Stephen Robertson

Primary passions,

Primary protagonists! Professional art teaching portfolio 2016

FUHUA PRIMARY SCHOOL

Stephen Robertson - Professional art teaching portfolio 2016 Primary passions, Primary protagonists! Table of contents:

• Chapter 1 – Introduction and preamble – Primary 3 Pupils, ‘Dance’, ink and wax resists on A3 cartridge paper, 2016

• Chapter 2 - Primary 3 and 4 Pupils, ‘Whaam! Nameplates’, pencil crayon on cartridge

paper, 2016

• Chapter 3 - Primary 4 Pupils, ‘My Superhero Mask’, acrylic paint, glitter, permanent marker, pencil, glue, corrugated cardboard, and mask template, 2016

• Chapter 4 – Primary 4 Pupils, ‘Our Home’, (work in progress), acrylic paint, permanent

marker, pencil, and mask template, on A3 cartridge paper, 2016

• Chapter 5 – Primary 4 Pupils, ‘Building Our Home’, acrylic paint, permanent marker, pencil, on corrugated cardboard structure, 2016

• Chapter 6 – Primary 5 Pupils, ‘Self-Portraits’, Conte crayon on textured drawing paper,

2016

• Chapter 7 – Primary 5 Pupils, ‘Henna Hand Designs’, various pencil designs, on cartridge paper, 2016

• Chapter 8 – Primary 5 Pupils, Our Possessions Option 1 – ‘The Contents of my Pencil

Case!’ fine line markers and felt tips on cartridge paper, 2016

• Chapter 9 – Primary 5 Pupils, Our Possessions, Option 2 – ‘The Contents of my Pencil Case!’ fine line markers on textured drawing paper, 2016

• Chapter 10 – Primary 5 Pupils, ‘Our Sunflowers’, oil pastels, textured pastel paper, on

board structure, 2016

• Chapter 11 – Primary 6 Pupils, ‘Stick Mammals’, found twigs, branches, sticks, glue and twine, 2016

• Chapter 12 – Primary 6 Pupils, ‘Experimental Portfolios’, various mixed media, stencils,

paint, assembled on various papers, 2016

• Chapter 13 – Primary 6 Pupils, ‘The Bigger Picture’ – Class Portraits (After Andy Warhol), acrylic Paint on cartridge paper, 2016

• Chapter 14 - Fuhua Primary School, Pupils and Teachers, ‘Our Group Identity’, painted

and raw corrugated cardboard boxes, large scale installation, 2016

Introduction and preamble

Our students at Fuhua Primary School, Singapore, are affectionately known as, ‘the Fuhua Gems’.

We value the input, energy and vigour that they bring to their learning. We view them as the integral part in driving their own educational experience in the art room. They are so curious to learn and discover, that they are protagonists. They are leaders in their personal artistic journey. To this end the artwork we have done with our students embodies these ideals.

This year’s artwork has been about the students’ skill development and their burgeoning personal identity.

Notes on the levels:

1. Primary 3 – Students are 8 and 9 years old 2. Primary 4 – Students are 9 and 10 years old 3. Primary 5 – Students are 10 and 11 years old 4. Primary 6 – Students are 11 and 12 years old

Primary 3 Pupils - Self-Identity ‘Dance’, ink and wax resists on A3 cartridge paper, 2016

This work introduced students to the notion of a process-based artwork. The work led students through a variety of stages, each stage built on the previous one enabling learners to develop their skills set. The work was contextualised in the work of American artist the late Keith Haring and French artist Henri Matisse. The title of the work is borrowed from Matisse’s seminal work ‘Dance’. In our work we celebrate, youth, vitality, and harmony. Colour was an integral part of both Haring and Matisse’s work and students learned how to make considered choices regarding their own use of colour based on their earlier studies of complementary colours.

The Learning Process:

1. Four students danced to various forms of music. The remainder of the cohort drew the outline of their peers in a line drawing, which aimed to capture this movement.

2. Students had looked at the work of Keith Haring and were interested in the way in which he simplified and flattened the forms of his figures; students were keen to apply these lessons to their own practice.

