Kerin-Week 4 - Visual Art

 

The photo above is a regular grade 3/4 class that I take. This was a photo of their Magic Easter goggles and cards for their families. I have already outlined my art experience in the introduction posts. My most skilled medium is drawing. This is the skill that is very important to students and is the skill called upon in many subject areas.

I have found primary students are more verbal about how much they love art and respond differently in that they are more in a hurry to engage in art projects.  They have endless energy to rush from one project to the next without committing to planning, aesthetics and fine tuning. I think this is why I especially enjoy teaching art to grade 6 to 8. They still have the joyful enthusiasm about engaging in an art subject but will attempt to make it a more finished item.
It has been refreshing to see collaborative artworks and installations by primary students in the Trash to Art Exhibition in the Long Gallery last year and this supports my belief in exposing them at a young age to confidently present creative works to the public from a young age.
I have seen lots of evidence of meaningful engagement in art at the many primary schools where I have had relief teaching since the beginning of the school year this year. At an assembly at one school, the grade one's paraded their Mondrian look alike painting. I was very impressed. Nearly every classroom has displays of artwork on a range of subject matter from Picasso to skeletons to witches.  I have noted that it is often down to the teacher and his or her efforts. Art projects are often tied in with other subject matter and I attempt to do this as well even within my limited teaching time and not having the opportunity to follow through a project over a couple of weeks,
Primary art is about transforming students perceptions of their world into a creative construction. They make statements about themselves, other cultures and subject matter that interest them. It is exposure to reflection, impressions and formulating ideas. I think art naturally stems from early mark making, it tells a story through symbols and imagery.  However as they get older, I have seen students more overcome with lack of confidence and development of self doubt. Like other arts areas, building skills gradually and scaffolding students through stages of the creative process and familiarising them with a wide variety of expression will help them develop the ability to manipulate tools and techniques, develop observation and judgement skills. They use drawing especially in nearly all subject matter from maths to history. In regard to primary students constant worry that they can't draw realistically, they respond well when you tell them you are looking for individual style and interpretation and that "if you go and see any art exhibition today, you will see hardly any realism". I usually don't hear it after these comments. Their head go down and they get working. I always make sure to go back and pint out some outstanding features of their work.
My list of resources that I refer to for lesson plans are:
Education Department of Tasmania ( 1988). The Visual Arts in Primary Schools. Education Department Tasmania Australia.
Hume, H. (2008). The Art Teachers Survival Guide. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons.
Sterrett, D.(2007). Primary Art, Books A to G. Coventry, UK: Prim-Ed Publishing.

Reference
Department of Education, Tasmania. 1988. The Visual Arts in Primary Schools.