Prep Art

KERRIE ANDERSON WENDY RIX SHELAGH ROGERS

Prep Art Department

During 2015 Prep, Art boys have welcomed a range of creative practitioners from the Art world into their classrooms.

First the nationally and internationally award-winning author and children’s book artist Kim Michelle Toft. She is passionately committed to raising awareness of marine conservation, and uses her Art to do the talking. This is reflected in large, vivid, silk mural paintings that captivated the boys. Years 2 and 3 boys had the opportunity to watch painting demonstrations, listen to her books and shake it to her music.

Year 6 boys were inspired by a young artist duo, Grace Dewar and Ian McCallum, known as Kontraband. Both artists combine formal signwriting with urban mural painting. Boys had the opportunity to view the transformation of urban spaces in Toowoomba, and to create their own stencils, which they then spraypainted. Ian, who is a qualified signwriter, and Grace, who has a Bachelor of Creative Arts, are the founder and coordinator of Queensland’s largest street art festival: First Coat, which facilitates youth workshops throughout Queensland. They led a valuable discussion on graffiti and street art, the legal and illegal aspects of the art form, and an inspirational journey into cross-cultural mural painting.

Finally, NSW painter Caitlin Reilly was invited as Artist in Residence to coincide with Book Week. Year 5s completed five mini–projects, including making their own books using a Chinese paper-folding technique. To illustrate the books they used a French technique known as Frottage or graphite rubbings of everyday objects into humorous book creatures.

YEAR 5 EXCURSION TO QAGOMA In August, the Year 5 cohort accompanied by their classroom teachers and the Art Department visited the Brisbane Qld Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art. The excursion was linked to the Australian history program, and throughout the day boys investigated the inspiried Art of our first Australians, Torres Strait ceremonial Art, contemporary Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous Art, and a show on 21st century Japanese art, featuring an actual journey through a sliding door into another galaxy.

POPPY PROJECT To mark the World War I ANZAC contribution, Prep Art created a community project, whereby each boy and staff member in the school were invited to make a large clay poppy. Younger boys each made a poppy bud. Pieces were fired to 1000 degrees, red glazed and refired to 1,110 degrees, then mounted on to metal spikes in the Art garden.

Hundreds of poppies surrounded by lush plants now quietly pay homage to those who served but did not return.

CREATION OF TOTEM GARDENS During IDEALS Week, a small and hardworking group of Atkinson House boys cleaned out, constructed and refurbished the gardens on the southern side of the Art block. These gardens will feature rotating exhibitions by past, current and future students. The current work on show is a series of ochre-painted primitive clay totems by past students. Another series of sculptures by Year 5 have recently been included and are based on their study of our nearest and closest neighbours in the Asia Pacific. Maori motifs have been boldly carved and painted on to white clay cylinders to create highly graphic and contrasting totemic sculptures in our new green space.

Current focus on the new National Curriculum: TSS Prep Art has seen a continued thematic emphasis on cultural diversity. Art staff Mrs Rogers, Mrs Rix and Ms Anderson, with the expert assistance of Mrs Quade, are committed to a specialist Art education that embraces the Key Learning areas, particularly science, history, geography and literacy.

The following is a snapshot of 2015 in Prep Art: • Reception boys were inspired by the largest coral-reef system in the world, The Great Barrier Reef.

Artworks ranging from iridescent marine paintings to clay coral sculptures were created in response to the natural structure that can be seen from space. • Year 1 boys created a micro and macro series of works, including miniscule observational drawings of mini beasts from a selection of jewelled brooches, followed by drawings of gigantic black and white insects. • Year 2 immersed themselves in the history of the school by creating watercolours of the Prep Jordan buildings, and modelling clay sculptures of the newly refurbished white marble sculpture ‘Transient

Spirit’ by Graham Radcliffe. • Year 3 boys celebrated Book Week by reading the shortlisted My two blankets by Irena Kobald. In response they created their own fabulous community blanket using stitchery, felting, beading and collage. • Year 4 students flexed their construction skills and were challenged to create aircraft models using recycled materials in answer to the question, ‘Is It a Plane?’ • Year 5 investigated the unprecedented Indigenous watercolour art of Albert Namitjira. • Year 6 revelled in translating the gritty urban designs introduced by artists in residence from Kontraband studios on to their very own skateboards.

We aim to expose our students to the rich traditions of Australian and international Art. Artworks by our creative boys have been valued and showcased on the Art block walls as testament to the critical value of children’s Art.