F-3 ~ Carnivale Masks

We're getting excited about the upcoming Olympic Games and learning lots about Rio and Brazil. A great place to start was learning about the celebration of Carnivale. We had fun watching a short clip from the movie 'Rio' and listening to some fun samba beats.

Foundation and Grade 1 students made their Carnivale masks out of paper plates and a whole variety of craft goodies and bling (getting lots of practice with their fine motor skills!) Check them out!

Grade 2/3 students also made some amazing Carnivale masks with lots of sparkles and embellishments. Have a look at their colourful creations below.

Over the next few weeks we will be learning all about the Brazilian Pop Artist, Romero Britto. Stay tuned for some colourful artworks inspired by this inspiring artist!

First delivery of stars!

I have just delivered our first box of stars for the One Million Stars Project and the staff at Wyreena Community Centre were thrilled! We managed to weave 300 stars already and the box is still filling up.

Rather than throw away old brochures, magazines, paper offcuts and scrapbooking paper strips - we have turned them into beautiful pieces of art and all for a wonderful cause!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.

One Million Stars Project

Students in Grade 3-6 have been busy weaving colourful stars out of magazines, catalogues and brochures. Not only are they creating amazing art from recycled materials, but they are also contributing to a wonderful global project called ‘One Million Stars’.

The project aims to bring people together to weave stars as an expression of support for peace and positive relationships. Stars have been chosen as a symbol of hope and light.

Maroondah City Council has committed to be part of the project and aims to contribute 10,000 stars. Our stars will form part of an exhibition at Realm, Eastland, in November. These stars will then be sent to Brisbane in early 2017 to be part of a giant installation on display as part of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Arts and Cultural Program!

All students, parents, staff and friends of Marlborough are invited to weave stars to be part of this project. The Grade 3-6 classes have been weaving stars during Art lessons and have also been weaving stars at home and during lunchtimes. 

For more information (and a video and instructions on how to weave the stars) please click here to go to the council website.

I will be collecting all our stars and delivering them to Wyreena Community Centre by the end of August. You can drop off any stars you’ve made to the Art Room or to the office and I will add them to our delivery. Please come and see me if you have any questions or need help with weaving instructions. Happy Weaving!

Grades 4/5/6 ~ Fibre Animal Sculptures

Students in Grade 4/5/6 have been inspired by the contemporary Indigenous fibre artists, the Tjanpi Desert Weavers with their animal sculptures made from dried grasses and assorted fibres (see example below).

Our 4/5 students have been busy sculpting their animals this term for their Portfolio piece, while the Grade 6 students will be exhibiting their sculptures at our upcoming Art show.

We created the armatures for our animals using newspaper, cardboard and other recycled materials and strengthened them with wire and tape.

They were then wrapped with a variety of fibres, such as raffia, jute, wool and yarn. Final embellishments were added using buttons, beads, pipecleaners etc. The students have all worked really hard on their sculptures and should be so proud of their efforts - they look amazing on display in the Art Room.

Grade 2/3 ~ Andy Warhol and Sonia Delaunay

The 2/3 students have been enjoying their topic of Media this term and it was a perfect opportunity to learn about the artist Andy Warhol and his pop art style. The National Gallery of Victoria recently had an exhibition of Andy Warhol's art and it was wonderful to hear that some of our students were able to visit.

We read some interesting books about Andy and also watched this video, from Tate Kids, which was all about pop art.

We experimented with altering photos of ourselves into a pop art style, using FotoFlexer and then scoured magazines, brochures, newspapers and scrapbook papers to cut out our initials. We combined the photos and initials to create our own pop art piece and they are currently on display in the Art Room.

2/3 students have also been working on a special piece of artwork for our upcoming Art Show. We have been inspired by the geometric designs of artist Sonia Delaunay and have been working hard on creating our own paintings using geometric shapes. They are looking great and will be on display later in the year.

Grade 1 ~ 3D Paper Chicken Sculptures

Grade 1 students have had great fun creating their 3D chickens this term. We have experimented with a variety of paper sculpting techniques while creating these cute farmyard animals.

For the chicken's body, we began with a cardboard cone, which we trimmed and stuffed with scrunched up newspaper. We then cut up strips of newspaper and glued them around the cones. To complete our chickens, we added a comb, beak, wattle and eyes as well as rolling paper to create tail feathers and folding paper strips in an accordion fold for the legs. Aren't they the cutest!

Foundation ~ Watercolour Hens

Our Foundation students created some beautiful artworks this term, linking in with their topic of Farm Animals. They have made some fabulous farmyard masks, a paper collage about the book 'Hattie and the Fox' and contributed to a collaborative farmyard mural.

Their watercolour hens would have to be one of the stand out pieces this term. Students had a guided drawing session where we practiced drawing the hens and discussed different lines, shapes and patterns. They then drew their hens with black oil pastel, filled in the body with shapes and painted their work with liquid watercolours. While the paint was still wet, students sprinkled salt onto their backgrounds to soak up the paint and create interesting textures.

They look amazing on display in the Art Room! Here are the paintings by Liam, Dylan, Ari, Jazmine, Tahlia, Zach, Oscar and Charlotte.