This week, all of our students have been working on a collective project inspired by the architectural artwork of Austrian-born New Zealand artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. We investigated some of his colourful painted buildings (see below), then began creating our own mini houses inspired by his work, using cardboard boxes and offcuts. Our individual houses will then come together to create one big building!

Our studio assistant, William the basset hound, also made an appearance this week- you can spot him in some of the photos!

Amber & Turquoise Class

Magenta & Violet Class

Emerald Class

Amber & Turquoise Class

Our reception, year 1 and year 2 artists worked on their collaborative Chihuly inspired sculpture this week. We cut the painted plastic bottles into spirals, then each student used a glue gun to fix their bottle onto a board. We’ll be hanging it from the ceiling for our exhibition on 8th July!

We also watched a video about Chihuly’s expressive drawing style, for which he used up to 50 pencils at once, and then had a go ourselves. You can watch the video below.

Magenta & Violet Class

Our year 3 and 4 artists finished off their Chihuly inspired bowls this week. We used a heat gun to melt the plastic into wavy shapes, emulating Chihuly’s glass bowl series. It was really fun to watch the plastic start to change form- we never quite knew what it was going to do so every bowl was a surprise!

Emerald Class

Our year 5 and 6 artists continued with their Chihuly inspired sculptures. We cut the painted acetate sheets we prepared last week into different shapes, then threaded them onto a skewer. It was a very effective process- we got some beautiful results!

Maroon Class

We had a visit from illustrator Craig Pattrick this week! Craig showed us lots of his development sketches and talked about the importance of perseverance when designing new characters. He also showed us some of his fantastic plasticine sculptures, and we had a go at making a Minion!

You can find out about Craig and his work on his website.

We were excited to start the new term this week! We’ll be focusing on sculpture for the next few weeks, investigating various artists and using a variety of materials.

Our artist inspiration this week is American glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. Each class has been investigating his work and are producing their own artwork inspired by what we’ve seen.

You can find out more about Chihuly on his website, here.

Amber & Turquoise Class

Our reception, year 1 and year 2 artists looked at Chihuly’s large scale installations. We are going to work on a collaborative sculpture, using plastic bottles to emulate the look of the glass in Chihuly’s designs. Each artist painted a bottle which we will transform into spirals next week- Amber class mixed reds and yellows, and Turquoise used yellows and blues.

Magenta & Violet Class

Our year 3 and 4 artists looked at examples of Chihuly’s Macchia and Persians series. We are using plastic plates to create our own versions of Chihuly’s colourful asymmetric bowls. This week we used sharpies to draw patterns onto the bowls; next week we’ll be using heat to alter their shape! 

Emerald Class

Our year 5 and 6 artists investigated Chihuly’s Rotolo series, which features long, twisted glass forms. This week we painted sheets of acetate using acrylic paint, emulating the coloured glass in Chihuly’s work. Next week we’ll be cutting and arranging the acetate to create sculptures inspired by the Rotolo artwork.