Our project during the Autumn term took it’s inspiration from the Ancient Greeks. We focused on their theatres – both the architecture of the theatre and then the masks worn by the actors while performing.

We looked at the different styles of columns that were the main feature of many of their buildings during this time. We explored drawing the different columns, thinking about the sketching pencil we were using and how to create light and shade on our columns. We used a Sharpie to add definition.

We had great fun while experimenting with marbling, using shaving foam, which while creative, also had an element of science to it. I particularly loved the WOW factor this lesson had!

Using the marbled paper the children then drew their preferred column onto it and cut it out before mounting it onto card. They were very eye-catching and looked beautiful.

After being ‘architects’ we turned our attention to inside the theatre and concentrated on the masks used by the actors. These were often larger than life with exaggerated expressions and were a piece of art on their own. We used cardboard and Papier Mache before painting them…. Here a just a selection – can you see the expression each mask represents?

During the Autumn term the children learnt about the artist Henry Moore.

He was an artist who was commissioned to draw and paint pictures of Britain during WWII. He used a variety of media including pencils, charcoal wax and paints.

His work inspired the children to create their own paintings of life during air raids, underground in the tube station of London. Using a range of techniques that he used, including wax resist and one point perspective.

The children then looked at his sculptures and identified key features about them. They talked about where the light fell on the sculpture and did an observational drawing of it.

The children then created their own clay sculpture of a WWII person, in the style of Henry Moore. Once dry they mixed their own metallic paint to make their sculpture look more authentic.

After we had created our Anglo Saxon jewellery we decided to learn about contemporary jewellery and we studied the jewellery designers Tiffanys. In recent years they have created designs from Disney to Christmas themed charms and ornaments. This inspired the children to create their own novelty jewellery and ornaments, using polymer clay. I was astounded by their endeavours as I’m sure you will be. It would be too big a challenge to chose a favourite!

For our Autumn project, we looked at the Anglo Saxons and in particular their crafts people. We focused on their jewellery and the materials and techniques that they used to create it. Some of the most interesting Anglo-Saxon items are in The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Kent. In their vast collection are items of jewellery dating from the 5th to 8th centuries. At that time the Kingdom of Kent was wealthy, well connected and known for its outstanding craftsmanship.

We started by choosing one of our favourite pieces from the collection and doing an observational drawing of it. After that we noted key features of Anglo Saxon jewellery, such as their use of symmetry, garnets and geometric shapes and drew and design of our jewellery. We then made our jewellery, using cardboard, tin foil and bronze paint. We were excited and thrilled with our final pieces of jewellery…. don’t you think that they are fantastic too?

The children looked at a variety of graffiti and street art and I posed the question, ‘Is street art like Banksy does a new form of art? After a discussion the children were shown a various cave paintings and we established that early humans may have used art as a way of helping themselves in their struggle for survival. Paintings of animals on cave walls were common. Perhaps this was thought to bring success when hunting or may have acted as a call for help from a spirit world the people believed in.

We then learnt about the sculpture Alberto Giacometti and experimented creating sculptures of cave men and women. First we used pipe cleaners and then moved on to creating people out of tin foil and painting them with a bronze paint. The was a challenging skill to master, but the children showed great resilience and perseverance and it paid of as the results were amazing!

The children then experimented with creating papers stained with tea and coffee to make them look like cave and used different media such as charcoal, paint, and coloured pencils to create their own cave paintings and ‘stories’. The children also used sand paper to replica the texture of the caves. We used our Art Exploration books as we experimented and were able to see which media we preferred and why. What do you think?

During the Autumn term we have been looking at the Arctic for our art inspiration. We read the book of Iris and Isaac and drew our own polar bears, inspired by the artist Catherine Raynor. We then made our own polar bear sculptures, using model magic.

We took our inspiration from our book, Iris and Isaac and created our own polar bear landscapes.

During this project we explored water colour techniques, continuous line drawings and learnt about wax resist. As you can see from our Art Exploration books we really embraced all our new skills techniques.

Wow! We have really enjoyed learning about toys old and new. We have learnt about Old Bear by Jane Hissey and the Everywhere Bear by Rebecca Cobb.

We drew and then painted our own ‘everywhere bear’ and then the bear travelled all around our local area… he even travelled to Fratton Park and the Spinnaker Tower. Did you spot him?

We have learnt about Steiff bears and created our own clay bear heads.

We have made a great start to our art exploration books to share our ideas and learn new skills and techniques.

We took time out from the project to remember people who have sadly died, both in our families and during wars. The children thought about what peace feels like and how the Holy Spirit gives us special gifts called Charisms and we can use these gifts to spread peace throughout our homes, our school and the wider world.

The children represented this by using oil and chalk pastels to colour a poppy and placing it onto a black and white photo of their hands. I’m sure you’ll agree that the imagery is very powerful.

We have had such an exciting start to our art journey at St Peter’s. Please look and celebrate all our creative projects.

We looked at the colourful landscapes that the Canadian artist Ted Harrison created. We then decided to create our own Arctic landscapes, inspired by him. After that we drew our polar bears and added them to our landscapes. I think they turned out magnificently…don’t you?

We were exploring colour mixing with paints. We used the primary colours and mixed two together at a time to make secondary colours.

We learnt about the colour monster and created our own, thinking about our thoughts and feelings.

We then chose our favourite things to put into our feelings jar.

On Friday we took the children over onto the field to do some painting. What the children didn’t know was that we weren’t going to be using the school paints….we were using MUD, just like the cave paintings from long, long ago.

We mixed mud and water and hey presto we had paint! The children had a wonderful time painting on our large roll of paper and then some individual paintings. The added bonus was the sun was shining!

We hope you like looking through our gallery of paintings.

Once again, St Peter’s was selected to be the School in Residence at the Allen Gallery in Alton. This programme offered pupils the chance to engage with all aspects of the gallery, including the art studio, over a period of six weeks.

The twelve children from Year 4 & Year 5 visited on a weekly basis to use the studio, explore the exhibitions, and create an Easter project, which was then dispalyed in the gallery at the end of their residency.

Their Easter project consisted of decorated real eggs, in and Eastern Eurpean style, an oil and chalk pastels drawing of decorated eggs and a decoupage spring themed tile. The work was exhibited in the main hall during the Easter weekend, with their real eggs forming the Allen Gallery Easter Egg Trail that ran throughout the Easter holidays.

We do hope you managed to see it in person, if not, here are some photos below.

It was highly successful, and the children benefited immensely from the experience.

Year 4 children have created these stunning pictures, using oil and chalk pastels to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus