Year 6

Term 1

This term we have been looking at printing techniques. We started off by studying the work of printmaker Suzie Mackenzie and discussed the types of colours that she uses in her work and how they make us feel. We then did some sketches showing different landscapes and planned our own work using colours to depict a mood. We then made a background using a watercolour wash and did a mixture of collagraphs and relief printing. We used the printing ink and rollers to print our designs onto our backgrounds.

Term 2

This term Year 6 have been studying the artist Jason Laferrera. Laferrera creates digital artwork using maps. First of all the children researched the artist and his work and produced a page in their sketch books all about him.

They then had a lesson about how to use their knowledge of animal anatomy to help them to draw mammals. We talked about how to draw the head, ribcage and hips and then join them together with the backbone before filling in the other parts. They also learnt about how to draw the eye line and feet in order to help draw all the other parts of the animal in proportion.

After that the children chose an animal of their choice and used the Ipads to find some photos for them to work from. They drew the basic shapes and then used maps to create a collage of the animal. Some of the children also added extra details like trees to the backgrounds etc

Term 3

We started our work by researching textile artist Julieanne Long. She works with lots of found and recycled materials, wire and textiles and she often displays her work by hanging it in trees.

We then looked at some photos of poppies and cut some leaf shapes out of felt. We learnt how to do different stitches and added detail onto the leaves to show the leaf veins. We also started using a selection of green and blue fabrics to weave a background onto chicken wire.

Next we learnt two ways to make some poppies. We made tissue paper poppies by folding several layers of tissue papers, attaching them onto a pipe cleaner and then gently unfolding the layers to create petals. We also learnt how to make felt poppies by cutting out 2 petals using a template, sewing them together and then adding stitches to show the inside of the poppy and a button or bead in the centre.

All of these leaves and petals were then tied onto the chicken wire. We found that the best way to attach them was by using pipe cleaners as it was too tricky to tie them on with thread. Finally once it was completed we evaluated our work, thinking about some things that we would like to tell/ask Julieanne Long and how we could improve our work next time.

Finally, we had a lovely surprise to end the term. Mrs Long appeared on Zoom! She talked to us about her work and we shared our poppy work with her. We also got to ask her all of our questions. She told us that she often hangs her work outside within nature and

Term 4

This term we have been inspired by Kenyan artist, Sarah Shiundu. Shiundu painted portraits of African ladies and Masaai tribes. We had a lesson about drawing people in the same style as her and learnt how to use palette knives and cardboard to create textured areas in our paintings such as adding the leaves onto the acacia trees and we also recapped dragging a stick through wet paint to create different effects.

We then planned our own paintings inspired by her work and painted them on canvases. We added fabric to create the clothes and finally evaluated our work in small groups.

Term 5 and 6

This term Year 6 have been studying the artist Nick Gustafson, focusing in particular on his tree frog art which links to our topic on rainforests. We all created an artist study page in our sketch books and some of us worked with Mrs Clarkson to watch a video on how to draw a tree frog. We also had a go at completing the other half of a frog picture using our own choice of materials.

We then talked about the use of colour in his work and recapped how to make the subject stand out against the background. We designed our own tree frog pictures and completed them on A3 paper, using oil pastels and watercolour paints. Some of us added patterns to the pictures and some of us went for a more camouflaged look.