Art Curriculum

Illustration of art material

Know Great Artists and Designers

Pupils produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences. Pupils become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques. Pupils evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design. Pupils know about great artists, art movements, craft makers and designers and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Professional Artist

To achieve these exceptional outcomes, art and design is taught in half-termly blocks by a professional artist, with lessons supported by the class teacher. The artist shows pupils exactly how to use each media in depth step-by-step.

Art and Design and Technology

Art alternates with design and technology each half-term. There is synchronicity between the art and design and design and technology curriculum in terms of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement in Year 3. When Year 4 learn about structures in D&T they also learn about Zahar Hadid’s architecture and the importance of form. Technical drawings created when planning and designing products use proportion and perspective skills developed in art to create 3D renders in D&T.

Year 3

Week 1

Outcome

  • To draw different marks with a pencil

 

Vocabulary

  • dark
  • light
  • wavy
  • straight
  • pressure

Week 2

Outcome

  • To create depth using shading with pencils

 

Vocabulary

  • tone
  • shadow
  • highlight
  • contrast
  • space

Week 3

Outcome

  • To draw a range of different textures

 

Vocabulary

  • crosshatching
  • graphite
  • stippling
  • horizontal
  • vertical

Week 4

Outcome

  • To draw a landscape using a variety of textures

 

Vocabulary

  • undulating
  • perspective
  • foreground
  • background
  • atmosphere

Week 5

Outcome

  • To create different strokes using a paint brush

 

Vocabulary

  • water soluble
  • dabbing
  • splatter
  • fine point
  • broad

Week 6

Outcome

  • To present the relationship between colours on a colour wheel

 

Vocabulary

  • primary
  • secondary
  • poster paint
  • thickness
  • warm
  • cool
  • opposite

Week 7

Outcome

  • To blend and shade using paint

 

Vocabulary

  • palette
  • hue
  • monochrome
  • gradual
  • blend

Week 1

Outcome

  • To recall the key features of styles of portraiture

 

Vocabulary

  • expression
  • symmetry
  • profile
  • self- portrait
  • stylisation
  • realism

Week 2

Outcome

  • To draw facial features

 

Vocabulary

  • ellipse
  • sphere
  • vertical
  • horizontal
  • proportion

Week 3

Outcome

  • To draw a face using traditional proportions

 

Vocabulary

  • dimensions
  • protrude
  • recede
  • hairline
  • eye-line

Week 4

Outcome

  • To recall the traditional proportions for a face and study a drawing

 

Vocabulary

  • shading
  • characterisation
  • texture

Week 5

Outcome

  • To paint a portrait with poster paints

 

Vocabulary

  • background
  • blending
  • outline
  • paint consistency

Week 6

Outcome

  • To paint details with fine brushes
  • Trip to National Gallery

 

Vocabulary

  • brushstrokes
  • layering
  • miniature

Week 1

Outcome

  • To identify the features of the style of printing of William Morris

 

Vocabulary

  • floral
  • nature
  • repeat
  • symmetrical
  • woodcut

Week 2

Outcome

  • To draw and shade symmetrical designs

 

Vocabulary

  • shade
  • designs
  • decorative
  • ornate
  • symmetrical motif

Week 3

Outcome

  • To create a design onto a polystyrene plate for printing

 

Vocabulary

  • plate
  • carve
  • reverse
  • transfer
  • repetitive

Week 4

Outcome

  • To print using relief printing

 

Vocabulary

  • relief printing
  • roller
  • aligning
  • pattern
  • engrave

Week 5

Outcome

  • To add further details to the print by amending a relief

 

Vocabulary

  • enhance
  • overlapping
  • mirror image
  • medium
  • amending

Week 6

Outcome

  • To complete a relief print with a second print

 

Vocabulary

  • viscous
  • opaque
  • textile
  • pressure
  • smudging

Drawing Skills and Sketchbooks

Year 3 start by focusing on basic drawing skills. Pupils are taught to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas in subsequent years. Using a variety of pencils, they demonstrate their understanding of the concept of form and tone, experimenting with mark-making to build on their knowledge of shapes and textures.

