Art and Design Curriculum Statement of Intent

At Westwood, we offer an excellent Art and Design curriculum which is taught in context each half term throughout our adventure approach to learning. The curriculum offer has been well mapped out to ensure progression across all year groups and key stages.

The teaching of Art and Design remains a priority across school with Art and Design being a key element within many adventures. Whilst at Westwood, children are given the opportunity to explore and express themselves throughout a variety of artistic styles. Pupils are introduced to a selection of artists and types of media and techniques that they use to create their work. Pupils are then given the opportunity to create their own work using taught techniques that they have been exposed to. At Westwood, we believe that it is important for children to become fully involved within the creative process, rather than focussing upon the visual outcome of their final piece.  The art curriculum provides opportunities for children to have creative freedom and express themselves creating a sense of individual identity and ownership over their work.

Across all year groups, we want pupils to study the following skills and knowledge-based concepts, progressing their skills all the way from the Foundation stage to Year 6:

• Drawing
• Painting
• Sculpture
• Printing
• Collage
• Textiles

We aim to link work to other subjects such as History, Mathematics and Design and Technology.

Art and Design Implementation

Drawing:

In Early Years children have access to various drawing tools such as (pencil, rubbers, crayon, pastels, chalk, pen, felt tip) and they learn to hold and use these effectively. During this time, they develop their control of drawing tools to make marks (from observation or imagination). In Key Stage One, children discover a wide range of pattern and texture. They are aiming to develop their competence and control within the types of marks that they make with a range of media specifically focusing upon line, shape and colour. They will look at creating a sea life animal with a focus on texture, as well as drawing upon their imagination to create a cubist castle in the style of Paul Klee. Drawing is further developed in Lower Key Stage Two where children continue to develop drawing from their imaginations but also observations. Still life sketches will be drawn from observations whilst studying the artist Giorgio Morandi. They will also continue to explore mark making through initial sketches and creating intricate patterns as they create an Egyptian inspired doodle in the style of Fabric Lenny. In Upper Key Stage Two, children continue to develop their independence and own style to create illustrations in the style of Quentin Blake. They then go on to look at portraying perspective, texture, tone and depth using pencils to sketch a Mayan scene in the style of Fredrick Catherwood and then build upon their still life drawing techniques, using Van Gogh as their inspiration.

Painting:

In Early Years children develop an interest in painting and the marks they can make using paint and painting tools. They talk about their own and others’ work and can recognise and name different colours as well as develop an understanding that when colours are mixed, new colours are created. In Key Stage One, children explore the colour wheel and begin to experiment with being able to show a spectrum of shades for a variety of primary and secondary colours, knowing how to mix and create them. They will then be introduced to artists which are famous for portraits, abstract and contemporary art to create final pieces being able to talk about their choice and purpose of colour use. They will study Guiseppe Arcimboldo and his unique twist on imaginative portraits to create their own clown portrait using fruit. They will then look at Kandinsky as an introduction into the abstract art world and how to use familiar shapes to form representations of real life objects and explore the balance of colour with Yayoi Kusama as an inspiration in the contemporary art scene. During these lessons, children will experiment using bold colours and patterns and complementary colours. Painting skills are then advanced in Lower Key Stage Two as they look at creating portraits in a cubist style inspired by Pablo Picasso . Children will look at using their knowledge of geometric shapes to represent and symbolise the familiar facial features. They will have the artistic licence to mix and position colours as they wish, having control over the size and proportions of the features they add. In contrast, they will then study Monet and the impressionist movement focussing more upon adding light and tone to natural forms. This will develop a child’s individual style and their eye for detail by creating depth through layers in the background and foreground of the piece. In Upper Key Stage Two, children will use their knowledge of colour to mix and depict light as they create their own vibrant modernist flower paintings in the style of Georgia O’ Keefe. They will be able to discuss the colours and confidently control their brushstrokes as they pursue their vision independently. They will also look to create pictures depicting the mood before and after the blitz in the style of Lowry, drawing upon their previous encounter of adding tone and depth.