3. As the lesson continued students swapped the drawing and dancing roles. 4. Students improved and enhanced their drawings building up a group of

figures across the horizontal picture plane. 5. The outline figures hitherto drawn in pencil were consolidated in black

permanent marker. At this stage students learned how to incorporate Haring’s trademark stylisation, for example the marks to highlight the figure’s movement.

6. These A4 size drawings were copied and reproduced on good quality cartridge paper. This allowed students to see the effect of an increase in scale.

7. In subsequent lessons students coloured initially the figures and then the background in a colour palette limited to the complementary colours. Students used wax crayons to do this to enhance their control of this medium.

8. As soon as students had completed the task in wax they chose a contrasting ink colour, and they used this colour all over the picture surface. The oil based wax, ‘resisted’ the water-based ink to create a colourful surface quality and texture.

Primary 3 and 4 Pupils - Self-Identity

‘Whaam! Nameplates’, pencil crayon on cartridge paper, 2016

The late American ‘Pop artist’ Andy Warhol looked at advertising and everyday imagery around us to develop his artwork. Our students chose something they used every day. Not for them the everyday mundane object used by Warhol but something special, their own names!

The Learning Process:

1. Students looked at the way Warhol combined words and imagery in his work.

2. Students studied a variety of fonts and talked about how Warhol used onomatopoeia in his work.

3. We started our practical work using our mathematics skills. Here students had to calculate what size the letters of their name had to be to fit into a given space. They used their rulers to space out the lettering and used their rulers again to ensure that their letters were neat and tidy.

4. Students had a choice if two pairs of colours. One set was for inside the lettering and one set was for the jagged explosion shape that contained their name.

5. Blending was important in this work. Students worked hard to blend their colours to ensure the highest quality of surface.

6. When the drawing and colour was complete students carefully cut out their work to ensure a final product that retained some of the jagged qualities of Andy Warhol’s work.

7. The work was then sealed in transparent plastic to retain its finished quality.

8. One class modelled a ‘finished class version’ of the work. This is displayed on the cover of this portfolio.

 

 

Presentation Ideas and Further Contextual Links

Fuhua Primary School, Primary 3 Care, Whaam! Nameplates, 2016

Presentation based on Singapore, Ritz Carlton’s Frank Stella sculptures

 

Primary 4 Pupils – Our identity. Our faces. ‘My Superhero Mask’, acrylic paint, glitter, permanent marker, pencil, glue, corrugated cardboard, and mask template, 2016 Our Primary 4 students love superheroes. So they needed little motivation in discussing the merits of their favourite superheroes. We discussed the question: if you were a superhero, what special powers would you have and how would you use these powers to help others in your community? The Learning Process:

1. Students set about the process of designing their superhero mask. They researched the visual qualities of various superheroes. Their aim was to produce a very personal piece of work, avoiding derivative clichés.

2. They used cartridge paper to produce full-face and profile views of their mask. They did this in line, before annotating their design and adding a colour scheme.

3. This design was transferred to a flat template, this allowed students to assess any issue that may arise when they moved onto the three dimensional version.

4. Having successfully completed this stage, students drew their designs onto a blank mask. They crafted personalised features to add to their masks, for example lighting bolts and their initials.

5. Once this stage was completed, students moved onto the painting stage. Here they carefully applied acrylic paint to the surface of their masks according to their chosen colour scheme.

6. Detail is an important facet of an effective mask, and students worked hard to enhance their mask adding glitter and other unique features.

7. To complete the learning process students produced a leaflet where they reviewed their work noting their successes and areas for possible improvement.

8. Finally we repeated the question: if you were a superhero, what special powers would you have and how would you use these powers to help other in your community? We noted any changes in student’s responses.

