Cool ideas from Aurelia
• The amusement park is a really cool place to go in Summer.
• Going swimming is nice and refreshing in Summer.
• Go have an ice cream.
• Have a picnic in the sunshine.
Have fun😊
Summer Activities
Month: April 2022
A short history of Modern Art – part 1
In our 4-6 art classes, we not only enjoy ourselves by experimenting with new ideas and techniques, but have several other goals besides.
These include learning about important movements in art history, while also trying to connect our projects to the many different topics in the curriculum.
Fortunately, art is so rich and varied that it’s possible to link it to just about any theme – and since a picture speaks a thousand words, here’s the first in a series on great works of modern art, interpreted and celebrated by the children themselves.
Symbolism: Gustav Klimt
How can art reflect the children’s classwork on poetry, simile and metaphor? In fact, many of the ideas found in creative writing are also present in visual art, and Klimt’s breathtaking portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer symbolically transforms her into a glittering, mythical goddess.
This is one of the great masterpieces of early 20th century painting, which the children interpreted in two stages: first by creating background colour and decoration, then adding gold paint and collage to their work.
Surrealism
In our unit on Surrealism, we discovered that the movement’s dream-like images were strongly influenced by Sigmund Freud’s development of psychoanalysis, which the kids had learnt about while studying sciences.
Many of the children produced paintings based on famous works by the Belgian artist René Magritte, while some of the older students created their own compositions inspired by other leading surrealists, such as Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington and Salvador Dalí.
Fauvism
Colour theory! The Fauve painters used scientific knowledge of colour to create bright, vivid paintings, so this project fitted in really well with the children’s additional studies on light and optics.
The older children created their own vibrant compositions, while the younger kids produced fruit paintings in two resonant complementary colours.
What’s next? The class teachers have exciting topics planned for future weeks, and in art we’ll again complement these studies with projects inspired by some of the greatest movements in art history. Get ready for some fantastic interpretations of Cubism, Expressionism, Pop Art and more!
See also: a short history of Modern Art part 2