Senior Primary students at Hout Bay International School were enthusiastic about partaking in ‘real life’ art lessons. They started with the basics: the humble pencil and plain A4 paper, not all excitement was lost as they soon started to explore other mediums such as pastel, paint and chalk. Furthermore, the students were able to practice their proportion in portrait studies and interior and exterior drawings where they learnt the basics of perspective drawing and creating 3D forms.
The principles of line and shape were explored, where the students were given the opportunity to try out doodle art and step by step drawings to see how pictures are made of different types of lines and shapes. Some students went on to practice shading techniques and how to create depth and interest using different types of lines. Amazingly detailed, still life drawings were created by the PYP 5s and 6s later on, showing how their drawing and observation skills had progressed. Colour was also celebrated as they learned about the colour wheel and colour palettes. The PYP 5s produced some stunning mandalas with creative colour palettes, naming colours poetically, like moonlight, flamingo pink, tropical sands and galaxy purple. And then also coming up with names such as orange-orange, borange, gross green and unfriendly brown.
As the term progressed, the students had fun with paint and pastels and exploring ways to combine different mediums. The PYP 3s and 4s made origami sailboats floating on a collage sea of blues. The PYP 5s and 6s created seascapes using paint, pastel and chalk. Exploring different mediums and materials allowed the children to understand the properties of the materials and how to use them creatively, e.g., pastels can be used for painting and printing. The PYP 3s enjoyed creating beautiful artworks from a still life of sunflowers and here they discovered that use pastels and watercolours as mixed media.
The PYP 5s and 6s took on the challenge of a 2-point perspective. The group has some interior designers and architects in the making! The PYP 3s and 4s were inspired to draw an enchanted tree; a lesson where their imagination could run wild. Here it was reassuring to see how their confidence in drawing has deepened over the term and there is a greater sense of freedom and dedication to their artwork. A line is a dot that went for a walk. – Paul Klee
ART DEPT - IES Hout Bay International School, SA
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