Visual Arts @ Taylors Lakes Primary School

Since I was at Primary school in the 1950s and 60s I have always been fascinated by all that is Dutch. From wooden shoes to tulips, canals and windmills I dreamed that one day I would visit Holland (now the Netherlands). On April 2nd  my husband and I left Australia during my School Holidays to fly across the World to Amsterdam.These are just some of the many photos we took. I would like to know which is your favourite scene. See if you can work out which celebration happened while we were there.  I would be  extra thrilled to receive a blog comment from the Netherlands.

Over the past week while we are having School Holidays in Australia I have been travelling in Europe. My husband and I arrived in Amsterdam where we stayed for three days before driving south to Ypres in Belgium. In Amsterdam we took a canal boat ride and a bus tour of the city before visiting the Rijksmuseum. There we saw wonderful artworks by such artists as Rembrandt and Vermeer. As a Primary school student in the 1950s and 1960s I was fascinated by “Holland”. Visiting the Netherlands, as it is now called, and enjoying its scenery, culture and artworks has been a dream come true for me.Which country do you dream of visiting?

Show Judge, Ern Trembath with the First Prize ,  an oil painting by Maxwell Wilks entitled “1910 Silver Ghost”.

Second Prize went to Stephen Park for his magnificent “Bentley” which was painted with Acrylics.

The  Third Prize winner was Neville Hunt with his watercolour painting entitled “The Phantom II 1929″. Inserts showed the engine and interior detail.

Twelve year old Brandon Townshend used acrylics to paint “Red Night”. It was one of the first paintings to be sold. Our Congratulations go to Brandon. He is wearing the Rolls Royce cap presented to him by the Rolls Royce Owners Club of Australia and yes, that is a real parrot on his shoulder.

Show Judge Ern Trembath’s oil painting “Swamp land near Thornton”. Ern’s paintings bring to life our magnificent Gum trees and Australian bushland.

Yesterday I attended an Art Show at the Sherbrooke Art Gallery near Melbourne. The Exhibition and Art Competition  honoured  Sir Henry Royce of Rolls Royce fame. The organizers were pleased with the number of entries and the high quality of the work. One artist, twelve year old Brandon Townshend, received a Rolls Royce cap and a lot of well deserved attention for his painting “Red Night”. The show is open (except on Tuesdays) until Sunday April 15th at the Sherbrook Art Gallery. Show judge, well known Australian artist Ern Trembath, had one of his exquisite paintings on display.”Swamp land near Thornton” impressed us so much we decided to buy it. It was a great afternoon of joint celebration of fine Art and wonderful old Rolls Royce and Bentley motor vehicles. The Exhibition is well worth a visit and so is the Society’s Blog.

Last weekend I enjoyed a trip to Bendigo, Victoria with our Car Club. Part of the program was a visit to the Golden Dragon Museum. We were fortunate to have one of the Museum’s founders, Mr Russell Jack OAM, as our guide. He is descended from one of the early Chinese families who settled in the area during the Victorian Gold Rushes. The new dragons will feature in the Easter Procession in Bendigo on Easter Monday. The old Dragon (the third photo) has retired after many Easter processions. The Museum is well worth a visit and is only an hour and half drive from Melbourne.

Grade 4 student Gino has a lot of artistic talent. He draws imaginary creatures in ordinary situations such as this “Rhino” who is casually watching TV. Small details , such as the shoes tossed onto the floor, come naturally to Gino. When I asked him whether he’d mind his work being published he said that would be fine but to please ask that Blog visitors respect his original work. Congratulations Gino on your creativity and drawing skills. Australia and the Philippines are proud of you.

Our Grade 2 students have been working with coloured felt and hessian (burlap) to create a fabric collage inspired by Eric Carle’s book “Rooster’s off to see the World”. The students were expected to use their cutting skills to make felt “feathers” which they needed to overlap on the body and then make a colourful tail for their rooster. A few real feathers were added to complete the picture. Students added hen houses and flowers to the scene and framed the work on bright colured cover paper for display. The featured work is by Rebecca of Grade 2 ST. Congratulations Rebecca, your “Rooster” really is off to see the World.

Grade 6JS student Alec seems happiest when he’s drawing. Like Author/ Illustrator Shaun Tan who said he was considered the “good drawer” in his class, Alec’s drawing seems to be done effortlessly. When I saw that he had begun a creature which appeared to have skin, I mentioned that the set task was to create a creature made from metal and or plastic. Alec was not concerned. He immediately changed direction to add the metal hind quarters and in the following lesson he gave the picture more action with a second character. Congratulations to Alec upon all the drawing he has done to build his skills. We ask our students to read each day and to learn their spelling words. We ask that they write as often as possible. Why not encourage/allow them to draw for fifteen minutes or so each day?

It’s still early in the Term for finished artwork although there is a lot of great work underway. In the interim I thought I’d add a photograph which I took at Echuca in Northern Victoria last year. The Campaspe River (pictured) meets the Murray River at Echuca and it was looking refreshed after floods which were almost welcome after years of drought. This scene is typical of the peaceful scenes along  both rivers. I am spending this weekend in Echuca/Moama with my Rotary Club so I will try to take some more photographs to post next week.

This Term our Grade 5 and 6 students have begun a unit on Drawing. They are looking at the work of Australian author illustrator Shaun Tan. The above drawing was made during our recent Summer holidays by one of our current Grade 6 students, Anastasia. It is an original character and I think she has portrayed its fierce nature. Congratulations Anastasia. I look forward to hearing whether there’s a story that goes with it and finding out whether he/she has friends.