Art & Design

'There is no must in art because art is free'

Wassily Kandinsky

 

‘There are things that are not sayable. That is why we have art.’ 

Leonora Carrington

 

What does art look like at St Bernadette’s?

At St Bernadette's we use “AccessArt” which is a charity that supports visual arts teaching and learning. Established in 1999, they advocate the importance of high quality visual arts education for all, and enable and inspire this through the UK’s largest collection of online resources and through CPD and training and network events.

We follow the “Split” AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum, which is devised for schools who teach art half the time. At St Bernadette's, we split the timetable with DT. 

During the non-art time in the year, pupils will put in place a practice of drawing exercises, once or twice a week.

Art and Design Documents

Young Seasiders 2024

Some incredible pieces of artwork this year and we were only allowed to choose 2 pieces from each class. The winners from EYs/KS1 and KS2 were voted for and chosen.

Our featured artists this year are:

Reception: Florence & Ryder

Year 1: James & Neveah W

Year 2: Klara & Theo

Year 3: Hannah & Lucy

Year 4: Ivy & Reina 

Year 5: Alexander & Amelia

Year 6: Lola & Sofia

 

And our winners are:

EYs/KS1 - Theo (Y2) and KS2 - Reina (Y4)

Seasiders 2024

 

Outline, Shadow, Form

Y4 used the AccessArt unit on Still Life. 

Could they create a still life of a piece of fruit in just 3 moves? Yes! They studied the fruit and considered the outline, spending time looking at the shape. They painted this using the wrong end of a paintbrush to mimic the style of a quill, before moving on to looking at the shadow the fruit created on the table. Then, with a larger paintbrush, they painted the shadow. Finally they diluted the paint to make a 'wash' and considered the form of the shape. This was then created in 1 stroke of the brush, before drying off some of the excess moisture. 

Y4 Art - Outline, shadow and form

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young Seasiders 2022

We have entered some artwork from each class into the annual ‘Young Seasiders’ competition. These pieces were on display at ‘The Gallery’, Blackpool and the Fylde College University Centre, Park Road, Blackpool.  We are incredibly proud of every child who contributed to our display this year.  It was a difficult decision for staff to only pick two entries from each class. 

Our featured artists this year were:

Reception:           Ailbhe Haydon and Arlo Perry

Year 1:                   Harini Piratheepan and Alice Rainbow

Year 2:                  Emily-Mae Ciubotariu and Rosie Preston

Year 3:                  Jacob Pringle and Jessica Skrzypek

Year 4:                  Ashwina Gopinath and Maurice Frankland

Year 5:                  Maisie Brown and Roman Webster

Year 6:                  Lyla Matthews and Ava McBrearty-Ryder

 

Our overall winners were:

R/KS1 - Harini Piratheepan

KS2 - Lyla Matthews

Congratulations to everyone!

 

Seasiders 2022

 

 

 

3D modeling with clay

Year 4 researched a range of sculptures including the Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park, USA, and The Angle of the North in Gateshead, England.  We learnt about their designers/sculptors and the materials they were made from.  We used modeling plasticine to practise the skills we would need.  We then designed and made our own sculptures from clay linked to the theme of mythical creatures.  We used a range of techniques including rolling, pinching, pulling, smoothing and adding detail using a range of methods.  Here are some of our creations:

 

                    

 

The Gazette’s Young Seasider’s Art Exhibition

We have once again entered the Blackpool Gazette's Young Seasider's Arts and Crafts exhibition.  We have many talented artists in our school and this is a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate the achievements of some of our pupils.  This year, it was a virtual event.  Please have a look at the slideshow of our fantastic entries ranging from Reception class to Year 6.

Year 6

We have learned about the importance of botanical art in Year 6 and combined this unit of work with our science topic: Living Things and their Habitats. In this unit, we learned about the classification system of Carl Linnaeus and how this has developed over time. We learned about the work of botanical artists who work hand-in-hand with botanists to ensure the accuracy of plant species so that they can be classified and correctly identified thanks to the work of the artist. Year 6 discovered that Kew Gardens also employ botanical artists to capture the beautiful displays there- many pupils were inspired and did not realise that this career ‘existed’. Pupils examined the work of Walter Hood Fitch and used his work, and that of several other botanical artists, to inspire their own sketching skills and use of water-based pencil crayons in order to imitate Fitch’s wax approach. In our class novel ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’, studied in English and as part of our WW2 topic, one of the characters presses and sketches flowers as a hobby. This art unit enabled pupils to make real-life links between a fictional character, a hobby that was initially alien to them, and the natural world. The learning objective for pupils was ‘To be able to produce a botanical drawing, in the style of Fitch, that captures the detail of a plant’. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed this unit of work and several of them chose to take the stock images from Fitch home to continue practising their own sketching skills.

