Visual Arts @ Taylors Lakes Primary School

For many years I had wanted to visit the Geelong Wool Museum and today I finally had the opportunity.It was very educational and I left there looking forward to visiting again soon. They have a wonderful scarf exhibition until July 19th and the Gallery shop had so much to offer I could easily have spent hours there.The guided tour was very worthwhile and a highlight was the demonstration showing how Axminster carpet is woven.

My recent trip around much of Australia  was a valuable learning experience. I could almost say it was a 55 day Course entitled “Discovering Australia”. Unlike our early explorers we travelled and stayed in relative luxury and have the advantage of hundreds of stunning photographs to remind us of our trip. Besides the natural beauty of our vast country highlights included a visit to Pro Hart’s Gallery in Broken Hill where we saw his famous Dragonfly painted on carpet and at Jack Absolom’s Gallery where I had my photo taken  with him in front  of his landscape painting entitled “The Breakaways”. Even small towns proudly display their communal artworks. Peterborough, in South Australia, had an appliqued panel in the foyer of their Town Hall.

We continue to learn long after leaving school. What we aim to do in our Visual Arts blog is to SHARE our learning.

Our Grade 5 and 6 classes recently made paper mache bowls. They were inspired by the work of Artist Juliet Bawden. They were constructed using a balloon as a mould and cardboard strips or egg carton pieces as ”feet” for the bowls. The  completed paper mache bowls were painted, glossed and decorated. These were displayed at our annual EXPO Night which was held during Education week here in Victoria. We were pleased that so many families visited  the Art Room and admired the student artwork.

One of the highlights of my recent travels was the visit to Australian artist Pro Hart’s gallery in Broken Hill, New South Wales. Kevin Charles, or as he was commonly known, Pro Hart( born 1928 and died 2006)  loved Rolls Royce cars and owned several, one of which he painted in his individual style. Also pictured is his lunch box from his mining days.

“Turtles” by Artist Don Garling was photographed in the foyer of our hotel, Gagudju Crocodile  Hotel in Kakadu National Park.

On March 16th I ventured around Australia, or most of it, and returned yesterday after travelling 15,950 Kilometres. To say it was the opportunity of a lifetime would not be exaggerating. I would like to go again some time though when fast Internet access becomes available throughout more of the country regions and it would be easy to keep a travel blog. I have some stunning photos and learnt so much history and geography that I will try to share some of that  on this blog before I return to school on May 18th.

 Salt Water Crocodiles are fed on the Jumping Crocodiles Cruise at Adelaide River.This old timer has only one whole leg, the others having been bitten off  by other crocs in fights over territory and croc girlfriends.

I wrote this post on April 2nd but didn’t publish it until now. The internet access I had hoped for on my trip just wasn’t available. Hopefully it will be next time.

“I’m in Western Australia on an ‘around Australia’ tour and this is the first chance I’ve had to post a comment since I left Melbourne 3 weeks ago. School finished for Victorian schools today but many other states will work right up until Easter. Staying with friends in Alexander Heights, Perth I was able to visit the  Alinjarra Primary  school and see the attractive Art Room and student work. The Art teacher , Val Brooks, was not working   but we peeped in and I was impressed with the organisation and the beautiful framed artwork in the school foyer.”

Yvonne Osborn, Visual Arts teacher at TLPS, (travelling Australia).

Our Grade 6 students have been studying pattern and have worked  patiently on these decorated names which look bright and welcoming in our Art Room.

Saturday’s Celebration/ Reunion was well attended and the weather was kind as we caught up with past students, teachers and families from the past twenty years.

The Birthday cake, made by Jay, a parent at our school, was attractive and delicious.  We  also planted a commemorative tree, a weeping cherry,  just outside the Art Room in our courtyard. It was a memorable occasion.

This Friday and Saturday we will be celebrating the 20th Birthday of Taylors Lakes Primary School. Set in the North West of Melbourne, Australia we have a mix of nationalities represented in our student  and teacher population.We are caring and hard working and we look forward to celebrating our many achievements over the whole year. Pictured is some of the student Art work from 11 years ago.

Monday February 16th saw the setting up of our new 42″ Sanyo High Definition TV as a monitor in our Art Room. This has been long awaited and is now a means to showing our students clearer visuals of art works, websites and their favourite, their own work on our Visual Arts blog. We are deeply indebted to our Principal, Peter Reading who is very supportive of our work, Mr Jackson ( our gardener) who put up the curtains and Mr Greg Turner, our computer technician, who connected everything. Tuesday’s classes were very impressed  with our proud demonstration and the TV reception was so clear we thought we may be able to get by without the Smartboard we had been lobbying for. We really are the lucky ones!