Burwood Heights Primary School has a creative art programme which explores many disciplines within the Visual Arts; these include drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and collage.
The students have many opportunities to create and make, explore and respond to the varied programmes offered in a newly built facility dedicated to the Visual Arts. The Art Room has lots of natural light and space creating an optimum learning environment for students. A state of the art pottery kiln has also been installed with students loving the experience of creating three dimensional objects, both decorative and functional.
Grades 3/4 and 5/6 have 90 minute lessons timetabled which provide valuable time to focus on skills and techniques and to experiment with ideas. This has resulted in artwork of a high quality and the opportunity for students to focus and concentrate on a piece of artwork over an extended period of time.
The philosophy underlying each unit of work is to foster a love of creativity, self-expression, learning and the visual arts. An objective is to engage and challenge students in a way that encourages them to take risks and have a go, apply their vision and to make artwork that is unique and individual. Above all students are supported and encouraged in their learning about the arts, artists, communities and cultures; and the connections between them.
Art Focus
Things have started with a ‘creative buzz’ this year at Burwood Heights Primary School in the Visual Arts.
Foundation
Through portraiture using the medium of graphite pencil and chalk pastel, students have created images of themselves through careful observation. Aboriginal desert artists are also a focus where students explore the use of symbols, pattern, shape, line and colour in their artwork.
Junior School
Junior School students have been experimenting with modelling clay, with the brief to make a plague which expresses an emotion. Students have planned their artwork with development sketches, then practised various hand building techniques using both plasticine and clay, before setting about making their ‘design’ in clay.
Middle School
Middle School students were set the topic, ‘Express yourself’ in animal form. Students have planned their ideas by sketching designs, with the view to make a three-dimensional totem sculpture. The totem was designed to represent an aspect of each student’s personality, aligned to animal characteristics. Papier Mache has been the medium to create the sculpture, with the project now nearing completion.
Senior School
Senior School students have been painting self-portraits on a stretched canvas using acrylic paints. Students have focused on creating form with careful reference to shadows and highlights, while expressing their own viewpoint of themselves. This project is now nearing completion.
