Challenge

Facing up to or overcoming problems and barriers increases possibilities in our lives.

30 September 2018

We started the year with some punchy, delicious art references from the work of Wayne Thiebaud. Before Grade 6 students began constructing creative candy houses, they researched and transcribed Thiebaud’s Three Machines. And Grade 8 students looked at other paintings of mass culture and production line objects as they were challenged to answer questions of what Pop Art is and how it was challenging to the art world of the 1950s and 1960s.

Grade 6 looks at candy in art

Right now, Grade 6 students are constructing candy houses for their unit on Creativity. To contextualise their work, they first looked into the work of several artists whose subject matter has involved candy, including Will Cotton and Wayne Thiebaud. They looked at Thiebaud’s Three Machines (1963) in particular, taking notes on the artist and his work.

Grade 8 examines how Pop Art challenged the status quo

For their unit on Challenge, Grade 8 students discussed the roots of the Pop Art movement and how Pop Artists challenged existing perceptions of what qualifies as art. Using oil pastel, they transcribed paintings by Wayne Thiebaud and silk screen prints by Andy Warhol. And they have begun creating informational posters on what Pop Art is and how it was challenging.

Whilst our silk screens did not arrive on time to practice silk screen printing for this unit, students had more time to study the objects in Warhol’s most iconic illustrations and prints with good old-fashioned pencil and paint.