Year 9 Visual Arts - Poetic Landscape

Year 9 Visual Arts students are challenging themselves in their artmaking by using mixed media to convey the environment at St Andrews College. In our art history and art criticism lessons, students studied Australian artist John  Wolseley. John Wolseley is one of Australia’s most well-respected contemporary artists. Working with a scientific approach, Wolseley documents and records the Australian landscape using a variety of mediums. 

With the warmer weather, our class took some time out of the classroom. We spent one lesson “recording” the sounds, smells and feelings of being outdoors. (With the weather suddenly turning and our pages nearly blown away!) After we returned to the classroom, students began sketching and deciding on various aspects of the flora, fauna and built environment that they wanted to include in their documentation. 

Following this, Year 9s selected their own groups of 4 in order to create a collaborative mixed-media artwork. Using watercolours, ink, charcoal and even printing leaves - they are gaining experience in the use of a variety of artmaking materials.

See below for some photographs of our class in action. 

Mrs Claudia Harris

Leader of Learning Visual Arts

Year 7 Oldenburg inspired sculptures in progress

Year 7 students have commenced their 2D to 3D transformation process. Working collaboratively in groups, students were asked to choose the most compelling drawing to enlarge and develop into a sculpture inspired by Oldenburg. Students applied techniques learnt in class to construct a robust armature and foundation. Once the armature was set, they began to layer paper and PVA glue, engaging enthusiastically in the large-scale building process. Each group worked cohesively, assigning each other roles and responsibilities to replicate their chosen product design. In the coming weeks, we will be painting their sculptures using harmonious and complementary colour schemes. 

Year 8 Cubist Artworks

Year 8 artists have been exploring the works of Pablo Picasso and the broader characteristics/features of the Cubist art movement. Through their studies, students have learnt skills to incorporate key elements of the Cubist style such as the use of fragmentation, geometric shapes and to draw in multiple perspectives in order to depict a chosen instrument or chair in Cubist form, capturing the world in a new perspective. Students also learnt an array of skills in mediums such as water colour, chalk pastel, charcoal and colour pencil, to blend seamlessly and to achieve precise  textural detail.

 

Year 10 have successfully completed their Fine Diner Sets, each reflecting a chosen culture while also incorporating elements of appropriation. To celebrate this achievement, we recreated our own fine dining experience. The lesson began with a self-reflective evaluation, where students documented their thoughts on their entire artmaking process, highlighting strengths and areas for future improvement. Following this, the year 10 art classes combined to display their ceramic sets, replicating scenes from Alice and Wonderland. Students then participated in a mini ‘gallery walk’, observing each other's work, and offering each other constructive feedback and comments on post-it notes. After the formal critiques, we concluded the experience by celebrating with food, each student prepared to bring a food item of choice to share, beautifully presented embracing the culture reflected in their ceramic set. 

Mrs Shandel Kemal

Visual Arts Teacher