PR E PA R ATORY S C HO OL
A busy year for
Clubs
Forty-five students from Years 1-6 enjoyed
extending their pottery skills in the after-
school Pottery Club during Semester 1 this
year. Students created numerous ceramic
pieces including bowls, platters, pencil
holders, crazy birds, pendants and flower
paper weights. Students would like to thank
their teacher helpers Mrs Harris,
Mrs Fillipi, Ms Marsh and Parent Helper,
Mrs Haynes, for assisting Mrs Elliott.
Art
Parent Art Workshops
The Prep Art Room hosted two inaugural
parent art workshop sessions in Semester 2.
This was an opportunity for parents to be
creative in a peaceful, friendly environment,
whilst meeting other parents and arts staff,
and finding out more about the Prep arts
program. Parents from both the Preparatory
and Senior Schools created artwork
exploring pattern and repetition, through
the use of geometric or organic shapes.
With over 20 parents enjoying the sessions
and providing positive feedback, we look to
offer further classes in 2018.
Prep Artists and the Solstice
Synesthesia
In the lead-up to the Solstice Synesthesia,
students in Year 5 spent some art lessons
learning about the links between music
and colour as experienced by artist Wassily
Kandinsky, before being given free time to
experiment with colour and mark making
whilst listening to music. Benjamin Tang,
Minudi Karunawardena, Mackenzie
Knoop-Bender and Emma Pittman
enjoyed the experience so much that they
volunteered to join Head Art Monitor
Thomas Hartland painting in the foyer of
the DLD at the Solstice Synesthesia concert.
Teacher Art Workshop Year 3 Sandcastle Art
The Prep Art room played host to a teacher
art workshop in Term 3, where teachers
were taught basic experimental drawing and
painting skills in order to free up creativity.
Instead of being scared of the white paper
and the end product, they jumped into it,
exploring where the mixed media took them
through loose gestural still life drawing,
collage, oil and pastel work. Teacher
creations are on display in the Prep Café. In Term 3, the Year 3 students focused on
nature in art. After a very rainy morning,
the lower playground became the perfect
environment for some nature based play.
At the start of the lesson, students were
introduced to the concepts of ephemeral art
and architecture. I then taught them how
to sculpt and build sandcastle structures.
In groups, students spent the afternoon
designing and constructing sandcastle
structures and cities. It was fabulous to see
the teamwork, creativity and excitement,
and hear the students’ responses to their
wonderful creations.
Dookoorniny Art Project
Phil Doncan Live
On Friday 23 June, artist and performer Phil
Doncan came to the Prep School Assembly
and wowed us with his amazing painting
and dancing skills. After the assembly
presentation, our class (5N) was lucky
enough to have Phil Doncan come to our
Art lesson and spend some time with us.
He taught us that it is a good idea to plan
and draft artwork in sketch books before
starting the final artwork. We then had fun
participating in a painting relay in teams
of two. We had a lot of fun painting with
Phil Doncan and we thank Mrs Elliott for
organizing him to come and work with us.
– Minudi and Dhinuk
Rise of Sneaker Culture Art
Excursion
Year 5 Art students spent Term 3 designing
and creating their own sneakers after
visiting the Art Gallery of WA to view the
touring exhibition “The Rise of Sneaker
Culture”. The students had a wonderful
time at the gallery and found the history
and aesthetics of sneaker design extremely
interesting. Thank you to all the Year 5
teachers and our special parent guest Mr
Paul Hamilton, for escorting students to the
Gallery for the day.
The Dookoorniny project was an action-
based learning project that saw they Year
5 and 6 curriculum collapsed in Week 9 in
order for students to listen and respond
to stories of the Wadjuk Noongar people,
shared by Mr Barry McGuire. Students were
then given the opportunity to create works,
either dance, music or visual artwork, that
was showcased in a performance at the DLD.
Over 60 students chose to respond to these
stories through visual arts. Each student
spent an afternoon session brainstorming,
planning and designing their own artwork
response. These responses were then
combined to create two collaborative 5 x
2.1 metre murals. One mural depicted the
stories from the Gidgegannup site and the
other represented the stories based around
Kings Park. It took approximately six hours
for students to paint the two mural panels,
which formed the backdrop for the dance
and music components of the performance.
Mrs Leith Elliot
Preparatory Arts Teacher
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