In memory



Outside 'the studio' with the Yr 5 & 6 class

It’s an honour to teach so many students with Tongan roots.  Today we remember and pay honour to the late King George......  May God Bless his soul and the Kingdom of Tonga.  You were in our thoughts today.

Yr &-8 Class Trip to Flagstaff Gallery

Yr 7-8’s

Despite the inclement weather the Yr 7-8’s, accompanied by Whea Barb, myself, Ian and Swap, headed off to Flagstaff Gallery in Devonport.  We were on a mission to view the exhibition of our very own Whea Dagmar Dyck.  First port of call was the summit of Mt Victoria where we had our lunch and enjoyed the expansive views of our most beautiful City of Sails.

Then it was straight down to Flagstaff Gallery where we spent over an hour looking at the wide range of artists’ works and listening to Whea Dagmar talk about her work.  She had prepared for us worksheets where we were to write down responses and answers related to her discussion.

Whea Dagmar talked about where she went to High School and how she got in to Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.  She discussed her time at art school and how much she enjoyed her time there.  Then she explained her use of colour and some of her major themes in her work.  We learnt heaps! 

Finally we were to choose our favourite piece and then draw it ourselves.  It was a great way to spend an afternoon. 

Week 8 with the busy Yr 3-4's

During this week the budding artists have stayed within the theme of ‘insects’ and are now exploring the environment in which these creatures live.  They have been able to choose their own insect so we now have fabulous drawings of ants, butterflies and ladybugs. 

I have spent the early part of the week building on the students drawing abilities.  We talked about how we can make our pencil ‘whisper’, ‘shout’, ‘talk’ and even ‘laugh’!  We even learnt about how to actually ‘hold’ a pencil when we draw...

Looking carefully at our collection of items that reflect the environment our insects live in. 

Zhara 'holding' her pencil and using her whole arm.

Gigi making some fabulous marks.

Charlize drawing her ant and holding her pencil on top in order to obtain full arm motion.

Once we had drawn our sticks, leaves etc we cut them out and then worked on our composition.  We were able to develop our composition based on our research drawings.  Next we used this drawing as our reference point to plot where we will place our dye for our backgrounds.  

Monica starting to glue down her composition. 

Charlize also at the gluing stage.

Orlando carefully cutting out his shapes.

Alyssa and Zhara cutting out their images.

Gigi playing round with her shapes to find the best composition.  

Monica and her final composition ready for the dying stage.

Alyssa's final composition

The students really enjoyed dying their shapes in - there were many colours to choose from and they needed to carefully refer back to their reference drawings to correctly plot everything.

Charlize dying her shapes.

Then we explored different patterns – from basic shapes to more cultural symbols.  These will now be applied with vivid on top of the dye shapes.  These are starting to look fantastic!

Monica looking at 'hiapo' for inspiration

Zhara working with her vivids

Orlando enjoying the challenge

The girls hard at work designing their patterns

Iroam creating his own patterns.

A great week's work

As week 7 draws to a close I can honestly say that I am blown away by the quality and originality of all the artwork.  It's so exciting to watch the students pull their designs together and their beaming smiles as they see their work hung on the wall is a huge reward for all!

Check out my big thumbs up and happy grin!

I'm really looking forward to seeing what week 8 has in store .... come in and check out our walls anytime!

'The studio'

Year 7 and 8's

The Year 7 & 8’s are an extremely talented and focused group of emerging artists.  Just this week they have split into two groups, in order that they can spread out more and thus work more comfortably.  Like the other year groups they have been very conscientious with their visual diaries and many have taken them home to work on.  I’m hoping this is not affecting their other homeworkJ!

In our first lesson we brainstormed ‘what is an artist?’  Here are their interesting initial responses....

Together we brainstormed ‘biodiversity’ and ‘respect’ to focus our creative energy on the appropriate responses for our mural.

Their first brief was to design some borders that will frame our mural.  We discussed ‘kowhaiwhai’ patterns, the beautiful rafter patterns that decorate the inside roof of the wharenui on a marae.  All kowhaiwhai patterns have the shape of the koru or fern frond.

These patterns can be copied in many different ways and the students were taught that they could ‘translate’, ‘reflect’ or ‘rotate’ their pattern.  They were encouraged to be as creative as they liked with their patterns and there were some stunning results.

Paia's border ideas

Tiaan's Border ideas

Nikau's border ideas

Shaelyn's border ideas

Sequoia's border ideas

Like the Year 5 & 6’s they researched their chosen aspect of biodiversity and then launched into their concept drawings.  They are enjoying the use of the different mediums on offer. 

Mural Designs on PhotoPeach 

Next week we consolidate our drawings and begin to collaboratively finalise the design.

Year 5 & 6's

The Year 5 & 6’s are a bright and exciting group of artists.  They began the year rather quietly, not speaking too much to one another, but now they've warmed up and they are creating (and talking) with much energy and flavour. 

In our first lesson we brainstormed ‘what is an artist?’  Here are their interesting initial responses....

Their visual diaries are full of their thoughts and ideas.  They are learning that as artists these books are incredibly important as they contain vital personal information that assists them greatly in their craft.   The back of their books contains all their relevant research data and they have been collating many images to do with ‘Biodiversity’ and cultural patterns. 

The beginning stages

Saula hard at work

Milania concentrating on her design

Sia adding bursts of colour

The mural is very much in the minds of these artists as they design and create their images.  Our theme is ‘Respect is the basis for Biodiversity’.  We brainstormed the concepts for both ‘respect’ and ‘biodiversity’.

The students then used these ideas to springboard into whatever area they desired.  They have also had freedom in the choice of materials.  Many have chosen to use the Caran D’ache Neocolour wax pastels on black paper.  It produces a wonderfully rich quality.  Others have experimented with vivid, pencils and dye.

It’s wonderful to see the unique cultural patterns coming through in some of their work.

In Week 8 we begin to finalise our designs and then collaboratively work on our final composition.

And then the painting of the mural begins....watch this space!!!






'Biodiversity' by the Year 5 and 6's on PhotoPeach