Pakemen Art Day
All Pakeman children and staff took part in a wonderful Art Day on July 5th. The theme for the day was Hidden Messages. Each phase had a different focus and a different artist to explore. Each class also took some time to celebrate Denise and reflect on all the wonderful art that she did with the our children at Pakeman over the years.
Inspired by abstract work from both Denise and Aboriginal Artist John Bulunbulun, Years 1 and 2 children explored the theme of Hidden Messages by etching, painting and using light. They explored colour and shape and how we can use them to communicate meaning.
Inspired by abstract work from both Denise and American artist Alma Thomas, Years 3 and 4 explored colour and shape by making collages and paintings using either harmonious or contrasting colours in geometric shapes. You can see how wonderful the work is.
Things got very ‘surreal’ in year 5 and 6 for art day. They found out about Salvador Dali and the origins of Surrealism (a movement in art based strange and unusual dreams). They then created their own surrealist collages, using different magazines, newspapers and illustrations of the natural world.
In addition, as part of Art Day, six year 6 children worked with an artist called Henny Beaumont. She is a children’s illustrator who has received an Arts Council Award for her second graphic novel and was long listed for the Women Poets’ Prize. Henny Beaumont is also a director, founder and animation judge of Hackney Shorts Film Festival. On Tuesday, she focused her work on painting portraits. It was a great experience for our Pakeman children.
Huge thanks go to our Art Co-ordinator, Will Conway, for organising our Art day and for inspiring staff and children with his wonderful ideas.
