‘Me on a Stick’ was our first art project. Students had to tell a story about themselves using colour and symbols. Students used sticks, string and materials like beads and feathers to tell their stories. It was great to hear the conversations taking place as students worked. Students were asking each other questions about their work and explaining what their work represented. This is what some students had to say about their art.
Used a love heart to show my family, the word hunting because that is what I do with my dad and NZ because that is where I live.
My stick shows Waikato and the colours of Scotland because that is where my family is from.
My stick shows the universe and nature because I like them.
‘Layered Lines’ was our next art project. Students were learning to layer lines and paper to create a sense of depth. As we put our layered line squares together, students started to think abstractly as they noticed different forms within the art. Some of what we noticed.
Rivers.
Mountains.
At Te Papa my family saw a war exhibit and this reminds me of war and tunnels. The paper looks like people fighting. It is all different so they are like people from different countries fighting.
I can see a world full of rubbish. The larger colourful shapes show the world today such as the blue ice of Antarctica and yellow deserts of Africa. The smaller shapes of colour are rubbish that are polluting these natural environments. The black shapes represent a dark future for us and our environment, if change doesn’t occur. We will lose the beauty and colour of the world around us’.
‘Twisted Lines’ followed. Students had to use lines to represent something in their life or the world around them. Their challenge was to think about how they could manipulate line strips of card and different colours to tell a story.
Mine is about the Mt Ruapehu volcano and my family. I made my mum and dad bigger because they are bigger than me. I used orange and red colours to show lava.
I made 2 bales, water trough and mum, dad, me and Brookie’.
Masks’ were our next art project. Students were learning to apply what they had learnt about layering and abstract art and apply it to mask making. They had to design a mask with an abstract twist on reality.
My mask is abstract because I used different shapes to show the face and tusks of an elephant’.
My mask is abstract because I did a cat with opposite colours for its body.
I am from Christchurch but moved to Taupō at the end of 2018. I am passionate about travelling with my most memorable trip being to Egypt. I also love keeping fit through sport, the gym and just getting out and exploring the outdoors.
I have been a qualified teacher working in New Zealand since 2013. Prior to that, I spent 8 years in Hong Kong working with Chinese children in primary schools.
I decided to pursue a career in teaching because I loved the idea of making a difference in the world by helping children learn and develop as people. It is rewarding to see the progress children make and to be a part of their learning journeys.
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