Our Year 10 (GCSE) students have been working on their portrait skills and have produced a series of charcoal drawings inspired by celebrity portraits. This exercise has helped them to understand facial proportion and develop images with an increased knowledge of tone. After 5 hours of work we have some great results ... This week the A Level students ventured to Liverpool to visit the David Hockney exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery as well as the DLA Piper Constellation exhibition at the Tate Liverpool in the Albert Docks. The trip was a great success with students being encouraged to draw in the galleries and collect inspiration for their exam work. While some were inspired by the etched images of David Hockney others found the parrots were a perfect primary source for their imagery. The interest in water and colour were a consistent theme across all the students. We are already looking forward to another trip next year!
Our AS and A2 students are actively engaged in producing work as part of their exam preparation. Although they all are pursuing very different questions, they have come together to experiment with the process of drypoint printing. Working from a series of initial drawings they have 'scratched' in to the surface of a plate (made of rhenalon) to create an image that is similar to their drawing. This printmaking techniques provides images that are very close to a drawing. There have been some excellent results, as you can see below! As part of the school Eisteddfod, Year 7 & 8 students were asked to submit a design for a Celtic cross.
Inspired by the designs they might see around them in Wales and by the patterns and objects that are traditionally associated with Welsh culture, the students produced excellent work. Congratulations to all those who submitted designs for consideration. Those with commendations and awards can be viewed below. A selection of these works will also be included in the Eisteddfod display in the school foyer. Thank you to Mrs. Cooper and Mrs. Sauter for their judging expertise. It is common now for people to be carrying around their 'tablets' as they travel on the bus, travel abroad or even as they are walking to school or a meeting. Different apps have been developed to help use tablets as sketchbooks and drawing pads. This has been embraced by well established artists like David Hockney as well as by many younger artists who find their use of computers more intuitive. I recently came across images by the artist Craig Longmuir and thought that this was worth sharing. If you have a moment you can look through some of his landscape drawings below. If you have an ipad or android tablet at home why not download a sketchbook app and have a go! Students at both GCSE and A Level have been working on completing their coursework this month in preparation for the start of their exam period. The GCSE exam paper went out this month and next month the A Level students will receive their paper. They have done a wonder job wrapping up their coursework in order to have time exclusively focused on their exam preparation and new work. I am sure that some of them are looking forward to a new topic and the opportunity to produce work on a different theme. Good luck, stay focused and work hard! It has been a successful term in art and many of the main project outcomes are now on display in our online gallery. In Key Stage 3, the Year 7 students have progressed from drawing to tile design, the Year 8 students developed their understanding of abstraction to produce sculptural outcomes and the Year 9 students have produced magnificent 3-D objects out of recycled materials while also designing papercuts. At GCSE, the Year 10 students have been developing different skills using drawing, painting, silk painting and lino printing; while the Year 11 students are working on finishing their coursework unit in preparation for their controlled assessment starting in January. At A Level students have been working on their coursework units throughout this term. Using individual themes they are all worked in areas of their own interest and strengths as well as learning new techniques to build up the breadth of their knowledge. With all this work completed I hope that all students enjoy the holidays and don't forget that the holidays are the perfect time to explore their creative interests.
Happy holidays to all. During December, the Chester Zoo will be hosting evening viewings of their magical large scale chinese lanterns. The lanterns depict the animals in the zoo and they look fabulous. This would be an excellent evening out over the christmas holiday. It is described as "an unforgettable night-time journey to see the life-size animal lantern menagerie at Chester Zoo. [...] towering tall giraffe, asian elephant, sumatran tiger and many more favourite animals." It just sounds magical ... to book tickets visit chesterzoo.org. Capturing the details of sporting events is always difficult, mainly because the subjects are always moving. Mr. Parry, Mrs. Roberts and I are always keen to see pictures of sporting events that you have taken. This photo (see left) of a French figure skating pair documents the moment she is spinning on his head as they move along the ice, background blurred and no hands! Perhaps these top sporting photos will help inspire you ... As part of 'The Big Draw' experience in October, the Year 7,8 and 9 students developed different aspects of the theme 'Draw Tomorrow'. Year 7 created their own 3-D paper buildings decorated in the style of the 'future homes'. Year 8 developed ideas from their project work on abstraction and considered how Hundertwasser would have drawn tomorrow. While, the Year 9 students worked on developing their perspective skills and designed the skyscrapers for tomorrow. This all culminated in a large display in the art room. |
AuthorMs. S. Key Archives
January 2016
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what's happening?
Our students are always working on developing new artwork that shows the development of their understanding, knowledge and making in art & design. The blog will help to keep you up to date with activities in the studio, trips and special events. If you are looking for more examples of student work then please visit the gallery page.