Art
Subject Co-ordinator: P. Adamson
Art in our school is a very popular subject. Pupils enjoy the feeling of being able to express themselves freely and have the opportunity to experience a wide range of media and skills – eg. clay, two and three dimensional work, painting, printing, modroc, sketching, collage, chalk and charcoal and pastels. Maybe they just like getting messy!
Self and Peer assessment activities are used to evaluate pupil’s work and thinking skills strategies support and enrich learning (memory maps, odd one out, 5 W’s).
Children are aware of the level of their achievements and how they can set achievable targets. Gifted and talented children have the opportunity for their work to be displayed and shown in Simply the Best. Our latest project resulted in two pictures from each year group being framed and displayed in the new dining room.
Year 7:
Over the course of the year 7A work on the following topics in their art lessons:
1. Making a folder to keep their art work in – the cover has to include lots of things to do with art (famous artists and their pictures, art tools and materials…) as well as the pupil’s name. the outside of the folder needs top say something about the pupil and give a clue as to the standard of work you will find inside.
2. Pictorial timetable – pupils look at various signs and symbols they see in everyday life, deciding what a good symbol should be like. They then design symbols for each subject and put them together on a pictorial timetable which is laminated and stuck on their desk. If it isn’t successful they may end up in the wrong lesson!
3. Chalk and charcoal- year 7 learn how to use chalk and charcoal to create a midnight scene where the moonlight casts shadows and objects look 3D using light and shade. The finished pictures always look very effective.
4. Lino cutting- a popular activity starting off with scraperboards and learning how to use lines to create a picture or pattern where there is 50/50 black and white (Miss Harris’s favourite colours!) pupils then learn how to cut lines safely into a lino piece and print using a roller and ink.
5. Scream –The children study Expressionism and the style of Edward Munch, particularly his picture The Scream which they reproduce faithfully using pastels.
6. Masks – probably the favourite activity in the whole of year 7! Children learn how to make modroc masks on each other in their chosen style after researching various masks and why they are worn. A very messy but rewarding topic! You can see a lesson in progress in the video shown.
Year 8:
Over the course of the year 8M work on the following topics in their art lessons:
1. Pencil skills: Using a range of pencils from 6B to 6H, pupils learn to sketch and shade objects from observation. They look at how objects overlap and find ways to make them look three dimensional. Their final piece is a matchbox full of tiny objects – they enlarge these to fill a sheet of A3 paper.
2. Miro – pupils start this project with a mind map of a picture by the Spanish artist Joan Miro. They then research his life, influences and style, choosing one of his pictures to copy.
3. Self portrait – A favourite activity with the year 8’s as they get the chance to dress up and bring in pets. Their task is to produce a self portrait which communicates something of their personality to others.
4. Animations- another popular activity as we get to play with plasticine and make figures which we then animate using the digital blue cameras.
A video of Year 7 making modroc masks in 2005.
