Art Curriculum
The following presentation was prepared for governors.
At St. Kentigern's we offer a broad Art & Design curriculum allowing us to showcase artists and art styles from different people, cultures and historical time periods. We want our children to understand that Art & Design allows to create things to enjoy, express our feeling and ideas understand how Art & Design is all around us. From the artwork of the prehistoric humans in the Lascaux caves, to the manufactured bathroom tiles of William Morris, children learn to see a range of different artists and artworks. Please click our global map, which shows the places and cultures the artists children will meet at St. Kentigern's and the places they come from.
The following video was made about Art & Design by Year 5 pupils as part of one of their Computing topics on recording and editing videos.
Intent
At St. Kentigern’s Catholic Primary School, we endeavour to develop children’s appreciation of art and artists from a range of cultures, backgrounds and time periods. We seek to develop all children’s enjoyment and passion for art while studying significant artists who also shared and communicated their passions through their creativity and artwork. Our aim is to develop the cultural awareness of learners through the subject of art as well as developing skills and knowledge of working with a range of different media.
Our ambitious curriculum aims to develop children’s skills of drawing & sketching, colour, pattern, texture, sculpture, three-dimensional construction, printing and digital media. Artwork is linked into our Gospel values curriculum in order to make links with the children’s artwork and other curriculum areas. We want to ensure all of our learners have the experience to find success through both their understanding of art and through their own artistic expression. Our curriculum is designed to immerse children in learning of the great diversity of artists and their artistic styles, allowing our children’s cultural capital to grow; developing their awareness of art as a valued and necessary way to communicate, represent and express the beauty of creation and the relationships with other in life. It is a chance for enjoyment whilst learning about humans throughout time, from the earliest cave paintings, to modern artists still alive today, communicate their experience and understanding of God’s world around them.
Implementation
Our Art & Design curriculum seeks to provide children with a broad understanding of what art is and what it means to be an artist. From their start in Reception, children become familiar with a range of tools, artists and media. Beginning in Year 1, children begin to develop greater mastery of their skills, which they continue to build on through to Year 6. Children complete a sketchbook, where they gather thoughts, ideas and understanding of the artists, art forms or genre/style they study. This is carried through school with them for children to develop and reflect upon as they progress with their artistic abilities.
In each year group, Art & Design is taught through discreet art lessons, linked to our Gospel values curriculum and connected with other areas of learning such as Science, History or P.S.H.E. At the heart of each topic is a great artist, designer or craftsperson whose artwork forms the centre of the learning. The artists’ work and their unique significance are used as introduction for learning, before children develop their skills in a range of different media, drawing inspiration from both the style and on occasion from the messages behind an artist’s creation. Each child creates their own work, drawing upon their learning and mastering their newly acquired techniques and knowledge.
Impact
Art and Design is a subject which allows all children to showcase and express their understanding of the world around them. Throughout their primary school journey, the children’s progress as artists is celebrated through their independent work; their journey as creators is followed through their sketchbooks, which highlights the development of their artistic skill with each passing topic. Teachers at St. Kentigern’s have high expectations of our pupils to develop their cultural understanding and appreciation of art in all its wide-ranging styles. Our children progress with their knowledge of using technical and artistic vocabulary accurately and develop their reflective qualities about their own artwork and the creations of peers alike. The children at St. Kentigern’s develop a modern understanding of who can be an artist and what art is, whilst developing the patience, resilience and other transferable life-long skills.
Art Reception
In Reception, the EYFS early learning goals provide many opportunities for children to develop skills related to Art & Design. Children in Reception while develop their skills while being introduced to the following artists.
Kandinksy - Spirals and Squares
Exploring with different brushes and colours, children create work inspired by Kandinsky's circles in squares.
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Vincent Van Gogh - Sunflowers
Being inspired by nature, children will study vases of flowers to create artwork inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's sunflowers.
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Hundertwasser and Pacita Abad - Exploring Colour and Pattern
Children learn about shapes and colours as they create artwork inspired by two artists.
Useful links:
Hundertwasser Art Lesson on Youtube
Pacita Abad at Brooklyn Museum
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Coming Soon...
Art Year 1
In Year 1, we seek to develop children's understanding and skills further by studying the following artists.
Picasso and Van Gogh - Drawing Portraits
Artwork of people is something that is common through all art history. Two famous artists show Year 1 how portraits can be created. This work links to Year 1 developing a better understanding of themselves building on their Science and PSHE work. Children will learn to have better control of their line and tone in their work as they aim to create a realistic portrait as well as learning to name and use a range of drawing tools.
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S. H. Raza - Painting and Colour
Do colours have meanings? That's what Year 1 explore in this unit. Children learn about warm and cool colours and look at which colours go well together as they explore in their sketchbooks. They study the artwork of S. H. Raza.
