Exploring character flaws in Ancient Greek plays led 5H to draw on and innovate with portrait drawing and 3D sculpture. They started with great ideas and imagination and throughout the fortnight persevered to adapt, overcome obstacles and keep pushing to achieve their intended effect. Thoroughly immersed in these creative processes, they impressed us with their calm enjoyment and team work.
5H relished the opportunity to design and create vases depicting Ancient Greek myths. They were ambitious in considering the function and form of their vessel as well as the decoration. Some were designed to carry olive oil or water, others grapes or grains. Shape, size, handles, spout and stopper were all considered.
Ancient Greek artists were skilled and respected and 5H certainly took inspiration from them. Inspired by the myth of King Midas, their designs were created using gold, black and white acrylic paint.
Golden masks
Captivated by the storytelling of the Ancient Greeks, 5H learned about how masks were used in Ancient Greek theatre to allow each actor to take on different personas. They confidently recalled how to sketch the proportions of a face and then designed their own Greek mask persona with exaggerated features such as eye brows, mouth and hair. It was incredible to see how the shape and direction of the eye brows altered an expression and created a different mood.
Transferring these faces onto a balloon, they then began to apply Modroc to one side of a balloon to create their mask. This was painstaking and tricky and the children quickly learned that they needed to collaborate. With a lot of care and patience, the masks were complete and left to dry.
The features were created later with more Modroc or cardboard with some dramatic effects.
Finally, the masks were painted gold and the children added shading and depth using charcoal and chalk. The cracks running across 5H’s Golden masks were a nod to the myth of King Midas whose greed led him to wish for the Golden touch. He was mortified when he touched his daughter who instantly turned to gold; a hairline crack running across her immortalised face.
In the studio, 5H shared their Golden masks and created personas with their families and friends. They gave assured, dramatic and confident performances of the myth of King Midas and choreographed their Midas-inspired dance, based on the music of Aretha Franklin.
“The performance was amazing. I loved all the art work in the art studio. You can see all the effort the teachers and children have put in.”
“I enjoyed the play. There was great coordination and it looked very fun. The art studio is a lovely environment that I have enjoyed looking in before. The exhibit was fun, creative and engaging showcasing a creativity in the children that is fun to engage with.”
“Great performances by the children, they put in a tremendous amount of work. Kudos to the teachers for their instruction and guidance that helped to realise a great afternoon of activities. The kids had a great deal of confidence, which is great to see.”