The artists and designers have been chosen to meet the requirements of the national curriculum in a way that will enthuse our pupils and build upon their prior knowledge. Pupils are taught to develop their techniques, including their control and use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.
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.
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 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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Core Skills and Colour Theory
Portraits
Printing
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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.
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.
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.
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’.
Portraits
Still Life
Sculpture
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Figure Drawing
Landscapes
Natural Forms
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Figure Drawing
Landscapes
Architecture