Seasonal Astronomy

I hope you are all having a happy, safe  and Peaceful Christmas.
I have always been fascinated by people who integrate their interests, experiences and ideas into their artwork. If you have the sort of inquiring mind that is fascinated by life then where do you draw the line, everything is interesting. Leonardo is a prime example of this phenomenon.
When I was at school I studies Art and Science, this was considered peculiar. Later in life I married a scientist. Some of my pupils at the time did wonder what we talked about, not understanding the similar approaches we had to our work,  a natural curiosity, a wish to explore, to research, to experiment, etc.
This morning I was listening to Radio National. Alan Bean, the US astronaut who was on the second landing on the moon in 1969, was being interviewed. He now spends his time painting his experiences. He has even incorpotated some moon dust and material that went into space into some of his work, just as  Matt Gauldie embedded brick dust from the Christchurch earthquake in his Earthquake Patrol.  He sounded a lovely, gentle and humble person. Have a look at his work.
Best wishes
Fiona
Alan Bean

Slinkachu

Extension Art Project

These are some pictures I have created in the style of Slinkachu ( see Slinkachu or follow link on the Heaton Art Blog March 2012 post)

He is a British artist who

takes photographs of small model people in big, real life places. My photographs were done

by painting small models to look like heaton people  and placing them around the school. I like the way Slinkachu

uses the people to portray real life and the way he uses humour in his pictures.

Liam Helleur

Liam has composed his photos so as to comment on some familiar school activities. We thought that they lent themselves to a caption competition.

The best submissions for a title for any of the images will receive a small prize. Please send entries to me before November 30^th.

Mrs Taylor

A

B

C

D

E

Citius, Altius, Fortius

During art technology, we created clay bowls centered around images of 'sport in action'

that incorporated our Olympics theme.

I chose an image of myself competing in a cross country

event because of the excitement and passion this sport provides. We also selected a motto to accompany our image that inspires us. Mine reads as

 “The gull that flies the highest sees the furthest.” - John Bach from Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Arlia Schurr year 8

Olympic Enquiry Topic.

Part of this topic involved looking at the images of athletes from the Ancient Olympic Games. Many of the sports we see depicted on Greek pottery are easy to recognize. The images provide us with much information about sport and the important role it played in the ancient world.

Students were asked to find images of themselves participating in an Olympic sport which they were involved in or were passionate about.  They used these images to decorate their terracotta bowls using traditional techniques.

I am sure any Olympic athlete, ancient or modern, would recognize the commitment and energy Arlia has shown in her ceramic piece.

Fiona Taylor

Transitional Cathedral

Signing my tube

Painting in pairs

Laminate beams

I have just been helping get the cardboard tubes ready for the Transitional Cathedral. Each giant tube needs at least 3 coats of a sealer to make it waterproof. Painters work in pairs , trying not to bump into each other. After a while you get a rhythm going with your partner working your way along the tube. The sealer dries quite fast so you don't have long to get the finish just right.
It was not possible to make the tubes as thick as Shigeru Ban, the architect, would like in Christchurch, so each tube has a laminated wood beam running through it.  There are 500 tubes to be painted. Each volunteer is allowed to sign a tube on the inside. Large bolts hold the tubes in place.
It will be fun when the building is finally up to guess which is my tube. I will probably be judging the quality of the painting too!

Links
Transitional Cathedral Project
Window design
Shigeru Ban Architects

Artyfactory

Try out the ARTYFACTORY, quizzes, lessons and art appreciation

Ryan's holiday project

Below is Ryan Bishop's holiday project. To my great delight he took on board a 'what next idea' and applied it to his black and white drypoint print. Well done Ryan, considered and exciting use of colour.

Mrs Taylor

Well first I got the idea from Mrs Taylor who said, "if you have a scanner at home you can scan the picture, and if you have a paint program you can edit the picture add some colour to it".
I did not have a scanner at home or a printer. So I went to Paper Plus and they scanned it for me and sent it to my email address.
That night I went onto the computer and looked for a paint program and there it was. It was called 'Paint'
So I got started. It was hard some times when I was going to put  colour on it the whole thing went green it took a while to do but it was worth it. 

Ryan Bishop

Year 7

ICE FEST

ICE FEST is currently taking place in Hagley Park. There are some superb events. Last night I went to hear Chadden Hunter, a zoologist and director of the BBC Frozen Planet series. he talked not only about the wildlife, as one would expect, but also the logistics and creative thinking required to use, adapt and sometimes even invent equipment that would cope with extreme temperatures and unique situations. If you have not see Frozen Planet you have something to really look forward to. There is a huge amount of artistic input in getting those shots right. 

Chadden worked with a friend of mine, Alastair Fothergill, who was executive director of the series. A while ago he selected his favourite 'ice' paintings. I ran a link to his  last year. Click below to find the link again.
Alastair Fothergill

Other favourtie artists who worked using snow and ice as their inspiration are
  Andy Goldsworthy

( I found very few images for his  Arctic work on line. Any search of his name will show you his other work, some of which does include working with snow and ice . However, I do have a copy of Touching North , a book on his  Arctic work. Just ask if you want to have a look.)

and Simon Beck see also previous posting on him

Space Art

When I was much younger I remember sitting and watching the first landing on the moon, as did anyone in the world with access to a TV. I imagine a huge number of people also listened to the radio. For the first time in human history a huge proportion of mankind were focused on this giant leap for mankind. This month the man who took that first step in 1969, Neil Armstrong, died

ARMSTRONG: I’m at the foot of the ladder. The LM [lunar module] footpads are only depressed in the surface about one or two inches, although the surface appears to be very, very fine grained, as you get close to it. It’s almost like a powder. Now and then it’s very fine. I’m going to step off the LM now. That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

Just recently I discovered this clip of the first Space Art

 Reaching an astonishing 100 thousand 810 hundred feet near Space, whilst simultaneously creating a world-first work of art by all means made JoshingTalk Space Art (JTSA) a success. - Click on the image below to see the art work on it's 'birth journey'.

Future Olympians

This term the year 8's have been looking at 

Olympic Art and Sports Artists

The first record of the Olympic Games was 776 BC, they continued for at least 1000 years. The games offered artists, writers etc. a chance to make themselves known. Painters and sculptors also exhibited their work on Mount Olympus and received the same awards as other athletes competing at the games. More than 1,500 years after the ancient games came to an end Baron Pierre de Coubertain had a dream to bring back the games. In 1896 the first modern Olympics was held in Athens. Coubertain’s original dream was to include the arts in the Olympics. This was finally realized at the 5th Olympiad in Stockholm, Sweden in 1912. There were categories for Architecture, Literature, Music, Painting and Sculpture.

We looked at Ancient Greek art, in particular 

'The Winged Victory of Samothrace', Nike 2nd Century BC

The influence of this sculpture, probably the second most famous art work in The Louvre, Paris, still continues today.

                 Audrey Hepburn in 'Funny Face'

 Boccioni

 'Titanic'

After further studies of other artists and photographers, students composed their own paintings using Pointillist techniques base on photographs of themselves or favourite Olympians.

Below is Nic's self-portrait.

Nic going for Gold

Ballentynes Art Show

This show is now closed. Congratulations to all students who exhibited work in the Ballentynes  downstairs cafe this August.

More 

Fairtrade Bowls

Made using terracotta clay and decorated with oxides