Useful links:
Ideas Linked to S.H. Raza's Art
Watch the Video of the Book Based on Raza's Work
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Paul Klee - Collage
Cutting, tearing, sticking and layering are all skills developed in this unit. Inspired by the collages of Paul Klee, children work to create a collage of their own with different materials. Drawing skills are built on further as children 'take a line for a walk'.
Useful link:
Drawing Skills and Taking a Line for a Walk with Tate Kids
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Mini Project: Andy Goldsworthy - Found Sculpture
As nature, their environment and the seasons take a big focus in the Science and Geography work in Year 1, this unit builds upon this learning by getting children to be gatherers and collectors. Inspired by nature and the work of Andy Goldsworthy, children learn to create a sculpture and treasure the objects they find.
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Andy Goldsworthy's Nature Inspired Artwork
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Mini Project: Cecilia Vicuña
Vicuña's artwork shows her love of colours, threads and fabric, often creating artwork from nothing but entangled and dangling threads or pieces of material. Year 1 children get the chance to explore materials, fabrics and threads, selecting colours that appeal to them and learning how to work and weave with them. Her work always shares a message about people and our planet, linking with the R.E. and Geography topics about community and our world.
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Gallery - coming soon...
Art Year 2
In Year 2, we seek to develop children's understanding and skills further by studying the following artists.
Shilpa Gupta - Drawing and Line
Being inspired by the borders of countries, Shilpa Gupta uses lines to represent countries in her work. This links well to the Geography work in Year 2 where children learn more about the UK and the continents of the world. Children use a range of drawing tools to learn to be expressive with their lines and use the equipment with greater control.
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Georgia O'Keefe - Painting Flowers
Brush control develops in this art topic as children learn to paint with tints and shades. Linking with Year 2 Science work about plants, children study different flowers and try to capture them in the same close up detail style of Georgia O'Keefe.
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Niki De Saint Phalle - Sculpture
The colourful sculptures of Niki De Saint Phalle allow the children to build upon their Science work looking at animals and then add their own imaginative twist. Beginning with observational drawing, the children then go on to build their creature using 3D modelling materials.
Useful link:
The Colourful Sculptures of Niki de Saint Phalle
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Mini Project: Collographs
As the children learn about holidays through time in History, it's time to celebrate iconic seaside treats.Children build and make a seaside collograph print using card and other materials to the print using printing inks.
Useful link:
Make a Collograph Print at Home with Junk Materials
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Mini Project: Digital Photography
As part of their Computing, Year 2 children learn how they can become better at taking photographs. Thinking about what makes a good quality photograph allows children to take some snaps and put their work to the test when they are doing their Geography topic on their local environment, just like many landscape photographers around the world.
Useful link:
The Landscape Photographer of the Year Website
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Coming soon...
Art Year 3
In Year 3, we seek to develop children's understanding and skills further by studying the following artists.
The Caves at Lascaux - Drawing and Prehistoric Art
Being inspired by nature and linking to Year 3 History about the Stone Age, children will study how to draw more representational shapes and study how simple lines with different tools can show meaning. The simple dot and line artwork of Aboriginal people along with cave paintings such as the caves at Lascaux provide inspiration.
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Fernand Léger - Painting and Cityscapes
Linking with the Y3 topic on preserving the local area and its History, children take elements from the local area and build upon their painting skills by learning about the bold and flat colours of Fernand Léger. Inspired by his work, they create a cityscape piece of artwork.
Useful link:
The City - Fernand Léger at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
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Henri Matisse - Brush Skills and Collage
Creating watercolour washes, developing brush skills and tearing to create collage are key skills in this unit. Children are inspired by the work of Matisse and create materials to tear and arrange into an abstract collage.
Useful link:
The Snail - Henri Matisse at The Tate
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Mini Project: Yayoi Kusama - 3D Vessel
The bold and bright colours and patterns of Yayoi Kusama are the focus for this project. Known for sculptures of bright and bold pumpkin shaped objects, Children learn to create a 3D vessel with clay and then paint and decorate it inspired by the shapes and colours of Kusama's work.
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Mini Project: Katsushika Hokusai - Printing
Known for his famous picture of 'The Wave', Hokusai used traditional printing techniques to show the power of waves. Linked to children's Geography work, children create a printing block inspired by this artist.
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Art Year 4
In Year 4, we seek to develop children's understanding and skills further by studying the following artists.
Albrecht Dürer - Drawing with Tone and Shade
The artist, Albrecht Dürer, was a renaissance painter and printmaker known for the high detail and lines used in his work. Linking with the Year 4 Science work, children will develop their observational drawing skills in order to draw with greater attention to detail. Techniques for how to shade and show tone will be developed.
