Last art lesson to work on the sculptures.
Referring to their drawings and their body memory of the movement, the year 7 class (age 11/ 12) worked the wire to convey the essence of the movement in the dance they had created with dancer Joe Walkling and are continuing to develop in their weekly dance class.
1st December and 2nd December
Week 4 with Thomas Tallis class 7DS.
In the 1 hour dance class the students work in small groups and start to build on the taught dance, adding their own movements.
The next day in the art class they continue to build up the sculptures with wire.
21st November and 24th November 2011
Week 3 with Thomas Tallis class 7DS. Their time with dancer Joe Walkling has come to an end and the children will continue developing their dance with their dance teacher. After running through the dance they made sketch books and drew each other, the drawings are their reference for the sculpture.
Students drawing each other
In the art room they began to work on their wire sculptures referring to their sketch books.
Sketch books as reference
Class 7DS begin work on the wire sculptures
I am impressed with the class, they are focussed on the work and considerate to each other.
18 November 2011
Dancer Joe Walkling played a dance game with the students, went through the dance with them and they had a go at drawing him while he danced, using charcoal on large sheets of paper.
Class began with a dance game
Joe running through the dance with the students
Drawing Joe dancing
students’ drawings
Next week they will draw each other dancing in preparation for the sculptures they will make.
First class at Thomas Tallis School with a class of year 7’s in the fabulous new studio in the new school. Dancer Joe Walkling taught a dance phrase to the young students, they worked hard and learnt the dance in the 1 hour lesson. Previously I worked with Joe at The Linbury, Covent Garden, drawing him during rehearsals for Metamorphosis.
Joe Walkling teaching the dance
some of my drawings of the students learning the dance
The Art Week at Halstow Primary School, Greenwich was way back in June, so these pictures are a little late! The theme was the Elements, I selected Water and worked with about thirty year 5 and year 6’s (10 and 11 year olds) over two days to make four life size swimmers using chicken wire,
and tissue paper
which were suspended from the ceiling.
See my wire sculpture on http://www.sallymckay.co.uk/htm/gallery/sculpture/sculpture.htm
During the Danes Hill School Arts Week, I joined year 6 to lead a 3D workshop. The theme, suggested in advance by art teacher Louise Hight was “Carnival”. We had discussed the idea of Chinese style “Dragons” that could be made and used by the class in a dance to be performed. I discussed the timing with the group – we had to complete them within the school day. I explained that they would have to work fast and be very focussed to achieve this.
After initial discussion the children split into 4 groups in the art room and designed their Dragons using oil pastels on large sheets of paper.
We moved outside and impressively following their designs the year 6’s used withies to construct the ‘skeleton’ of the dragon. (Withies are long flexible willow twigs, for example see Willow Man by Serena de la Hey, in Somerset.)
The structure was then covered with white tissue and PVA glue.
The coloured tissue was the last addition, still following the initial drawings.
We were running out of time but the year 6’s kept focussed and worked very hard completing the dragons by the end of the day with enough time and energy to try them out.