Art is alive at Marshland School - Te Rito Harakeke

Kia ora e te whānau

It seems Matariki has provided a wonderful opportunity for some of our Learning Hubs to celebrate art at Marshland School. 

Kiwi tamariki were bursting with pride about their amazing artwork. I loved hearing all about how Māui snared the sun in a Māori myth they had been reading. The tamariki told me how Māui used flax to try to slow down the sun, and the sun got angry about this. Mark talked about why the sun in his work has a funny, angry face and many patterns all over it. Jiaqu wanted to give the sun a happy face because she likes smiley faces. She talked about the lines and rope she tried to create with patterns and shapes. These tamariki did very well to share ideas communicated through their art and respond to inspiration from the Māori myth they were learning. 

Pukeko tamariki have engaged in an arts interchange. During this, some tamariki created incredible pieces of work inspired by Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. They learnt about foreground, midground and background, mixed colours and used mixed media to layer images over plain similar colour tones.  They look amazing. Pearl really enjoyed mixing the colours and liked how her work had lots of different greens on it.  Isaac loved painting. He placed some houses on the hills and flat land at the front.  

Other tamariki in the Pukeko hub developed some interesting planets that are illuminated by bright shining stars. I loved some of their visual interpretations of Earth from afar. For example, Juane painted a rainbow on planet Earth. Jack used green for water, and Miller tried her hardest to make it look real. She included some incredible detail in her work which she said was covering some of her earlier mistakes. Harrison just thought the whole process was fun! Pukeko tamariki clearly enjoyed using inspiration from their inquiry learning and famous artists to develop their ideas. 

We have all been entertained by some of the art in the Tui hub. They have been learning about balancing space and using imagery that depicts meaning in currency design for their upcoming market. For example, they have been learning about the significance of images on New Zealand currency and the inclusion of famous New Zealanders. I'm not sure Mr Tyson, Mrs Pearce and I deserve our faces to be on their Tui currency and I'd love to hear how they decided on the dollar amounts for each of us, but their notes look very cool.

I was impressed with how well Luke described the process of making Matariki stars in the Korimako Learning Hub. This was a geometric process using points, measurement and layered triangles. They then coloured these in using different patterns and colours for interest. I look forward to seeing more of these as they are completed. It is wonderful to see them experimenting with maths in art. 

The Toroa tamariki are buzzing from their experience engaging in Matariki printmaking. They loved experimenting with printing foam and inks. Olivia and Sophia explained the process and said it was great that they were given the freedom to personalise their designs and colour combinations while experimenting with a different art medium. They talked about how difficult it was to picture what their image would look like because it printed in reverse. These were so impressive that they have been presented in the school Office Foyer. These students are now developing wonderful taniwha kites based on two shared books - The Legend of Matariki and the Seven Kites of Matariki. It is wonderful to learn how Toroa tamariki are developing their ideas in response to various motivations and using a range of materials and processes to develop artwork.

I'm thrilled to see our tamariki engaging in quality learning experiences in art. This emphasises our commitment to providing tamariki with a broad range of learning opportunities and experiences. We are looking forward to sharing some of these experiences with you at our collective Learning Celebration on Thursday 8th July, 11:15 am - 1:30 pm. 

Ngā mihi 

Leigh Fowler