École John Henderson Middle School Art
Art
Teacher: Ashleigh Wiebe awiebe@retsd.mb.ca
Art is a form of visual communication and expression. The goal of the Visual Arts Program at École John Henderson Middle School is to allow students to discover ways to express themselves and understand the world around them by developing skills in visual awareness, art production, and art appreciation.
The four areas of our curriculum are making, creating, connecting, and responding.
Making/ Using Art Language and Tool:
Students learn and demonstrate their understanding of the elements and principles of design. They also explore different techniques and methods within their learning using different types of media. Some examples of mediums used are watercolour, acrylic, pencil, pencil crayon, soft pastel, oil pastel, clay, fiber arts, mixed media and even digital art. Students also explore and learn to use visual awareness through development of drawing skills in gesture drawings, contour drawings, using tools such as wood manikins, grid techniques, using view finders and learning the illusion of space techniques.
Creativity/Creating:
Students get the opportunity to generate, develop and experiment with their creativity by exploring different concepts, art movements and artist from all around the world. Generating new ideas from different sources and experiences as they move from grade 6 to grade 8. Students will also build on their own creative journey through inquiry and self-development as individual artists. They will work on revising, refining, and sharing their work with their peers, school, and community.
Connecting/Context:
Students within the visual arts will learn about different cultures, practices, forms, styles, and traditions from both past and present and have a global perspective on connecting with the arts around the world. They will also have a diverse experience with the different indigenous groups in Canada and the various art they create.
Responding/Reflecting:
Students will learn to do art critiques in both large groups and individually to respond to their own and others’ work. They will learn about the four parts of a critique in describing, analyzing, interpreting, and deciding about art that they experience. Students will learn to reflect on their own creative process, using critical thinking skills and reflective reasoning to help with goal setting and developing their own creative identity. Through artists statements, reflections, critiques and conversations, students will gain skills in communicating their ideas and thoughts with others.