Painting

Pupils are taught the importance of using the appropriate paintbrush and brushstrokes for the task. They also discuss the concept of colour theory, painting a colour wheel to show the difference between primary and secondary colours. Using all this knowledge they progress to shading and tonal painting.

Printing

Year 3 experiment with a variety of materials focusing particularly on printing. Previously, in KS 1 they concentrate on basic mono-printing with found objects. This progresses into Year 3 when they look at William Morris’s work and create a design using natural forms and symmetry which they transfer onto printing blocks and double print in repetition.

Portraits

Year 3 then use their knowledge of observational drawing to concentrate on portraiture focusing on the features and proportions of the face. They look at famous portrait paintings particularly Roy Lichtenstein’s ‘Marilyn Monroe’ and use this to inspire their own work.

colour-wheel

Autumn

Core Skills and Colour Theory

lichtenstein

Spring

Portraits

  • Artists: Da Vinci, Matisse, Lichtenstein
william-morris

Summer

Printing

  • Artists: Hokusai, M.C Escher, Morris, Picasso

Year 4

Week 1

Outcome

  • To look at the work and compare the styles of famous artists who painted portraits

 

Vocabulary

  • Realistic
  • Cubist
  • abstract
  • Renaissance
  • portrait

Week 2

Outcome

  • To draw a face using the correct proportions

 

Vocabulary

  • symmetry
  • proportion
  • dimensions
  • structure
  • ellipse

Week 3

Outcome

  • To draw the features of a face with changes to create individuality

 

Vocabulary

  • cheekbones
  • jawline
  • hairline
  • pout
  • vacant

Week 4

Outcome

  • To experiment with ways of shading a face

 

Vocabulary

  • tonal
  • texture
  • highlights
  • monochrome
  • charcoal

Week 5

Outcome

  • To draw a face

 

Vocabulary

  • details
  • features
  • profile
  • semi-profile
  • realism

Week 6

Outcome

  • To paint the face with watercolour paints

 

Vocabulary

  • graded wash
  • brushstrokes
  • consistency
  • skin tone
  • texture

Week 7

Outcome

  • To complete a portrait in watercolours

 

Vocabulary

  • dry brush
  • brushstrokes
  • consistency
  • skin tone
  • texture

Week 1

Outcome

  • To identify features of famous paintings in the history of still life

 

Vocabulary

  • frescoes
  • iconography
  • hyperrealism
  • realism
  • impressionist
  • cubist

Week 2

Outcome

  • To draw and shade objects for still life

 

Vocabulary

  • arrangement
  • foreground
  • inanimate

Week 3

Outcome

  • To draw a still life using charcoal

 

Vocabulary

  • shading
  • chiaroscuro
  • smudging
  • shadows

Week 4

Outcome

  • To create a painted still life

 

Vocabulary

  • blending
  • brush strokes
  • palette

Week 5

Outcome

  • To create a Cubist background

 

Vocabulary

  • texture
  • depth
  • collage

Week 6

Outcome

  • To combine mixed media work

 

Vocabulary

  • assemble
  • dismantle
  • deconstruct

Week 1

Outcome

  • To recall the names of famous potters and some features of their work

 

Vocabulary

  • pottery
  • potter
  • kiln
  • fire
  • sculptor

Week 2

Outcome

  • To draw 3D pots with shading

 

Vocabulary

  • 3D
  • shading
  • dark to light
  • cylinder
  • observe

Week 3

Outcome

  • To make a simple pinch pot

 

Vocabulary

  • pinch pot
  • clay
  • thickness
  • composite
  • identical

Week 4

Outcome

  • To paint and decorate a pinch pot

 

Vocabulary

  • background
  • contrast
  • detail
  • influence

Week 5

Outcome

  • To make a coil pot

 

Vocabulary

  • coil pot
  • base
  • joins
  • malleable
  • harden

Week 6

Outcome

  • To paint and decorate a coil pot

 

Vocabulary

  • decorate

Week 7

Outcome

  • To assess and evaluate how successful the techniques for creating pinch and coil pots

 

Vocabulary

  • assess
  • evaluate

Concept of mood

Building on the knowledge acquired in Year 3, Year 4 revisit portraiture focusing on more realistic shading of the face and the concept of expression and mood. They then study the portraits of the well-known artist, Chris Offilli, noting his cultural influences and how they impact on his work. They use their observations to influence their final painting.