Sculpture:

Within Early Years children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, staff ensure provision allows them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials such as clay, salt dough, playdough and sand. Children learn to manipulate malleable materials by cutting shapes using scissors and using other modelling tools. In Key Stage 1, children create small and large-scale zoo animals using materials from the outdoors in the style of Andy Goldsworthy. They learn to use simple tools for shaping and mark making and show an awareness that natural and manmade materials can be used to create sculpture. They will then progress to creating individual sculptures of farm animals focussing using direct observations, their memory and their imagination. Children will concentrate upon its form and shape, adding any patterns appropriately with tools carefully. This will be influenced by Peter Lord and David Sproxton. Sculpture is then further developed in Lower Key Stage Two with children using clay to create a small human form, showing an awareness of how they can create the shape and form adding details with tools reasonably independently in the style of Anthony Gormley. They will also be inspired by the work of Alexander Calder and understand that sculptures are not just made from plasticine and clay. They will create a 3D form and be able to discuss the similarities of their own firework sculpture to the works of Alexander Calders. Upper Key Stage Two will then learn about the sculptor Barbara Hepworth. In this unit they will combine their wire and clay skills to create a frame, adding clay to form the shape with a growing competence to independently use tools effectively to add patterns and intricate details of the Minin and Pozartsky. They will also visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and have a first-hand experience in observing and sketching designs to inspire their own sculptures having the freedom of the materials, subject and techniques they choose to employ.

Printing:

In Early Years children are exposed to the concept of printing. Staff provide a variety of opportunities to print with different media and children explore the different shapes they create. In Key Stage One, the children explore texture to create a Space scene in the style of Karen Lederer by printing with different medias. They will utilise these materials in different ways by pressing, rolling, rubbing and stamping to investigate the different marks and effects they create. Children will also be introduced to Lucy McGrath and the concept of mixing colours and marbling which they will then revisit and develop in Lower Key Stage Two alongside using other ways to create a marble effect, using Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner as an inspiration. Lower Key Stage Two will also then create their own polystyrene printing block to etch in their own design before creating their own final piece in the style of famous pop artist Andy Warhol. Upper Key Stage Two they explore printing further, looking at the different types such as mono and resist. The children will then create a printing block using lino and appropriate tools to create a series of prints. They will study Hokusai to help inspire their lino tile design.

Collage:

In early years an array of opportunities are provided to allow children to gain a natural curiosity into collage, through providing a variety of media and textures within provision. This is further developed when the children use ripped paper to create a collage of a ship within their pirates adventure. In Key Stage One, children look at Eric Carle’s work as a stimulus to see how collage can be used to create animals and objects within his illustrations. They take inspiration from Gaudi to create mosaic style pictures to represent different modes of transport. Lower Key Stage Two then extend their collage skills by combining this with either drawing or painting. They create a landscape or animal collage in the style of Hannah Hoch as well as celebrate all things American in the style of Peter Blake. Upper Key Stage Two then extend this further to create an invasion battle scene in the style of Alexander Korzer. For this project they will choose to combine either drawing, painting and printing skills alongside real-life images to layer upon one another creating a diverse and interesting scene showcasing their art skills. Similarly, they will choose how to combine collage with previously taught art skills to also create a collage in the style of Robert Rauschenberg to illustrate Italy and Pompeii.

Textiles:

At Westwood, we recognise and value that art and design also refers to textiles. Therefore, we learn about artists that are well known for their textile design but approach teaching textiles as part of our design and technology curriculum. The design element in technology requires children to apply a creative and artistic outlook into designing products that are aesthetically pleasing but that are also made with a functioning purpose. Early Years explore different textiles from various cultures around the world and develop their interest in this. Key Stage One look at The Bayeux Tapestry and the functionality of using embroidered cloth. In Lower Key Stage Two, the children will explore different materials and ways to secure and fasten them together. Their key focus will be upon the creator of Velcro, George de Mestral.  In Upper Key Stage Two the children will explore different materials and their sustainability. The influence for this unit of work is Levi Strauss. 

We are very proud of Art and Design at Westwood and aim to encourage this passion throughout the children’s lessons by having both teachers and teaching assistants passionate about the subject. This is then celebrated in a whole school approach each half term during our Art Gallery Assembly.