show students understanding of cool and warm colours to create contrast, discussing how warm colours stand out against the cool colours. 

We then explored optical illusions or 'op art' and the way they manipulate space and shapes to create an illusion of depth. These abstract works give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibrating patterns, or of swelling or warping. This led to us constructing our own optical illusions. When put together these animals give the impression that the heads are following you to much delight of all the students. 

Check out our video to see the effect for yourself. 

Year 5 and 6 students finished their watercolour chameleons to an exceptional standard. It was fantastic to see everyone try different techniques, and while some chose to stick with their favourites, others tried many different techniques which resulted in them all being unique. Students then wrote an artists statement for their piece, describing their process and attributes in their work. 

We moved on to optical illusion art or 'op art', learning how to draw shapes that look 3 dimensional when viewed at the right angle.

The term wrapped up with observational drawings of leaves and shells. This goal of this task is to get students to focus on the small details, to notice bumps and cracks and include these details in their drawing.

Happy Easter to everyone. Make sure to practice your drawing during the holidays in whatever style suits YOU!

Have a safe and fun holiday break.