Still Life

Year 4 move on to a very popular aspect in art, the still life. Here, they apply their knowledge of drawing and shading objects but now they have to be aware of the relationship between the objects and draw them accurately in relation to each other. They look at the still life collages of artists Pablo Picasso and George Braque. Using a variety of coloured and textured papers, they create their own collage influenced by these cubist artists.

Shading

Building on the knowledge acquired in Year 3, Year 4 revisit portraiture focusing on more realistic shading of the face. They then study the portraits of the well-known artist, Chris Offilli, noting his cultural influences and how they impact on his work. They use their observations to influence their final painting.

Sculpture

Building on the children’s emerging awareness of texture and three-dimensional form starting with collage, they look at a range of sculptures by famous sculptors. Drawing on the natural world for inspiration, they will design and create a paper sculpture influenced by Barbara Hepworth’s ‘Orpheus’.

Autumn

chris-offilli

Portraits

  • Artists: Vermeer, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Ofilli

Spring

pablo-picasso

Still Life

  • Artists: Picasso, Cezanne

Summer

barbara-hepworth

Sculpture

  • Artists: Michelangelo, Rodin, Brancusi, Degas, Hepworth

Year 5

Week 1

Outcome

  • To compare style of Dutch Masters to Impressionists

 

Vocabulary

  • realism
  • painterly
  • brushstroke
  • contemporary
  • pointillism
  • domestic

Week 2

Outcome

  • To recall the proportions of the human figure for drawing

 

Vocabulary

  • guidelines
  • foreshortened
  • measurements
  • angles
  • perspective

Week 3

Outcome

  • To draw people in various positions

 

Vocabulary

  • posture
  • demeanour
  • natural
  • foreshortened
  • reclined

Week 4

Outcome

  • To can draw different clothing

 

Vocabulary

  • folds
  • loose fitting
  • fabric
  • creases
  • texture

Week 5

Outcome

  • To draw figures in a landscape

 

Vocabulary

  • colour blending
  • colour shading
  • wet-on-wet
  • contour
  • sculptural

Week 6

Outcome

  • To paint details and textures using fine brushstrokes with watercolours

 

Vocabulary

  • dry brush
  • fine line
  • layering
  • highlights
  • detail

Week 7

Outcome

  • To shade and add detail to a figure drawing with pen lines

 

Vocabulary

  • lifting colour
  • scumbling
  • splatter
  • saturated

Week 1

Outcome

  • To analyse and compare famous artists’ treatment of landscapes

 

Vocabulary

  • impressionistic
  • vibrant
  • chiaroscuro
  • perspective

Week 2

Outcome

  • To analyse the work of David Hockney and draw various elements of a landscape

 

Vocabulary

  • panoramic
  • aerial
  • spacial depth
  • seasonal
  • composition
  • ‘en plein air’

Week 3

Outcome

  • To draw a landscape in the style of David Hockney

 

Vocabulary

  • vanishing point
  • converging
  • pastoral
  • infinity
  • undulating

Week 4

Outcome

  • To paint a background tonally with a limited palette of poster paints

 

Vocabulary

  • colour saturation
  • colour wash
  • graduated colour
  • tone

Week 5

Outcome

  • To paint the foreground of a landscape

 

Vocabulary

  • focal point
  • atmospheric
  • vibrant
  • dramatic

Week 6

Outcome

  • To add textural details to a landscape

 

Vocabulary

  • dappled
  • texture
  • brushstrokes
  • contrasting
  • variegated

Week 1

Outcome

  • To look at the work and compare the different styles of famous artists who painted natural forms

 

Vocabulary

  • botanical
  • fantasy
  • naïve
  • primitive
  • simplistic

Week 2

Outcome

  • To make an observational drawing of natural forms

 