Useful link:
Dürer's Famous Rhinoceros at the Royal Collection Website
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James Rosenquist - Pop Art: Drawing and Painting
Rosenquist's colourful pop art style of painting is the focus for this topic. Linking with our Geography topic studying the Americas, children look at the pop art of this American artist. Children develop drawing skills and think about the human face, whilst also learning more about composition as the paint their own pop art piece.
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Claude Monet - Painting 'En Plein Air'
The work of Monet is studied, letting children learn more about catching an impression of a scene. Like many famous artists have done throughout time, the children will take the opportunity to draw and paint outdoors in nature or 'en plein air'. Children will focus upon shape and light and shade to create images as their brush skills develop.
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Mini Project: Roman Mosaics
Inspired by their History topic about the Romans in Britain, Year 4 will study Mosaics. Children will choose and image and learn the process of piecing that image together out of small squares in the way Romans would have used small tiles.
Useful link:
Gallery of Roman Mosaics at BBC
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Mini Project: Ancient Egyptian Jewellery Artefacts
Working with clay, children get the chance to create a decorative artefact they ones they will see during their History topic on the Ancient Egyptians. Shaping, sculpting and carving clay will be techniques developed during this mini project make.
Useful link:
Images of Ancient Egyptian Jewellery at the British Museum
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Art Year 5
In Year 5, we seek to develop children's understanding and skills further by studying the following artists.
Mini Project: William Morris - Designs with Natural Forms
The artist William Morris was a significant British designer, working as part of the Arts and Crafts Movement. We find inspiration in looking at his designs for furniture, textiles and wall tiles, such as 'The Strawberry Thief'. Being inspired by nature and linking to Year 5 Science, children will study natural objects, building upon their observational drawing skills and learn to accurately replicate their designs.
Useful link:
William Morris at the Victoria and Albert Museum
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Antoni Gaudí - Architecture with Natural Forms
Gaudí was a Spanish architect who took inspiration from natural shapes and forms. Linking to Year 5 Geography skills, children get to practise their observational drawing before learning to apply their sketches to redesign a new building from our local area in the imaginative colours and shapes of Gaudí's work.
Useful link:
The Official Website of the Sagrada Familia
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Maria Sibylla Merian - Scientific Observational Drawing and Painting
Merian was an artist, scientist and botanist. She studied the life cycles of many plants and animals and brought them to life using her technical and scientific drawing skills. Linking to Year 5 Science, children get to practise their observational drawing before learning to get to grips with watercolour paints and brushes to bring a range of species to life.
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Elizabeth Catlett - Drawing Portraits and Printing
Elizabeth Catlett wanted to capture everyday people. Also, she wanted to highlight social injustices, prejudice and racism in her work. These themes sit well alongside our History topic on 'Journeys' where immigration and migration of people throughout history are discussed. The works builds into our R.E. work of community and people of different faiths. Children build upon their Year 4 skills of drawing people by further learning how to create a portrait of a person.
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Mini Project: Henry Moore - Sculpture
We study the simplified sculptural forms of Henry Moore and bring to life a humans in their simplest shapes. Our sculptural work is supported by History and Geography and the journeys, families and communities of the world. By thinking of their own place in the world and their own families and communities, children create their own clay sculpted figures.
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Art Year 6
In Year 6, we seek to develop children's understanding and skills further by studying the following artists.
Pacita Abad - Mixed Media Portraits
The Filipina artist Pacita Abad brings colour into her work as she represents people in portraits surrounded by what makes them unique. Her work focuses upon reflection upon life. This subject fits perfectly into the Year 6 topic where pupils reflect upon themselves and their identity as they prepare for their journey to high school.
Useful link:
Pacita Abad's Mixed Media Portraits
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Coming soon...
Chris Ofili - Conceptual Art
Chris Ofili makes Art with a message. His pieces take a concept which he then represents. Based upon the social message of 'No Woman, No Cry', children create artwork with a message based upon a real life events which they feel need to be shared. This work acts as a culmination to much of the work Year 6 on topics such as social justice, inequalities, prejudice, pollution, the environment and war.
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Paul Nash/Willem Kalf - Drawing and Painting with Perspective
Children think about important objects, while also learning a better understanding of perspective in their work and creating foregrounds, middlegrounds and a background. They build further upon the watercolour skills developed in Year 5.
Useful links:
'We Are Making A New World' by Paul Nash at the Imperial War Museum
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Mini Project: Michelle Reader - Sculpture
Taking old junk and turning it into art is the focus of this topic. Michelle Reader's aim is to create art reminding us that we are very wasteful. This theme matches well with the Geography work Year 6 study to learn about protecting our environment.
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Coming Soon...
Mini Project: Sarah Eisenlohr
Year 6 again think about human impact, while developing their collage skills. Children select a range of images in order to express how human are changing and impacting our Earth.
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Coming soon...