Here’s what we’ve been up to in the final week of term. We’ve enjoyed trying out lots of different collage techniques and materials! Next term we’ll be focusing on sculpture. 

Amber & Turquoise Class

Our reception, year 1 and year 2 classes became robot designers this week! We invented different kinds of robot by arranging pieces of cardboard onto a background. We painted the parts gold using acrylic paint. We then used a variety of metallic card shapes, washers and rivets to add detail to our collages. We added mechanical drawings in the background using metallic crayons. We got some great results!

Magenta & Violet Class

Our year 3 and 4 artists built on their Picasso-inspired portrait work from last week. They started with an angled face shape, adding features cut from cardboard. They painted their portraits in acrylics, taking ideas from some of Picasso’s Cubist paintings. They also added some extra details using lolly sticks and pipe cleaners!

Emerald Class

Our year 5 and 6 artists continued with their Matisse-inspired collages. Last week, following Matisse’s working processes, they painted sheets of paper using Gouache. This week, they cut organic shapes from the painted paper to create collages inspired by natural forms. They created some lovely designs!

Amber & Turquoise Class

This week our reception, year 1 and year 2 artists built nests! We talked about the purpose of nests and what they need to be able to provide for the eggs and the young birds. We discussed the properties of various materials, choosing hard, spiky materials for the outside of the nests for protection, and soft, warm materials for the interior. Our eggs looked very cosy!

Magenta & Violet Class

Our year 3 and 4 artists investigated Cubism this week. We looked at examples of portraits by Pablo Picasso, noting his use of bright colours and how the features are often distorted. We collected together drawings of eyes, noses and mouths taken from some of Picasso’s paintings, then chose our favourites to assemble into a portrait of our own. We added colour using oil pastel and wax crayon.

Emerald Class

This week our year 5 and 6 class investigated the collage work of Henri Matisse (see examples). Matisse was a prolific painter, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor, turning to his ‘cut-out’ technique later in life when age and mobility affected him. We learned about his process of cutting shapes from paper which had been painted with gouache by his studio assistants, and talked about the organic and geometric shapes we could see. We spent time preparing our own coloured papers, painting them with gouache and watercolour paint. We added some patterns and textures to our papers too.

Unfortunately Ellie forgot to take any photos as we were so engrossed in the task! We’ll get some next week 🙂

Amber & Turquoise Class

Our reception, year 1 and year 2 artists investigated tessellation. We talked about which shapes tessellate and which don’t, and discussed examples of patterns made using different shapes. We looked at photos of honeycomb, then used hexagons to make our own tessellated patters inspired by the bees’ work. We also made some different designs using tangrams!

Magenta & Violet Class

Our year 3 and 4 artists finished off their four week animal portrait project this week! We added white highlights to the animals’ faces, then coloured the eyes using acrylic paint. We were so pleased with our work!

Emerald Class

Our year 5 and 6 artists continued with their typography project inspired by the work of New York based artist Peter Tunney. We arranged the letters of our chosen words onto the collaged background, fixing them in place with blu tack. We then painted over our designs using acrylics. Some students then took the stencils off to reveal the designs, while others have left them to dry until next week.

Amber & Turquoise Class

Our reception, year 1 and year 2 students continued with their collage work inspired by Cornwall based artist Michèle Brown. We discussed the different shapes we could see in her work, drawing them in our sketchbooks to give us some ideas. We then cut similar shapes from the patterned and textured paper we made last week, arranging them onto our backgrounds in an interesting composition.

Magenta & Violet Class

Our year 3 and 4 artists continued with their large scale collaged animal portraits. We tore the patterned and textured papers we made last week into strips and arranged them onto a sugar paper background. We covered our finished collages with a layer of PVA glue to make sure it was all stuck down securely. Next week we’ll be sketching ideas for the animals we’d like to portray.

Emerald Class

Our year 5 and 6 artists investigated tesselation. We talked about which shapes would tesselate, and discussed examples of collaged artwork using different shapes (see examples). We practised sticking shapes precisely in our sketchbooks so that they fit together perfectly. We then cut shapes from magazines and worked on creating our own collages incorporating tesselation.

This was the first week in our new studio! We were very excited about getting settled in. We’re focusing on collage this term- we’ll be using different media and techniques to create collage work inspired by various artists.

Amber & Turquoise Class

Our reception, year 1 and year 2 artists are looking at the work of Cornwall based mixed media artist Michèle Brown (see examples). We discussed the different textures we could see in her work and thought about how she might have made them. We then spent time generating our own textured papers by scribbling along to music! We used pencil crayons, ink and rollers, and metallic wax crayons.

You can see more of  Michèle Brown’s work here.

Magenta & Violet Class

Our year 3 and 4 artists started a three week project that builds on the large scale charcoal owl portraits we worked on last term. We will be developing a similar close up portrait of an animal, working with ink and acrylic paint onto a collaged background. This week we created different kinds of patterned and textured paper, ready to start collaging next week. We responded to different pieces of music using a variety of media including pencil crayon, oil pastel, Brusho ink, candle wax and Indian ink.

Emerald Class

Our year 5 and 6 artists have been looking at the work of graphic designer Martin O’Neill (see examples). Starting with black and white photos of ourselves, we created our own versions of some of his collaged portraits. We got some great results!

You can find out more about Martin O’Neill here.