Creativity

Innovative ideas can happen when existing or new concepts are brought together or expressed in a new way.

18 November 2019

In this update to last year’s Candy House project for our unit on Creativity, Grade 6s created and solved their own design problems as they brought their visions for a house coated in confectionery to life. This year we referenced Carson Ellis’s illustrated book Home as we brainstormed all the various kinds of homes we could make.

Students worked as architects, engineers, builders and decorators as they designed and constructed their candy houses. Over a period of several weeks, they worked with a wide range of materials released in stages to help generate a more individualised response and textured finish. As we learned in the process, creativity is about ideas and how we develop, understand, and communicate them... not just in art, but in every realm of thinking and work.

The divergent approaches taken to the brief are evident in the wide range of creative responses in their sculptures, including: balconies, patios, cantilevers, turrets, crenellations, clocktowers, linked towers, drawbridge doors, cornicing, curtains, oeil-de-boeuf windows, glass paneling, chenille stem lollipops and candy buttons, candy floss clouds and smoke, a cookies and creme theme, camouflage and fortified defense, interactive features, and even a set of characters.

“Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.” ― Dorothy Parker

The school marketing team built the Grade 6s’ sculptures into their Christmas display, making for a truly spectacular exhibition venue!