Visual Arts Curriculum and Program |
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” |
The visual arts curriculum is intended for students to develop their creativity and communicate their understanding of the world around them through a visual medium (e.g., drawing, painting, sculpting, architecture, photography, commercial arts, traditional and fine crafts, industrial design, electronic and media arts, performance arts). Visual expression allows students to sharpen their observation, imagination, and invention.
In the visual arts program, students apply the elements and principles of design to create pieces of artwork, using various materials, tools, and techniques. Visual arts projects are sometimes integrated into different subject areas.
In the visual arts program, students apply the elements and principles of design to create pieces of artwork, using various materials, tools, and techniques. Visual arts projects are sometimes integrated into different subject areas.
Visual Arts Resources
General
Elements and Principles of Design - The Building Blocks of Art
Colour Wheel
Online Drawing Tools
- Artcyclopedia - search by artist, artwork, or museum
Elements and Principles of Design - The Building Blocks of Art
- Project ARTiculate - brief definitions and images are given
- Elements and Principles of Design - a thorough overview is provided; various pieces of artwork are used to illustrate each term
- Using the Elements and Principles of Design in Photography
Colour Wheel
- Colour Harmonies - basic techniques for combining colours using a colour wheel
Online Drawing Tools
- Pixilart - draw using pixels or tiny boxes
- Kleki - use layers on top of photographs or images to create stylized art
- Bomomo - create abstract digital art with interactive drawing tools
- Toy Theater Build - build 3D scenes with virtual blocks and characters
- ScrapColoring - upload pictures and use patterns, gradients, and/or colours to creatively colour them
- Mondrimat - a system to experiment with colours, spaces, and lines in the style of Piet Mondrian
- JacksonPollock - "drip" blobs of virtual paint in the style of Jackson Pollock
- Thisissand - "drop" virtual sand in various colours to produce landscapes
- WeaveSilk - experiment with symmetry using this generative art tool
- Sumo Paint - a painting and image editing application that is very similar to Photoshop
- Mr. Doob's Harmony - single-user drawing tool with various brushes allows you to produce striking black and white designs
- Flame Painter - design beautiful light-based imagery using a variety of “fire” effects, colours, and more
- Rate My Drawing - an online vector drawing application which allows you to produce drawings that can be rotated and scaled
- Sketchpad 3.7 - produce your own images or drag and drop images which can be further edited
- Vector Paint - generate unique artwork with shapes, colour gradients, and layers
Visual Arts Selected Class Projects
Identity Falling Name Art (Grade 8: 2014-2015, Grade 4/5: 2018-2023): Students repeated and arranged the letters in their name to create a “falling” effect. Between the spaces of the overlapped letters, students filled in symbols which represent their personalities. Can you figure out the name of each artist?
Identity Name Art Designs (Grade 8: 2015-2018): Students chose a lettering style to write their name. In between and surrounding the spaces formed by the letters, students either created enclosed areas in which symbols representing their identity were repeated in a pattern or produced a design using identity symbols to create a whole picture. Do you feel that you know the person after viewing each artwork?
Graffiti Alliterative Name Art (Grade 7/8: 2013-2014): Students created a “new name” for themselves by using a positive adjective to describe their personality that began with the same letter as their first name. Using graffiti style techniques for the elements of design, students artistically "wrote" their new names.
Anti-Bullying Themed Pop-Art Self-Portrait (Grade 7/8: 2013-2014): Students created an anti-bullying slogan. They then posed for a photograph, visually manifesting the meaning of their slogan. Photographs were then photoshopped to create a “cartoon” look. To reproduce the images, the traditional printmaking process was adapted: students traced the outline of their photograph and the resulting outline was photocopied four times. Using colour harmony theory, students chose complementary colours which reflected their anti-bullying slogan and produced a colour pattern in their artwork.
Pop-Art Patterns (Grade 4/5: 2020-2023): Students posed for a headshot which was then converted into a pencil sketch. In the style of Andy Warhol's famous Marilyn Monroe paintings, students used a pattern to colour in four reproduced images.
Reflection Cross Art (Grade 7/8: 2013-2014, Grade 8: 2015-2018, Grade 4/5: 2018-2019, 2020-2023): Through the use of positive space (i.e., area occupied by main subject of art work) and negative space (i.e., areas around and behind positive space), students created a cross design which reflected their relationship with and understanding of Jesus. While Jesus’ terrible suffering on the cross was a negative event, his necessary suffering, death, and triumphant resurrection revealed his positive message of hope of eternal life.
Sign of Peace (Grade 8: 2014-2016, Grade 4/5: 2021-2022): During mass in the Communion Rite, we exchange peace when the priest says, "The Peace of the Lord be with you always!" and we respond, "And also with you!" We sometimes exchange a sign of peace with each other (e.g., a hug or kiss with family members, shaking hands or nodding/bowing towards others). A sign is an object, quality, event, or being which is used to signify other things and to make them come to mind. Students designed their own sign for peace and wrote a brief explanation of how their signs signify peace.