       

 

     

   

       

 

           

           

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary 4 Pupils – Our identity. Our environment.  ‘Our Home’, (work in progress), acrylic paint, permanent marker, pencil, and mask template, on A3 cartridge paper, 2016 This work introduced students to the notion of a creating an artwork in response to their own environment artwork. The work developed through a variety of stages, each stage built on the previous one enabling learners to develop their ideas. The work was contextualised in the work of Austrian artist the late Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser. The title of the work is borrowed from the ideas integrated in Singapore’s annual ‘National Day’ celebrations. In our work we celebrate, the environment in which we live. Celebrating the way in which nature was interwoven in the urban built environment was an integral part of Hundertwasser’s philosophy and we noted examples of how well Singapore has developed as the ‘Garden City’. Students learned how to make considered choices regarding their own composition and use of colour based on their earlier studies of primary and secondary colours. The Learning Process

1. The work challenges students to develop two excellent parts of artwork using contrasting techniques prior to uniting the two parts in the final composition.

2. The first part is a composition based on the work of Hundertwasser. Here themes of nature, for example, weather and earth are conjoined with architecture from the built environment.

3. The second part is a mask, a face that is symbolic of us. In the artwork the mask is placed at the front of the composition. We look out at the viewer. The mask is decorated in contrasting style to the more painterly background. Here we use cotton buds to decorate the mask in a colourful dot pattern.

4. Hundertwasser was interested in the use of curved lines; in the review of our learning we note the absence of curved lines from our final artwork.

   

   

 

   

 

   

   

Primary 4 Pupils – Our identity. Our built environment  ‘Building Our Home’, acrylic paint, permanent marker, pencil, on corrugated cardboard structure, 2016 Challenging our more able learners is something of a challenge we in the Fuhua Primary School Art Department relish. A standard painting exercise was not sufficient challenge for our top students. We added the cognitive test of planning and executing a 3D sculptural structure, prior to moving on with decorative artwork This work introduced students to the notion of a creating an artwork in response to their own environment artwork. The work developed through a variety of stages, each stage built on the previous one enabling learners to develop their ideas. The work was contextualised in the work of Austrian artist the late Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser. The title of the work is borrowed from the ideas integrated in Singapore’s annual ‘National Day’ celebrations. In our work we celebrate, the environment in which we live. In point of fact we even considered how we wanted Singapore to look in the future! Celebrating the way in which nature was interwoven in the urban built environment was an integral part of Hundertwasser’s philosophy and we noted interesting contrasts in the architecture and landscape of Singapore. We also discussed how land scarcity affects urban planning decisions in Singapore. Students learned how to make considered choices regarding their own composition and use of colour based on their earlier colour and compositional studies. The Learning Process:

1. The work challenges students to create a 3D sculpture tower. This structure is covered with newspaper. After the newspaper is dry the surface of the work is primed so that subsequent colours stand out more effectively.

2. Students then plan a composition based on the work of Hundertwasser, here themes of nature, for example, weather and earth are conjoined with architecture from our own built environment.

3. The work evolves into a decorative exercise as nature motifs are drawn and interwoven around the structure. When the planning and drawing is complete students decorate the surface of the work with acrylic paint. Here we incorporate Hundertwasser’s trademark gold into the final artwork.

   

   

   

   

   

     

     

Primary 5 Pupils – Identity

‘Self-Portraits’, Conte crayon on textured drawing paper, 2016

This work introduced some of our more capable students to the challenge of the self-portrait genre. It asked them to work through a structured development process before embarking on a rigorous drawing exercise using unfamiliar media.

The Learning Process:

1. Students discussed the selfie phenomenon. They noted how pictures taken with smart phones communicate in an instant aspects of our character and mood, whilst also documenting our surroundings. These ideas were contrasted with our expectations of the more traditional masterpiece portrait.

2. We undertook a photo-shoot, using light coming onto one side of the face to create a contrast to bring a sense of drama to the work.

3. Our initial lessons were spent creating a proportionate sketch of our faces using tracing paper to create guidelines. These guidelines were transferred to special textured drawing paper, specifically chosen to be most effective with conte crayon. Careful attention had to be paid to ensure that the image was transposed in the correct manner.

4. When a basic outline sketch was placed on the textured paper, we picked out highlights using a white crayon. We had already resourced and scaffolded the project by printing out black and white images of ourselves to support our observational studies.

