Visual Arts @ Taylors Lakes Primary School

There are 365 days per year of national pride for me as an Australian but even more pride today because it is January 26th, Australia Day. It is a Public Holiday and one of celebration of the great country we have, our character, our heritage and our relaxed lifestyle. We are known around the World for our unique wildlife so today I am adding some photos from my collection. The kookaburra “Chucky” and  the young koala were photographed at a wildlife presentation by Chris Humphrey of Wild Action. I hope you have a Happy Australia Day wherever you are.

Each year at Taylors Lakes Primary School in Melbourne, Australia, our Grade 6 students make a group mosaic. It is presented to the School Principal  by the designer/s at Graduation to leave at the school for the future.  Following the Chinese Calendar and beginning in 2005 with the Year of the Rooster we have made a Dog – 2006, Pig- 2007, Rat- 2008, Ox- 2009, Tiger 2010 and recently the Rabbit in 2011. Each measuring 60cm by 60cm, the mosaics are displayed on a wall near our Library. These photos show the difference grout makes, filling the gaps between the tiles. I want to stress that it is all the students’ work. I do the grouting as it is so time critical and it is better if there are no interruptions, something which rarely happens at school. I hope you like their work. They would really appreciate your comments.

The wonderful thing about the Internet access we have today is that whenever we are short of ideas for Art activities there are thousands available online. Hundreds appear on Zart’s excellent website in their Student Gallery. I took this photograph back in 2007 at the Gallery and we have since used it as inspiration for our student work on Asia. It is not  always the work OF our students which appears on our blog but it is FOR the students of our school. To inspire them is to improve the quality of their work and help them see what’s “out there”. Our thanks  go to the past students of Dingley Primary School who made these brilliant artworks.

Mobiles were one of the series of artworks beginning with M which our Grade 5 and Grade 6 students could choose to make during the last weeks of the 2011 school year. Our school year follows the calendar year here in Melbourne, Australia, so we are now enjoying six weeks of Summer holidays. Sarah, of 5AR, chose to sew and stuff these five felt animals and then she hung them on an old wire coathanger  covered with chenille stems.  American sculptor Alexander Calder is said to be the inventor of the mobile. If you are just “hanging around” in the  School Holidays why not try to make your own Mobile?

School holidays provide time to explore the Web via Twitter suggestions for blogs which interest and inspire. Colossal Art and Design has a gallery of incredible Art works which will inspire and surprise. I was led  to this via  Karen Steffensen’s Blog All About Arts. Which sites have you found recently which might inspire our Visual Arts students in 2012?

On July 4th, 2011 I was privileged to be in Boston USA to witness the fireworks over Boston Harbour. They were the best fireworks we had ever seen. I think it is apt that I use one of these photos in this New Year’s post because it reminds me of one of my highlights of 2011, my trip to Dubai, UAE, the UK and the USA in June- July. I feel happy to have had the opportunity to broaden my horizons and add such spectacular visions to the rich tapestry of memories which make up my almost 60 years. Happy New Year to everyone, wherever you may be in the World. May your memories of 2012 be wonderful.

Melbourne, Australia, is well known for its changeable weather but Christmas Day 2011 was a day to remember for the residents of Taylors Lakes. During the afternoon a severe hail storm, with hailstones almost the size of tennis balls, wreaked havoc in our suburb. I took this photo of some of the hailstones and added a twenty cent coin for reference. I’ve just realized that this may not mean much to our International blog visitors. For Americans our twenty cents is slightly larger than your quarter. I don’t know how our school fared in the storm. Hopefully there will not be any damage to our buildings. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured.

Each year our Grade 6 students present a mosaic to the Principal for display at our school. This year was the Chinese Year of the Rabbit so this was our theme. All Grade 6 students had the chance to work on the design and construction. Nethmi’s “rabbit coming out of it’s burrow at night” design and Sukhjit’s flowers in the grass were combined to make a whole picture. Students cut the tiles and cemented them on  the cement sheet backing. I grouted the work on a quiet Saturday morning as the hustle and bustle of the Art room doesn’t really lend itself to such a time sensitive procedure. Nethmi amd Sukhjit (in red) are seen here helping me present the mosaic to our  new Principal, Mr Chris Sevior, at Graduation on Wednesday 21st December, 2011. Congratulations to both girls and to all our graduating students. Our very best wishes to you all for your Secondary education and the future.

As Art classes finish for the year today I want to share some of the artworks which have emerged in this past week. Moneyboxes (which are so large they will take at least a year to fill) were a popular choice from our list of possible artworks beginning with M. Elephants, sheep and pigs were among the many animals which were created from paper mache covered balloons.  We use Mix a Paste  powder which, when sprinkled onto water and stirred until thickened, makes  an economical adhesive.We allow our students to use their fingers to apply it  but we stress that they take care that it is never spilled on the floor in the interests of safety. We have used Mix a Paste with great success to make our paper mache masks etc. It is available from Zart in Box Hill, Melbourne.

 Arts and crafts which begin with the letter M have included mache Moneyboxes and Mandalas drawn on plastic or paper plates. Mirror tiles, available in sheets from Zart, added to the mystery of this Mandala design. It was drawn using paint markers by Grade 5PL student Aj. The Darth Vader moneybox is by Hun of 5AR.