Art & Design
At St Thomas’ our vision for art is for open-ended creative learning providing the children with a rich creative journey to be owned by each individual rather than a prescribed outcome driven approach. We teach skills and knowledge but it is the experience of making art that is most valuable.
This means lots of practical making, drawing, painting, printmaking etc. We believe in exposing children to as many techniques, materials and concepts as possible so that every child can find their creative voice. The end points are deliberately broad and embracing thus enabling children to think and act creatively. We aim for every child to feel entitled and enjoy talking about and making art.
Creativity brings many broader benefits to the individual than just the formal technical skills. As a school we seek not to limit the notion of art. We make art as inclusive and accessible as possible. We believe that it is every child’s right to be creative. Drawing and sketch books underpin all art in school. We recognise that children need to use their hands to work in three dimension and should experience for themselves the differences between art made by designers, architects, craft people and artists. All of this is supported and enhanced by adding painting, print making, mixed media, digital art, photography.
Art Curriculum Overview
Art club-Art Explorers Still life drawings of spring flowers
Y5 Art trip to The National Gallery
We spent a very enjoyable day exploring the wonderful paintings in the National Gallery. We had a very knowledgeable guide who showed us how to 'read' a picture - we even acted out some scenes! We also had a peaceful time sketching our favourite paintings, including Stubbs's amazing Whistlejacket and Van Gogh's 'Chair' and landscapes. The children were beautifully behaved on the journeys and in the gallery.
Our Whole School Clay Workshop
Our whole-school clay workshop was a wonderful opportunity to create with our hands. It was lovely to see the children immersed in making their clay pots and engaging in this activity. We look forward to painting the clay pots soon after they have been fired in the kiln.
Y5
There has been lots of high quality work done this term. We have enjoyed peaceful art lessons learning to use watercolours to create spring images inspired by David Hockney's pictures of Spring in Woldgate. You will see the final versions when the children do their paintings for the art exhibition in May. We have also finished our investigation into how our world is formed: how movements of and instability around the Earth's tectonic plates causes mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes.
In the style of David Hockney
Y6
In art we have been looking at altering fabrics. We have been using sewing, printing and beads to create pictures. We have used the Windrush as inspiration, with the end goal being a cushion for our book corner chairs.....watch this space!
YR
During our art session this week we have been creating new textures with paint brushes. We drew outlines of an owl baby and then to create a fluffy feather type look we used just the tip of our paint brushes to create a stippled effect. By dabbing our brushes onto the paper, we could create a soft feathered effect as well as mix shades together. We add details to the eyes, claws and beaks using pencils and felt-tip pens. Our little owls are very adorable and each one is unique.
As part of their art topic Y6 have been using digital media to create layered pieces of art using nature .
Year 3 made and painted their clay models of rainforest animals.
Year 2 studied the work of the artist Metzinger. He created landscape paintings using colourful brushstrokes and using a mosaic technique. The children then used their fingers to create a mosaic effect of the fire ball on the top of the Monument for their topic on The Great Fire of London.
The nursery Class created self-portraits by looking closely at the features of their face.
For their project on toys, the Nursery Class designed their aeroplanes before making them with balsa wood and also used recycled materials to make rockets that propelled.
Art exhibition
Thank you for coming along to our whole school art exhibition yesterday. The children did have a sneak preview in the afternoon and had the opportunity to share the incredible talents in our school. It was amazing to watch the children critique the art and to be exposed to the genre of art on display. A wonderful end to several weeks of researching, planning and then executing their piece of art.
Well done to all the children for their contribution and enthusiasm in taking part. Hopefully this will become an annual event!
Mrs Whitehead
Kandinsky
For our Understanding of the World, we continued our investigation of trees and further explored the creatures living in our oak tree habitat. We have found out about the creepy crawlies that live within the cracks of the bark; the birds that nest on the branches, and the owls that come out at night. Combining all of this with Expressive Art and Design, we looked at Kandinsky’s colourful painting of a tree and created our own painting using concentric circles of different colours.
Y1
We continued our study of plants in Science, drawing and labeling different parts of the plant, taking a close look at the roots
Whole School Art Exhibition 2024
Whole School Art Project
An art project that started in the Coronation year finally came to fruition this week. No less than 200 octagonal glazed tiles created by each school child and staff member in 2023 are now on display under the statue of St Thomas Becket.
My sincere thanks goes to Mr Gutierrez and his daughter Nadia for their excellent work installing the tiles.
The designing, making and painting of the tiles brought a lot of pleasure. We now have a lasting record of a memorable year!
Mrs Whitehead, Art Lead
Y6
The Nursery Class had a go at painting In the style of Van Gogh
Frank Marc- The Painter of Animals
Year 6-Work on silhouette
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy
