What a wonderful start to our Arts Fortnight process this year! 5LS have been thoroughly absorbed in exploring Ancient Greek mythology and it was a treat to see their pieces exhibited in the Art Studio. 

Researching Ancient Greek clay vessels, they discovered that paintings of myths on the vases allowed these incredible tales to be passed down over thousands of years. Setting out to create their own vases and pots, they first experimented with their design and practised their coiled pot techniques using plasticine. This was challenging and led some to change their design. We were all thrilled with the outcomes and excited when it came to making them in clay.

The children had remembered the technique of adding each layer using cross hatching and slip and were able to create shaped pots with layers getting larger and smaller. 5LS really impressed us with their care and perseverance. 

Once dried, we painted the pot with acrylic paint in Burnt Sienna or Yellow Ochre acrylic paint to recreate the colours of terracotta. 

The next stage was creating a design with pictures and greek patterns and painting these onto the pots. Just like the artists from Ancient Greece, they needed great control and care with fine brushes and markers. 

Modroc torches

The children were captivated by the myth of Prometheus who stole fire from the sun to give to the people. Fire allowed humans to care for themselves with food and warmth but also to forge weapons and wage war. Zeus was so angry with Prometheus that he condemned him to be chained to a mountain for eternity where he was pecked at daily by a vulture. 

The children seemed not to mind the gory details!

Modroc was another sculpting material which was great fun but needed care and patience. The children added designs and patterns using string and then painted the torches. They look just wonderful. 

It was a special moment to ‘light’ the torches with flame (and a flickering tea light) during the Celebration afternoon and to share all our hard work with our families. 

At the end of their time at Allerton CE, Year 6 came to the Arts Studio to reflect on everything that makes themselves and their time at primary school unique and special. Ahead of them, their Graduation performance in which they aimed to share, celebrate and shine. Our ACE artists used the artistic process to explore their favourite memories and achievements and create a design to encapsulate all that is important to them.

Inspired by the drawings of Pop Artist Keith Haring, Year 6 explored how simple figures can show movement and emotion to represent their ideas. They acted out poses and sketched them using minimal lines to create simple yet expressive figures. Whilst the finished designs seem simple, this was the result of careful refining to create an efficient design aiming to express an identity and pride. 

These designs would be printed onto T-shirts to wear at their Graduation and it was exciting to learn about their printing skills from local artist and printmaker (and Lucas’s Dad) Adrian Sestini. It was a painstaking process to transfer the designs onto card and to cut out the design using a craft knife. Using the primary colours on our school logo, the children learned to apply the ink using sponges allowing different areas of the design to use different colours and also to use screen prints. 

Creating prints is a skillful task which requires care and focus and Year 6 felt rightly very proud of their finished T shirts: a unique snapshot of themselves.