Grade 6 – Popsickle stick artwork

I got this idea from a pinterest post. I tried it a few years ago but couldn’t make it work. This time it worked beautifully! Our learners took a piece of paper which I cut down to size for 13 sticks. In the future I’ll use watercolour paper as the paper kept bending when it got wet and we’d have to straighten it out again. We painted glue onto the sticks and then stuck them together and onto the paper. The next week, some of us added masking tape just to strengthen the binding. We then painted a scene onto this! We started with a colourful gradient. Onto this we added a silhouette. We could also add white/ silver details if we wanted to.

Grade 5 – Rockin Art!

Our learners were given the challenge of turning a normal, grey stone into something new. They could only use paint and their imaginations to do this! They were taught about form vs shape as elements of art (form being 3D while shape is flat 2D).

Aboriginal dot paintings

Our learners learnt about the amazing art form from down under of dot painting! We looked at the way that these artworks were originally used to send messages and were imbued with meaning.

Our learners were asked to choose an animal/ scene that links with their personality and then do a dot painting. We started by outlining our creature and objects with white paint before using our fingers to make the dots! We could use a brush to fill in the details.

Rhythm in paper – Grade 7

Our grade 7s learnt about the principle of design, rhythm and movement. They then had to take pieces of paper and fold them into shapes. They used these shapes to create some kind of arrangement that showed rhythm and movement.

Grade 7 – Owl House on Youtube

This is a follow up post from our last one on the project done by our grade 7s based around the owl house. I put all the finished projects next to each other and then recorded a walk around, all to a beautiful African refrain and Antjie Krog’s poem “Grond”. It is quite epic!

Owl House – Grade 7

The owl house is a treasure trove of amazing artworks all created by one (pretty crazy) woman in the little town of Nieu Bethesda, South Africa. Helen Martin lived a tragic life. After a failed attempt to escape the small town of her upbringing and a failed marriage, Helen Martin lived her remaining years in the home of her parents. While here, she transformed this space! It became an outward reflection on the inner turmoil going on inside this quiet woman.

Our grade 7s had to create a 3D space which conveyed a message about themselves to the viewer. They then had to create a 3D, clay sculpture to inhabit this space and further communicate the same message. Our learners did amazingly! These are just those that were finished at the time, there are more amazing ones that have been handed in since!

Thank You X – Grade 6

Thank you X is an influential street artist, graphic designer and DJ. He has done some amazing artwork! Our learners watched a little Youtube clip on Thank You X. They were inspired! We tried to make our own version of his cube artworks. It was a big creative process with each of the sides of the cubes being made using different media and with different end points in mind. The learners blew me away with their creativity! Take a look below to see what I mean!

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Grade 6 – Clay Halloween

Halloween is a celebration which is becoming more and more popular in South Africa. The children tend to love it! I never push a project like halloween on the kids but give them the option. They could either make a halloween clay creation or an underwater creature. I loved what they made! Super creative and pretty scary.

The dot – Junior Art

Our junior artists looked at an animated version of the book titled “The dot” by Peter H. Reynolds on Youtube. In this story a child learns that they can be fantastic at art by simply believing in themselves! Our learners took on the challenge of drawing a dot of their own…

Winter trees – Grade 4

Our grade 4s looked at trees in winter. They saw that trees have developed an adaptation that they loose their leaves in winter. They then set about recreating these trees! They took masking tape and made trunks, branches and twigs by cutting the tape smaller and smaller. They then went crazy with water colour paint and filled the background with colour. Finally they used dry brushes which they dipped into ink to make the patterns on the trees.