Big Draw STEAM

The STEAM Powered Big Draw Festival

Bringing together Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths, the 2016 theme of STEAM recalls our industrial past and the fusion of creative innovation, enterprise and the Arts.

From 10th to 14th October all art classes took part in the main school hall. With joined classes from year seven to sixth form students working alongside each other all participants had the opportunity to sketch from our dramatic displays of objects inspired by five elements of STEAM. They entered a fascinating world of isolating mathematical shapes, crazy mechanical inventions and medical research laboratories. 

One of our local primary schools took up our invitation to take part bringing their year six pupils. Following a brief introduction about the Big Draw the students concentrated on practising their skills of observation through drawing directly from the displays.

With the exception of A level photography students, all the participants  completed drawings in biro onto pre-cut coloured circles. These circles were then connected together to form a Dodecahedron, a collaborative 3D paper sculpture which are now displayed across the school.

The spectacular finale of the festival was the evening event which saw the displays and accompanying music open to the local community. The evening was a great success, it reflected the real spirit and purpose of the BIG Draw -as a celebration of the universal language of drawing. 

 20 circular drawings make a Dodecahedron to hang up for display.

Maths Themed Display

Marine Reserach Lab

Natural History- Miroscopes

Engineering-Steam punk

Medical research Lab

Marine Life Year 8

Mixed-media Year 8 Sketchbooks

Inspired by the artists Emma Dibben and Amy Holliday our year 8 students used a variety of media to experiment and explore the watery world of marine life. They had the opportunity to paint using watercolours directly from real fish and created relief prints on polystyrene board. Over the course of the term they adapted and refined their experiments across three interconnecting circles. The following  photographs show how the circles created a successful template which  developed  their  understanding of creative process within art and design.

 

 

 



Set Painting for Into The Woods

Over the past few weeks Ms Pickering and our talented art technician Marianne have worked every spare moment to complete this incredibly detailed and atmospheric backdrop for the current school production- Into the Woods. The dripping and splatted acrylic paint is built-up in layers. The muted colours saturate the back wall of the stage with creeping trees and silhouette of swirling crows. Working on a huge scale shows how the movement and action of the brush along with the thickness of the paint work together to create a foreboding and sinister woodland- perfect for the fantastic performances happening throughout this week.

 

 

Fantasy and the Surreal

Year 13 Art students are now finding their own sense of freedom to explore and venture into fantastical worlds of monsters and creatures. The following example shows how Jamie's studies have started to escape from his A1 study pages and are now becoming a 3D form.