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The Stopfordian 2011–2012
YEAR 4 ART AND DESIGN DAY
Because of a football tournament the children were divided
into two groups: boys in the morning and girls in the
afternoon and they were engaged in two ambitious projects.
GAUDI AND HUNDERTWASSER.
The group was shown images of the use of colour in paintings
in the last two hundred years. They looked first at an early
painting by JMW Turner which portrayed a large house on a
hill before a lake painted in very subtle shades of grey. They
then witnessed how Turner became much more experimental,
working with light rather than the themes the wealthy patrons
required. They saw ‘Sunset, Rouen’ which showed a large
yellow disc with a ‘squiggle’ as a reflection. This, along with
Turner’s other experimental work, was a precursor to
Impressionism. This paved the way for much more vibrant
work by the likes of Russian artist Kandinsky and then
Hundertwasser. The PowerPoint presentation then went on
to look at some work by Spanish architect and designer
Gaudi, whose buildings have a similar vibrant quality.
The children tried to combine these qualities in their own art.
This was achieved by drawing exotic skylines of buildings.
They then applied various layers of paint and ink to create a
composition more to do with colour than a ‘realistic’
impression of a sky, using the legacy of Turner and
Hundertwasser.
LARGE FIGURE PAINTING
We started with two large ‘canvases’ of sheets of card, stuck
together in a 4x3 formation. In two groups of twelve the
pupils took turns to lie on the rectangle and were drawn
round, with the lines and shapes overlapping. Each pupil was
drawn, and each did the drawing. The sheets were then
separated and each pupil had their own to work on, though
some pupils worked on each sheet as a group. We looked at
some abstract paintings which showed how each shape could
be developed as its own little world of colour and texture.
The pupils then painted the background with as many types
of blue (cold colour) and texture as possible, achievable with
the thick acrylics. The overlapping and complex shapes,
made by and round the pupils, were painted in yellows,
oranges and reds (warm colours). Dots of white were also
placed in close sequence along the edges of the shapes.
When finished, the pictures were taped back together in the
sequence they were when first placed on the floor, to be hung
as a large colourful composition in which elements of the
pupils were evident (hands, feet, heads etc), but whose main
purpose was to develop a feeling for textured paint and a
strong contrast of the warm reds and oranges from strong to
light tones against blues.
J. Mercer
YEAR 3 ART DAY
The plan for this Year 3 Art Day was to build a piece of work
out of several layers into a relief, and in a variety of materials.
The lesson began with a discussion, with examples of different
kinds of ‘botanical’ art from scientific illustrations at the plantrecognition
end of the spectrum, to more interpretive work by
Georgia O’Keeffe and also other examples from Islamic art
which were also developed into mathematical tiles from initial
studies in that culture. The emphasis here was that we were
not so much concerned with ‘accuracy’ as with individual
creative interpretation.
The starting point was observational drawing, looking at laurel
and rhododendron branches, end-on, with their clusters of
leaves around the point of the bud. Large drawings were
encouraged, to fill the sheet; initially lightly sketched in pencil
and then drawn over in coloured pencil to give a bright line
other than black.
The use of the transparent and textural qualities of wax
crayons was then applied, building up a green, for example,
using yellows and blues rather than just being satisfied with
‘the green’ of a particular crayon. Next the pupils looked at
A4 images of flowers and in choosing one of these, interpreted
this image onto another sheet using oil pastel.
Finally, the next stage was to develop large drawings of insects,
again derived from photographs provided. ‘Brusho’ powder
was sprinkled onto the wet designs so that the colours spread
and merged. The flower and insect designs were cut out and
mounted onto the original sketch using a concertina
construction to give a 3D effect.
J. Mercer
SCIENCE DAY
The children were prepared for the excitement of the day by
a whole school assembly taken by two science boffins. There
were roars of laughter and great excitement at activities like
making a genie come out of a bottle, balloon piercing and
flash paper. However, I think the favourites had to be making
elephant’s toothpaste and the loo roll Bernoulli experiment,
which I am sure the children will have talked about.
Pupils then took part in various workshops with the boffins.
Year 3 pupils had the chance to see some Dragon Chemistry
Junior School 117