Visual Arts at St Andrews

Year 7

At the end of last term, Year 7 students were in the process of finishing their collaborative group food sculptures. Whilst the process was challenging and presented a series of problem solving experiences, it was an overall interesting and fun task for students to work on with their peers. It was a great way to end their first unit ‘Ways of Seeing’ and get to know their peers in their elective class. 

This term, Year 7 students have begun their new unit ‘Where the Land meets the Sea’ where students will explore how artists use the natural environment to create their artworks. Over the past week, we have learnt about World Heritage Sites, the role of UNESCO and why these sites are considered important. With these sites as inspiration for our student artworks, Year 7’s have been tasked to create a large scale oil pastel artwork and are currently working on their drafts. Oil pastel techniques have been taught and demonstrated to students in how to embed these within their own creations over the next week. 

Year 8

Year 8 students have begun their new unit ‘Telling Tales’. Students will be exploring environmental and cultural issues in today’s society with a focus upon the key topics that are currently being faced by Australian society. Issues will be investigated through artists’ representation of these issues in their artworks, such as Reg Mombassa and reflect upon how they can showcase important issues through the students’ art making. Students were able to draw upon issues that are present in our world and have genuine, interesting and thought provoking discussions into why some issues are ‘still’ issues today. This term we will be using ceramics which many students are excited to use having had an enjoyable experience with clay in Year 7. 

Year 10

Year 10 students have been working on their Collection of Works (COW) based upon their interpretation and understanding of Suburbia. A range of media has been selected with many works being mixed-media. This task is a taste of the Visual Arts senior course in regards to creating more than one artwork for a ‘body of work’. Students have been challenged with their time management, taking onboard constructive criticism and trusting their own judgement in order to execute their vision for their work. 

Stay tuned for our upcoming CAPA showcase later on in the term to be able to view our students’ wonderful artworks in person.

Miss Leezah Rivera

HSIE & Visual Arts Teacher