Ten Commandments Notan (Grade 8: 2014-2015): A notan is a Japanese design concept, meaning "light-dark harmony", which involves placing light and dark shapes next to the other. The Ten Commandments, as described in Exodus, were given by God to Moses as a set of ten instructions by which human beings can serve God and each other. In the New Testament, Jesus affirmed the validity of these commandments and fulfilled this Law by summarizing them into the two great commandments: 1) "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" [Commandments 1-3] and 2) "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." [Commandments 7-10] (Matthew 22:37-40). In groups, students reworded the negative wording of each commandment positively in light of Jesus' two great commandments and designed a notan to reflect a different aspect of each commandment.
Halloween Cooperative Monsters (Grade 4/5: 2018-2020, 2022-2023): Students individually created one of four body parts, head, torso, arms and hands, or legs and feet, using recyclable or found items. In randomly assigned groups, students cooperatively assembled their 'mismatched' body parts to create a three-dimensional monster that looks unusual, odd, bizarre, or "out of this world".
Stained Glass Window (Grade 8: 2014-2018): As part of the Nelson Mathematics 8 Chapter 5 unit on Measurement of Circles, students completed a Visual Arts/Math project to create a stained glass window design. After sketching a design for a stained glass window incorporating various shapes including at least one circle, students estimated and calculated the circumference and area of each shape in their design to determine the cost of producing a stained glass window based on their design. Students then used coloured tissue paper and black construction paper to create a model of their design.
Ancient Americas Clay Figurines (Grade 4/5: 2018-2019): At the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, students viewed the Early Societies of the Ancient Americas exhibit to view ceramics from western Mexico to southern Peru which revealed the history, beliefs, and gastronomy of the Ancient Americas' cultures. After the gallery tour, students created a clay figurine in the studio that resembled an Ancient Americas figure.
Group of Seven Landscape Plasticine Reproduction (Grade 8: 2015-2016, 2017-2018): Mrs. Jakymyc, from ArtQuest, demonstrated how to create colours, using black and white plasticine to darken or lighten the values of the other plasticine colours. By using her patented technique of "smushing", students smeared and spread their created plasticine colours to reproduce the Group of Seven painters' iconic style. Capturing the spirit of the painters was more crucial than producing an identical copy. Which of the reproductions do you feel best encapsulates the original painter's vision?
Glass and Watercolour Pictures (Grade 8: 2016-2018): In a workshop which mixed two media, Mrs. Jakymyc encouraged the students to ``see`` an image by rearranging pieces of tumbled beach glass and then supplement the glass image with a watercolour background and embellishments on canvas. What pictures can you create from found objects?
Wire and Nylon Sculptures (Grade 8: 2016-2017): Mrs. Jakymyc had a unique take on the classic wire sculpture: stretch a nylon pantyhose over the twisted wire pieces, mount it on a wooden block, and add some paint. But the key element of this artwork is the name of each piece. Do you feel that the name justifies the art?
Ted Harrison Inspired Plasticine Pictures (Grade 4/5: 2018-2019): Mrs. Jakymyc, from ArtQuest, showed students how to create colours with plasticine by mixing black or white plasticine with other colours to create darker or lighter shades. Students used these plasticine colours to create their own landscapes in the style of Ted Harrison, a Canadian artist who painted mostly the Yukon in vibrant solid colours using bold, simple forms.
Norval Morrisseau Inspired Paintings (Grade 4/5: 2018-2019): Students created paintings inspired by Norval Morrisseau, an Indigenous Canadian artist from the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation, whose paintings utilize bright colours and thick black outlines. Mrs. Jakymyc, from ArtQuest, facilitated the process by having students choose a stencil of an animal or create their own, copy the figure onto a canvas, and create shapes within the figure. Using acrylic paints and black marker, the students were able to create a final product which resembled the unique style of Norval Morrisseau.
Pixilart Digital Images (Grade 4/5: 2020-2023): Students used Pixilart, a free online drawing tool using pixels or tiny boxes, to create a piece of digital art to represent something that has a special personal meaning.
Bomomo Digital Abstract Art (Grade 4/5: 2020-2023): Students used Bomomo, a free online interactive drawing tool using moving circles, to create a piece of abstract digital art.
Kleki "Imperfect Perfect" Self-Portraits (Grade 4/5: 2020-2023): Students used Kleki, an online painting tool which uses painting layers on top of a photograph, to create a self-portrait that was not a "perfect" representation.
Toy Theatre Build: 3D Scenes (Grade 4/5: 2020-2022): Students used Toy Theater Build, a free online virtual building tool, to create a 3D scene.
ScrapColoring (Grade 4/5: 2020-2022): Students used ScrapColoring, a free online coloring tool, to upload a picture and used patterns, gradients, and/or colours to creatively colour it online. The picture on the left is the original image and the picture on the right is the recoloured image.
Mondrimat: Piet Mondrian-Inspired Abstract Art (Grade 4/5: 2020-2022): Students created their own Piet Mondrian-inspired piece of art using Mondrimat, a free online tool which allows you to create a piece of abstract art in the style of Piet Mondrian.
Thisissand: Ted Harrison-Inspired Landscape Art (Grade 4/5: 2020-2023): Students used Thisissand, a free online tool, to create a piece of landscape art in the style of Ted Harrison.
WeaveSilk Reflection Representational Art (Grade 4/5: 2020-2023): Students used WeaveSilk, a free online generative art tool, to create a representation of something with a vertical line of symmetry.
WeaveSilk Rotational Geometric Art (Grade 4/5: 2020-2022): Students used WeaveSilk again to create a geometric design using rotational symmetry.