 

 

Year 4 - Art: Kente

Year 4 have just begun a new art topic.  We have investigated Kente cloth from Ghana and considered the use of bold, bright colours and geometric patterns.  We have learned to weave paper and are so pleased with the results.  We will now think about how to apply what we have learned to making our own wall hanging out of material.  What this space for our results!

 

Young Seasider's Display - March 2020

Well done to all of our wonderful artists whose creative work was chosen to be on display in an exhibition at ‘The Gallery’, Blackpool and the Fylde College University Centre, Park Road, Blackpool from Monday 2nd March until Friday 227th March.  

Congratulations to our two winners: Toby and Amelie.

 

 

YOUNG SEASIDER’S ART EXHIBITION 

Once again, we have entered the Young Seasider’s Art Exhibition as a way to showcase the artistic talents of our children. 
Well done to all those who entered and congratulations to Toby (YR) and Amelie (Y5) who were prize winners! 
The exhibition will be open from Monday, 2nd March until Friday, 27th March at The Gallery, Blackpool and the Fylde University Campus, Park Road, Blackpool FY1 4ES between 9am and 5pm. 
Please pop along and have a look at the amazing work of our children and children from other local schools.

 

Seasiders Competition 2020

 

Year 3 and 4 Art Club 2020

We have done many exciting things this year and have learnt some new art based skills.  After investigating images and planning our patterns, we created fireworks using a scratch drawing technique.  We studied the work of several Pointillism painters and were inspired to create our own paintings using their techniques.  We also learned how to made pop-up cards and 3D love hearts.  Mrs A said that our behaviour was a credit to our parents and that we supported each other really well.

 

 

 

As we have so many wonderful artists in our school, we have created a display for our visitors to admire.  Pieces of artwork have been showcased from Year R right through to Year 6.  They include examples of painting, collage, printing, drawing and the use of art computer programmes.  It is frantastic to be able to see the different techniques, styles and materials being used.  Some pieces have been inspired by artists, others by nature or stories we have studied.

 

Art Displays

There are many examples of art being used within displays around the school.  These have been created for a range of reasons using a number of different media.  How have they been made?  Why have they been created?

 

The children discussed and observed their own and others' facial features. In groups the children observed portraits by Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci and spoke about how they are unique and special.  The children choose the appropriate size paint brush for the areas and details they were painting.  With adult support they exploring mixing colours and choosing colours for purpose.  

 

Year 1 and 2 worked together to create an Autumnal display. Year 2 used paint, forks and straws to make a firework painting. Year 1, as part of their science topic, explored seasonal changes. They observed the colours and textures of leaves and used this to inform their own paintings.   

Year 3 looked at the work of William Morris, the Victorian artist and printer. We studied his technique of block printing, which we then used to produce our own fabulous wallpaper in his style. We created imprints on polystyrene blocks and double-printed our repeating pattern onto large sheets of paper. We think Mr Morris would be impressed!

 

A fabulously interactive display in our Reception class! (Media: paint)

 

Art Club 2019
In art club, we created a number of different pieces of artwork using a range of tools and media.  Please take a look at our Remembrance Day poppies which we created with paint using our fingers and paint brushes.

 

Young Seasider's competition

St Bernadette's have once again entered some amazing pieces of artwork into the annual Young Seasider's art competition.  They include drawings, paintings and printings.  These are currently on display at The Gallery - please see the posters on our noticeboards for further details.  The winner's photographs will appear in the Gazette supplement later this month so keep an eye out! 

 

2018 Young Seasiders Competition.

These are our fantastic entries for the annual competition.  Congratulations to each of you and to the Key Stage winners.

St Bernadette's annual entries towards the Knights of St Columba competition. Watch out to see how we get on!

 

Piet Mondrian

Year 4 have been researching the artist Piet Mondrian and producing work inspired by his use of lines and colours.  We used the primary colours to mix secondary and tertiary colours.  Our artwork is now on display in our classroom and many parents have been into look at our creativity during our 'Meet the Teacher' evenings!

Y4 - Art - Piet Mondrian