Keefe had his portfolio sharing session
today for the “Exploring the Arts” unit, which the Preschool 2 classes have
been inquiring into for the past ten weeks.
They covered both visual and performing arts, and they’ve been so
busy! Some of the highlights included a
dance workshop, a puppeteer performance in German, the class’ Rumpelstilzchen performance in German, a Maori
dance workshop, Fasnacht parade, pipe organ workshop,
violin workshop, and a clown performance.
After the portfolio sharing session, the parents had a special viewing
of the works of art done by each of the Preschool 2 class. Everything has been so impressive,
considering that all of these were done from scratch! Keefe was very happy to show me & Belle
his art work, and explain how he made them!
This was one of Keefe’s favourite
artwork. He said he worked so hard in
painting the castle, and even had to “work” during quiet time. He told me he did everything except for “hot
gluing” the different boxes! This art
was made out of “junk” or recycled materials, so it was called Junk Art
Sculpture.
This was Keefe's second favourite artwork. He made the puppet (marionette) during German class. He chose to do Peter from "Peter and the Wolf" -- he really loves this story and can remember the musical instruments associated with each character. Keefe explained that they made the head out of clay, painted the face, and glued yarn for the hair. The fabric costume was done by the German teacher. The puppet was made to stand in a recycled plastic bottle (in which Keefe added sand into it).
As part of their study on 2D (flat) and 3D (fat) shapes, Keefe's class had a pottery workshop with a kindergarten teacher (Ms Cathy). The class made cylinders to use as pencil holders and different-shaped plant holders. They worked with clay, had it dried for a few days before adding in their designs (e.g. using a fork to scrape the surface). They painted and glazed the clay a few days later. The glazed ceramics were sent to another school to be fired in the kiln. The flower pot drum was made during German class. Keefe told me they painted the pot using paintbrush and cotton buds. Afterwards, his teacher helped him wrapped the pot with parchment paper (in his words, "the paper you use for the oven"), Keefe said he had to decorate his drumstick but don't know how it was made ('cos "it was already done by Frau Christine").
If there is one famous artist that Keefe could talk about, it was Vincent Van Gogh. I remember him telling me one day on our way home that "Vincent Van Gogh cut off one part of his ear" (which was indeed true!), about "Starry Night", his bedroom and his chair. Above is his rendition of Van Gogh's chair using oil pastels.
The class explored collage and came up with shape collages. This 3D family was made in October 2013 during the "Families" unit but was showcased during the art exhibition.
Below are some pictures of artwork done by Keefe's classmates:
Junk art sculpture
Collage and Keefe's favourite marionettes: Super Mario and Maxi's dad (who is a football player with FCB)
If Vincent Van Gogh was a pre-schooler... Each student in Keefe's class painted their own renditions of "Starry Night", "Sunflowers", "Vincent's Chair with His Pipe", ""Vincent's Bedroom in Arles", and "Branches of an Almond Tree in Blossom"
Clay holders
Here are pictures of artwork done by the other two Preschool 2 classes:
Mosaic, shape sculptures, rainbow paintings and melted crayon art, Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten, Kandinsky inspired coloured circles and clay work, glazed ceramic bells, hand puppets, gold frames and Keith Haring inspired movement dancing pictures
Clay bells, collage (inspired by Henri Rousseau), feelings portraits inspired by Andy Warhol, Kunstmuseum paintings, 3D "skulpturen", food art (using popcorn and sweets), collage work inspired by Paul Klee