5. We began adding in black crayon to create contrast and to bring out the lowlights, finally we used white crayons to blend the work to achieve the final outome.

       

     

       

     

Primary 5 Pupils – Our cultural identity

‘Henna Hand Designs’, various pencil designs, on cartridge paper, 2016

Our students and teachers here at Fuhua Primary School come from an exciting mix of cultures. We aim to recognise and celebrate every single one of these cultures.

This project looks at the influence of Indian decorative arts on the culture of Singapore.

Students look at the contextual base of a number of facets of Indian decorative arts. We also discuss the way the main Indian religions drive and influence the art of the country and its diaspora. We further link Indian pattern making with art forms from other cultures, such as mandalas in Tibetan Buddhism.

The Learning Process:

1. Students were asked why our Indian and Malay friends and neighbours use henna to decorate their hands. Students shared their personal stories of weddings, celebrations and festivals.

2. The class used a variety of visual stimuli to offer them choice in creating their own designs.

3. Students collated their own henna art design using a variety of source material; this ensures that at every stage of the project they are making considered personal choices.

4. Class members also learned about the symbolism of different patterns and as they used two hands for their designs they reinforce links with the mathematics curriculum on ideas such as symmetry.

5. Students created their basic design and refined their work to add more sophisticated and elaborate detail.  

 

   

 

   

 

     

   

     

     

   

 

     

     

Primary 5 Pupils – Identity

Our Possessions Option 1 – ‘The Contents of our Pencil Case!’

Fine line markers and felt tips on cartridge paper, 2016

This work introduced some of our students to the notion of investigating how they view themselves not only as students but also through how they organise and reorganise their possessions. In this case their choices in terms of personal equipment in their pencil cases.

Students went through a series of drawing exercises, looking at form, pattern and arrangement of objects. They began with the traditional still-life genre and looked at different methodologies to review, reinvent and refine this notion.

They looked to a variety of contexts from the baroque art of Harmen Steenwyck with his vanitas still-lives from the early 17th century, replete with symbolism to more pop art influenced work. The pop artwork investigated the relationship of line to colour with Irish artist Michael Craig-Martin and American artist Wayne Thiebaud proving valuable resource material.

The Learning Process:

1. Students looked to context to learn about contrasting compositional styles. They noted how traditional still-lives juxtaposed objects at a realistic scale, whereas more modern exemplars tend to be more abstract in use of scale and colour.

2. Students set up 4 consecutive still lives. Each still life utilised the same objects, but the objects were rearranged at the completion of each drawing to form new compositional ideas.

3. These studies were completed solely in line to reinforce the link with contextual artists being studied.

4. To explore scale, students reproduced their favoured drawing using a grid system to 4 times the previous size; this drawing was then outlined in fine liner marker before being coloured in an abstract colour scheme to ape the vivacity of American Pop Art exemplars.

5. Students noted how the work possesses a very flat quality, this quality was explored further as students utilised their colour drawings as a template for relief tiles carved from clay.

Claes Oldenburg Inspired Extension Activity (Clay tiles)

The 3D Versions (Plasticine)

The Clay Versions

Primary 5 Pupils – Identity

Our Possessions, Option 2 – ‘The Contents of our Pencil Case!’

Fine line markers on textured drawing paper, 2016

This work introduced some of our students to the notion of investigating how they view themselves not only as students but through how they choose their possessions. In this instance their choices in terms of equipment in their pencil cases.

Students were taught how professional artists develop their work through rigorous challenge of producing a body of preparatory planning drawings. Students worked through a structured development process, before embarking on a rigorous drawing exercise using the continuous contour line drawing technique.

Students found this a huge challenge as they had hitherto solely used very rudimentary drawing techniques and had not in fact thought about drawing as an integral part of their artistic learning journey.

The Learning process:

1. The continuous line drawing technique is highly challenging! Once the pencil is placed on the paper, the artist cannot remove it until the conclusion of the drawing. This demands huge concentration and tenacity on the part of the student artist.

2. Our Fuhua artists began cautiously using pencil and as they grew in confidence and experience they began to work in a brand new medium, fine liner.

