Year 2 Art

Term 1

Year 2 have been learning about the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo who painted portraits made out of pieces of fruit. The children made faces out of real fruit, chose a colour to display them on and then took photos of their work. They then had to carefully draw their picture using wax crayons and then we painted over them with watercolours using a wax resit technique. Finally, they had to cut the fruit out and reposition them to create their masterpieces! 

Term 2

In year 2 we have been finding out about at the artist Alberto Giacometti, who is famous for his sculptures. He sculpted the shadows of people so his sculptures have elongated arms and legs. We went outside to look at and draw our shadows and we experimented by moving our bodies into different positions. Then we had to choose our favourite shadow drawing and create a sculpture out of clay.

The following week we wrapped tinfoil around our sculptures to make them look like they are made out of metal. After that we looked at the work of photographer Peter Lindbergh who photographed Giacometti’s sculptures in 2016. We found out about how he created the backdrops in his photographs and talked about why they were displayed in black and white.

Finally we worked in little teams to look at different compositions using our sculptures. We tried out different fabrics for the backdrops and looked at taking the photos from different angles using the Ipads. We printed the photos that we took in black and white.

Term 3

This term the children looked at some of Picasso’s portrait paintings. They discussed the main features of his work and talked about the shapes and lines that he used. We then decided to make some sculptures based on these features.
The children had to cut different shapes out of cardboard, paint them and then looked at different compositions to decide on their favourite one for their portrait. Finally they stuck them together, attached them onto sticks, covered their sticks in tissue paper and then presented them stood up in bottles.

Term 4

This term the children have been learning about the Great Fire of London. They looked at photos and pictures of Tudor houses and discussed what the main features were.  They then had to make their own Tudor house using card. The hardest thing was definitely cutting out the windows but the children persevered really well. We then created a huge display across two boards in the corridor. Great work Beech Class!

Term 5

This term the children’s topic has been ‘Africa’. They enjoyed looking at photos of African animals and talking about the composition and shapes within the photos.  We looked at a colour wheel and talked about using complementary colours to make the animals stand out. We think you’ll agree that their African animal art looks absolutely fantastic! Keep your eye out on the display board in the main entrance as their artwork is coming soon!

Term 6

Year 2 have been studying the painting ‘Tiger in a Tropical storm’ by Henri Rousseau. They talked about whether or not they would like the painting in their house and had to give reasons for their answers. We went outside to look at the leaves and noticed that they are all different shapes and sizes so we tried to incorporate some of the shapes in our art. We also tried to make sure that our tigers looked hidden by putting some grass and leaves over parts of their faces. I think you’ll agree that year 2 did a great job!