Arts Week at St James Primary

Arts Week – Talents Shining Everywhere!

Across school there has been a hive of activity as classes have explored the many areas of the arts and produced some wonderful work to be proud of. Our week has had the theme of Anniversaries, linked with this year's Schoolsfest in July and children have been busy preparing art work on this theme which will be displayed both in school and as part of the Schoolsfest art exhibition next half term.

Key Strings, two talented musicians, came into school on Monday afternoon to do a workshop for EYFS and KS1 followed by another one for KS2. These workshops were a lot of fun as well as being very educational. The children learnt about the different types of stringed instruments and the history of these instruments. They also learnt about parts of their British history and the origins of the Union Flag. Lots of children got to play some of the instruments and they all enjoyed the afternoon. Many thanks to Friends for subsidising the cost of this for all children.

Ruby Class followed up the Key Strings visit by looking at a range of stringed instruments before creating observational drawings of the instruments using sketching pencils and charcoals. Year 5s have also studied the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh which has inspired them to create their own artwork in the style of Mackintosh. They worked in groups to develop their first pieces to create Mackintosh inspired artwork using different media.

Amethyst class have been using the Royal Wedding as their inspiration for art week. They have used paint and rollers to create patterns onto card and then designed a clay tile to create their own wedding cake.

Sapphire class have been busy producing artwork based on the 1990's with a focus on the Spice Girls. They have also enjoyed learning some of their dance routines.

Pearl class have been going back in time to one hundred years ago and 1918, they have been finding out about women
over 30 being given the vote and celebrating the anniversary by creating a willow weave Suffragette. They have
also been learning about the music of the 1920s and are learning Charleston dance steps in PE.

In Year 3, the children have been exploring the work of film score composers, in particular the music of Hans Zimmer. To celebrate anniversaries, the children have looked at the summer 'blockbusters' from 2008 and have used Impressionist techniques pioneered by Monet & Seurat to create their own interpretations of the cinema promotional posters from these great films.

Emerald class have been busy celebrating sporting success from the 1960s as England won the football World Cup. Through their artwork the children are representing the passion and resilience that the England team showed at Wembley...I wonder if their artwork will be matched by the current England football team this summer?!

Whilst, in Diamond class, the children have taken their inspiration from the Maya, making masks using paper mache. They have found out why the Maya used masks and what colours and materials were available and have created their battle, burial and celebration masks using plastic milk bottles and paper mache. They have also learned how to add sculpture to their masks using card and wire. The final step will be painting and creating mosaics

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