3. These studies were the prelude to more developed 3D sculpture pieces completed later on in the project.

Primary 5 Pupils – Our Identity  

‘Our Sunflowers’, oil pastels, textured pastel paper, on board structure, 2016

Differentiating to meet the needs of all of our learners is a challenge we in the Fuhua Primary School Art Department relish. We create different and diverse approaches to match the needs of our learners.

This work introduced students to the notion of creating an artwork in response to their own environment. Fuhua Primary School is fortunate in that it has specific outdoor areas dedicated to specific artists. One of these areas is dedicated to the work of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. We wanted to create a work in response to Van Gogh art. We chose ‘Sunflowers’ as this work is not only a world famous still life but it is about optimism and the success of the human spirit. We want our students to be both robust and optimistic in character so that they are enabled to succeed in life.

The Learning Process:

1. The work was a group work. It developed through a variety of stages, each stage built on the following one enabling learners to grasp the idea of concept development.

2. The final stage gave students lots of responsibility. Each of sixteen Fuhua artists had responsibility for one section of the painting. They ensured that they were playing their part in the initiative by getting the proportions of their planning sketches just right before embarking on the oil pastel preparatory exercises to ensure that they had effective control over this challenging medium.

3. The class worked very hard to observe the correct colours to ensure an exact match and they observed the original masterpiece very closely to develop skills of accuracy.

4. We were all very proud of the class when they finally collated all their individual separate pieces into one large successful outcome.

 

 

 

 

 

Detail showing one panel of the final artwork

Primary 6 Pupils – Identifying with our Environment ‘Stick Mammals’, found twigs, branches, sticks, glue and twine, 2016

This work introduced some of our students to the notion of empowering our students to the notion of empowerment to collate the resources required to develop their own experimental mixed media sculpture.

The Learning Process:

1. Students investigated how mammal skeletons were a framework for the form of a mammal’s body. They noted how the skeleton had different parts, and each of these component parts served a particular function.

2. We looked at the work of Swiss-Italian artist Alberto Giacometti. We were very interested in how he had approached the challenge of sculpting a mammal’s body. Two exemplars stood out, ‘Cat’, and ‘Dog’. We noted how these exemplars showed a close relationship between the skeleton of the animal and the sculpted final form of its body.

3. The materials we had chosen to work with were unfamiliar to the students so we used our preparatory study drawings as resource material to offer us structure. Our approach was an experimental one as we manipulated and combined the twigs and branches we had collected into recognisable animal like forms.

4. We investigated further by binding elements of the animal’s body to ensure the sculpture retained its physical integrity.

5. We concluded by looking at how close the final outcome was to our initial stimulus resources and artist’s exemplars, and how through the use of these unusual materials forged an abstract quality in the work.

Primary 6 Pupils – Our identity  

‘Experimental Portfolios’, various mixed media, stencils, paint, assembled on various papers, 2016

As our students move from Primary 6 into Secondary 1 they are faced with many changes. Clearly they are challenged to make the adjustment between different educational institutions but they also look further at their character and their future aspirations.

This project enables students to delve deeper to answer some of these questions.

The project is challenging in that it does not focus solely on achieving one specific outcome, rather it is divided into broad strands.

The Learning Process:

1. The work begins with a collage. Here students look at artist exemplars where the artist has incorporated text and image into their practice.

2. Students proceed to experiment with the connection between word and text. They attempt to identify adjectives, which describe their personality and personal qualities. They source images, which match or even counterpoise these ideas.

3. This completed alternative self-portrait collage is photocopied and is doubled in size. This forms a backdrop for stencilled images of the students’ own portrait and further stencilled images of the words and adjectives they used earlier.

4. Students carefully and accurately develop their own stencils on themes they have chosen.

5. They apply their stencil to their photocopied large-scale collage. 6. This stencilling and collage of portraits is extended to another piece of

paper to create a triptych. This triptych enables students to readily contrast their outcomes showing differences in their experiments.