Vocabulary

  • decorative
  • floral
  • beauty
  • portion
  • close-up

Week 3

Outcome

  • To enlarge a picture with a viewfinder

 

Vocabulary

  • enlarge
  • view finder
  • cropping
  • focal point
  • composition

Week 4

Outcome

  • To shade tonally with poster paint

 

Vocabulary

  • shading
  • tonal
  • primary colours
  • secondary colours
  • palette

Week 5

Outcome

  • To paint an enlarged picture

 

Vocabulary

  • vibrant
  • blending
  • opacity
  • transparency
  • sculptural

Week 6

Outcome

  • To complete the painting of an enlarged picture

 

Vocabulary

  • highlight
  • background
  • texture
  • dramatic
  • realism

Week 7

Outcome

  • To add detail to complete a painting

 

Vocabulary

  • magnify
  • intense
  • American modernism
  • elements
  • detail

The Human Figure

Having concentrated on portraiture in Year 4, Year 5 children progress to drawing the entire human figure. They look at various artists’ depictions of the figure and how the treatment and purpose for painting figures have changed through history.

Observational Drawings of People

They create observational drawings of people in various poses focusing particularly on the proportions. Using these preparatory sketches, they create a painting influenced by Paul Cezanne’s ‘Picnic’ of figures in a landscape which they paint with watercolours.

Landscapes

Having briefly touched on landscapes, Year 5 study an iconic British artist, David Hockney and his interpretations of various landscapes using traditional materials and technology. They look at perspective, colour, tone and texture in the art and design. Using his painting ‘Garrowby Hill’ as inspiration they will create a landscape with a limited palette of poster paint concentrating on receding and advancing colours to enhance the perspective element, finally adding layered texture.

Computer Generated Art

There are links with the Year 5 computing curriculum which uses design software to recreate Maurits Escher’s work on repeating objects and patterns, especially his tessellations and Bridget Riley’s work on overlapping art and her restricted colour palette. Geometric patterns used in Islamic art, especially in the construction and design of mosques links with art and design as well as RE as Year 5 focus in the Autumn term on Islam and visit a mosque. Pupils create a virtual gallery in computing to exhibit their computer generated artwork.

Detailed Observational Drawings

As landscapes are made up of so many natural elements, the children now look at those more closely. They create detailed observational drawings of plants and animals. Using these sketches the children will paint a picture influenced by ‘Exotic landscape with monkeys and parrot’ by Henri Rousseau which illustrates the huge range of shapes, colours and textures in nature.

Autumn

paul-cezanne

Figure Drawing

  • Artists: Dutch Golden Age, Impressionists

Spring

david-hockney

Landscapes

  • Artists: Turner, Constable, Van Gogh, Hockney

Summer

henri-rousseau

Natural Forms

  • Rousseau, Kahlo, O’Keefe, Monet

Year 6

Week 1

Outcome

  • To recall the proportions of the human figure for drawing

 

Vocabulary

  • proportion
  • symmetry
  • relative
  • waist
  • thigh

Week 2

Outcome

  • To study the work of Henry Moore

 

Vocabulary

  • draughtsman
  • sculptural
  • semi-abstract
  • cast bronze
  • Blitz

Week 3

Outcome

  • To draw people in different positions

 

Vocabulary

  • foreshortening
  • observation
  • anonymous
  • tormented
  • slouch

Week 4

Outcome

  • To describe the steps to create one-point perspective

 

Vocabulary

  • vanishing point
  • retreating
  • foreground
  • converge
  • background

Week 5

Outcome

  • To create a final drawing based on Henry Moore’s WWII work

 

Vocabulary

  • monumental
  • reclining
  • shelter
  • atmosphere
  • immobile

Week 6

Outcome

  • To shade and create emphasis using wax crayons

 

Vocabulary

  • highlight
  • waterproof
  • oil-based
  • resistant
  • low-light

Week 7

Outcome

  • To create sepia tones with watercolours over wax drawings

 

