1/2 ~ Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau was the perfect artist to investigate while the Grade 1/2 students learned about jungle animals. Henri Rousseau was best known for his paintings of tropical jungles. Did you know that he never visited a jungle in his life and that art critics ridiculed him for his artworks, calling them 'child like'? We learned a lot about Rousseau when we shared the book 'The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau'.

Students were inspired by his artworks 'The Dream' and 'Surprised' when they created these collages of tigers, further developing their understanding of space (foreground and background) and overlapping shapes.

Chameleons were another animal we investigated in Art. Students particularly enjoyed reading Leo Lionni's book called 'A Colour of his Own'.

Students painted colour diffusing paper with food dye to make their chameleons and then glued them onto a collaged background.

P-2 ~ The Art of Eric Carle

Eric Carle was the perfect artist/author/illustrator to explore while the Foundation students were learning about Minibeasts and the Grade 1/2s were learning about zoo/rainforest animals.

Our Grade 1/2 students also learned about the artist Franz Marc, who inspired Eric Carle's fabulous book called 'The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse'. Franz Marc painted animals in bright and unusual colours and his modern, expressionistic art was banned in his country. Eric Carle hopes this book shows his young readers that in art, there is no wrong colour.

So we made lots of bright painted papers (just like Eric Carle) and created our very own unusually colourful animals (just like Franz Marc). Aren't they amazing!!!

Foundation students spent time looking at the wonderful artwork of Eric Carle in his classic book 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. They then experimented with balloon printing to make the circle shapes of their caterpillar's body. Their background was decorated with coloured crayons and a mixture of collaged images from the book.

They also enjoyed reading The Very Busy Spider as well as the Bad Tempered Ladybird. Students made painted papers to create their own spiders, with a white oil pastel web background. To create their ladybirds, students painted and cut a paper plate, added a split pin and some eyes and pipecleaner antennae. They look fantastic! Well done everyone. I hope Eric Carle and Franz Marc have inspired you with your art making.

P-2 ~ Clay Butterflies

As mentioned in a previous post, the Preps, Grade 1s and Grade 2s have been enjoying creating with clay these past few weeks. In fact, the whole school has been modelling with clay this term!

We experimented with modelling slabs, adding texture to the clay, rolling spheres and coils as well as using the method of scoring (scratching) the clay and using slip (watery clay) to join pieces.

Students were given the choice of adding pipecleaners as antennae and making their butterfly into a wall hanging. They really want to bring these home asap, so I will have to make do with taking photos for a display! They can't wait to show you their masterpieces!

Prep A

Prep B

1/2A

1/2B

1/2C

And here are some close-ups....

Grade 1/2 ~ Fairy Tales

Grade 1/2 students enjoyed reading and singing along to Puff the Magic Dragon and then having a go at drawing their own dragons, using black fineliners and watercolour paints.

 

During another lesson, we looked at the different parts and features of a castle and discussed how we could draw these parts (turrets, battlements, towers, portcullis etc). Students then drew their own castles using black oil pastels and poster paints. They look amazing, don't you think?

Whole School - Vincent Van Gogh

Celebrating the current exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, students across all grades have been investigating the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh. Students were so engaged during our lessons, enjoying short videos and stories about Vincent as well as viewing a variety of his famous artworks. It has been so rewarding to hear students talk about his artworks (texture, movement, vivid colours) and recognising some of his works (Starry Night, Wheatfield with Cypresses, Sunflowers).

Our Prep-2 students enjoyed creating beautiful sunflowers for a collaborative display. They used oil pastels to draw, colour and blend their sunflowers and showed great persistence when cutting them out!

The 3/4 students have studied in detail some of Van Gogh's landscape paintings, particularly focusing on Wheatfield with Crows. Using oil pastels, students created their own wheatfield, experimenting with textured marks and perspective.

Our senior students were inspired by Van Gogh's chair and created their own 'pop-up version. Using fineliners and pencils/markers students drew their chairs during a guided drawing session. Patterns were created for the floors and the wall was decorated. After a bit of tricky manipulation with extra paper and making slits in parts of the chair, the final artworks were complete!

Stay tuned for some more photos of Van Gogh inspired artworks from our students.