 

       

       

     

     

     

 

 

Primary 6 Pupils – Identity

‘The Bigger Picture’ – Class Portraits (After Andy Warhol)

Acrylic paint on cartridge paper, 2016

This work introduced some of our students to the notion of investigating how they view themselves not only as individual students but also as a group, in this case with their classmates in their final year of primary school.

Students were taught how professional artists sometimes develop a body of work after looking at the work of other artists. In this case students developed their work through investigation of the American Pop Art movement. Students looked particularly at Andy Warhol. As Warhol looked at the concept of celebrity, our students gained their own particular 15 minutes of fame through creating their own self-portrait, which became part of a larger whole.

The Learning Process:

1. Students diligently observed the teacher’s demonstration model. They gained a snapshot of all the individual aspects and stages of the project.

2. Our Fuhua artists began by having their individual portrait taken. Students noted how software could complement the tenets of the ‘Pop Art’ movement by simplifying an image into its basic forms and colours.

3. We used fine liner to trace the different colour forms and tones of our face. This A4 image was photocopied to A3 size to form the basis of our painting.

4. These copies were the prelude to developing more control over the acrylic paint to deliver more resolved outcomes.

5. Improvement strategies were put in place to enable all students to succeed with high quality outcomes.

Teacher’s demonstration exemplar – development phase

Teacher’s demonstration exemplar – final

Student stage 1 – Photoshop portrait version

Student stage 2 – Traced version

Student stage 3 – Transposed and photocopied

Stage 4 – Start of painting

Student’s initial attempt

Improved version

Detail of Primary 6 Hope - Class Portrait

Final Outcomes

Primary 6 Hope - Class Portrait, (After Andy Warhol),

Acrylic Paint on 21 x A3 panels, 2016

Primary 6 Diligence - Class Portrait (After Andy Warhol),

Acrylic Paint on 40 x A3 panels, 2016

Fuhua Primary School, Pupils and Teachers ‘Our Group Identity’, painted and raw corrugated cardboard boxes, large-scale installation, 2016 This work introduced some of our key stakeholders to the notion of installation art. On the occasion of Fuhua Primary School’s 75th anniversary celebrations Fuhua’s art teachers were tasked with creating a large-scale artwork as the centrepiece of the celebrations. We took the cue for the form of the work from British artist Rachel Whiteread’s world famous installation piece, Embankment, 2006. Here Whiteread filled the gallery’s turbine hall with a huge number of cast boxes. ‘I did also think of finding something that was just vast – that was so spectacular that it would be just that one thing in that enormous space. I’ve no idea what that is. I think if someone could do that it might be a masterpiece. But I’ve definitely gone for more of the theatrical version. The Tate thing undoubtedly is going to be a spectacle, and theatrical, and it has to be. It’s the only way to deal with that space. And I have to make that jump. That’s what I’ve done. And that’s how it has to be done.’ Rachel Whiteread. We relished the opportunity to use boxes as they provided us with building blocks to build a focal point for the anniversary celebrations. The boxes we used could be manipulated and combined in a huge number of creative and innovative ways. Our aim was to capture the metaphor of building. Building both in terms of our individual students, but also in terms of these empowered individual students being building blocks in their wider school community. Teachers and students combined to work extremely hard on making and painting the boxes. The team worked even harder assembling the sculpture in various combinations until the ideal combination was identified. The theme of building linked with identity was strengthened by the fact that some of the boxes were painted as bricks, showing a very physical notion of building. Other boxes were coloured in the primary colours showing a connection to art and creativity, these colours, when mixed are the foundation of all colours. Finally silver boxes showed our link with technology. The boxes were arranged as a wall that curved and undulated to mimic life’s ever-changing journey. The work ‘invited’ participation from visitors. As visitors observed the contours of the work they were drawn into an enclosed space in the work. This space allowed for quiet reflection and contemplation. As curators we wanted to share with our audience a thought-provoking view of contemporary art education. It is likely that this is the first time that many members of our audience have been exposed to installation art.  

   Embankment, by Rachel Whiteread, 2006  

   

   

   

   Our Group Identity, painted and raw corrugated cardboard boxes, large-scale installation, 2016