Vocabulary

  • sepia
  • reactive
  • transparent
  • pigments
  • muted

Week 1

Outcome

  • To describe the style, and landscapes of Edward Hopper

 

Vocabulary

  • isolated
  • austere
  • melancholic
  • haunting
  • ‘en plein air’
  • ominous
  • innovative
  • desolate
  • naturalistic

Week 2

Outcome

  • To sketch lighthouses

 

Vocabulary

  • elevated
  • lofty
  • imposing
  • unmanned
  • immense
  • distant
  • exposed

Week 3

Outcome

  • To draw a seascape in the style of Hopper on cartridge paper

 

Vocabulary

  • horizon
  • uninterrupted
  • limitless
  • coastline
  • elements

Week 4

Outcome

  • To practise and experiment with watercolour effects for sea, hills and sky

 

Vocabulary

  • blotting
  • chromatic
  • aquamarine
  • granular
  • complementary
  • gouache

Week 5

Outcome

  • To paint the background elements of a landscape

 

Vocabulary

  • dimension
  • languid
  • starkly
  • graduation
  • asymmetrical
  • undulating
  • embedded

Week 6

Outcome

  • To paint to complete a painting

 

Vocabulary

  • luminosity
  • variegated
  • viewfinder
  • aquamedia
  • scumbling
  • perspective
  • graded wash
  • texture

Week 1

Outcome

  • To identify the work of some notable architects and styles, including Antoni Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry

 

Vocabulary

  • architect
  • architecture
  • Baroque
  • Neo-classical
  • Post-modernism
  • aesthetic

Week 2

Outcome

  • To design a basic building using two-point perspective using a model

 

Vocabulary

  • vanishing point
  • parallel
  • vertical
  • horizontal
  • perspective
  • proportion
  • horizon line

Week 3

Outcome

  • To design my own basic building using two-point perspective

 

Vocabulary

  • exterior
  • geometric,
  • linear,
  • converging,
  • realistic

Week 4

Outcome

  • To paint a design of a building with watercolours

 

Vocabulary

  • elevation
  • façade
  • functional
  • planes

Week 5

Outcome

  • To use watercolours to highlight parts of an architectural design

 

Vocabulary

  • feathering
  • surroundings
  • built environment

Week 6

Outcome

  • To add architectural details with pen

 

Vocabulary

  • elements
  • balustrade
  • terrace
  • two dimensional

Perspective and Figure Drawing

In Year 6, the children combine their knowledge of perspective and figure drawing to create a picture based on Henry Moore’s wartime art, depicting people sheltering in the underground in London during bomb raids. They discuss the emotions that must have influenced these pictures and how the artist shows this. Using this information, they create their own pictures of people in this situation. They use mixed media in their final piece.

Art History

Our pupils are able to appreciate and discuss artworks confidently having the knowledge and understanding of the history of it. They learn how meaning is communicated in images and artefacts through exploring Art History which is embedded within the curriculum.

Watercolours

Having used watercolours in previous years, the children in Year 6 now experiment with different watercolour techniques and how to create various effects including how to paint rocks, sea, sky and buildings. They look at the work of American realist painter, Edward Hopper and his paintings of lighthouses. Researching different lighthouses and creating preparatory sketches. Using their sketches and watercolour techniques, they create a final piece.

Architecture

Finally, having drawn buildings in perspective for their lighthouses, Year 6 looks at the history of architecture right up to the present day. Studying the buildings themselves and all the details that distinguish one period from another, they sketch windows and doors and any other decorative elements typical of a particular period. These evaluative skills are also used in design and technology projects to distinguish between different design periods. They then look at the buildings designed by a range of contemporary architects, particularly Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd-Wright, Frank Gehry and Zahar Hadid. Using this knowledge, they design their own preliminary watercolour sketches of a building with its surroundings.

Autumn

henry-moore

Figure Drawing

  • Artists: Henry Moore

Spring

edward-hopper

Landscapes

  • Artists: Edward Hopper, Impressionists

Summer

zaha-hadid

Architecture

  • Styles: Baroque, Neo Classical, Modernism