At the end of Term One the Awesome Artists – a group of gifted and talented students from Years 4 to 6 – had a visit from our groundsman, Mr Tony Heritage, who is also a very talented sculptor. Mr Heritage spent time sharing with students the step by step processes he goes through when planning a sculpture, as well as the actual making of his artwork.
Mr Heritage brought in a range of works that were either still in progress or part of his experimentation with a range of different materials. The students were able to see his creative process in action and ask him questions about what inspires his unique artworks. It was great to see that the students could relate their artistic processes to what Mr Heritage had done and realise that creativity requires lots of practise, experimentation and problem solving to achieve an end product.
These Awesome Artists held a mini exhibition in the Library last term to coincide with the Literature Festival – the starting point of which were illustrations by Matt Ottley in Kirli Saunders’ book “The Incredible Freedom Machines”. Students chose from a range of media to create a piece of artwork over a series of lessons. GATE Coordinator, Mrs Catherine Christie, said “It was a great experience for them to work to a deadline, present their work to a high standard and write an explanation of their creative process and how they could relate it back to the book.”
The group finished the term by ‘exploding’ Quinn Witty’s artwork: a volcano she had constructed from recycled materials and papier-mache. Quinn’s work was a true STEAM project as it incorporated Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths – a wonderful finale to a creative term’s work.
On Wednesday 8 May, 34 students from Years 5 and 6 travelled up to Bunbury Catholic College to listen to Dr Brad Tucker speak about the research he does as an Astrophysicist and Cosmologist.
Dr Tucker works with the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Mount Stromlo Observatory and the Centre for Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University. He demonstrated to the students how rapid progress in technology in the past few decades has led to a complete change in our view of universe, and that this will change even more in the next few decades, as we turn science fiction into reality.
Mrs Christie said the students were enthralled with his presentation, and took the opportunity to ask questions about all things to do with space. “He was so inspiring and able to make such complex topics as time travel, life on other planets, evidence of Black Holes, building rockets and ‘space junk’ very accessible.”
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