schemes of work

Large Scale Mixed Media Work based on the theme 'favourite aspects of modern day life' Primary, Year 3, Age 7-8 Carmel Hughes, November 1997 St. Mary's Primary School North Kensington London, UK
This study lasted two terms and was undertaken by a class of 29 pupils of mixed ability and variety of ethnic origin. The art project evolved in a cross curricular way which combined studying traditional and modern Fairytales and a visit to the Serpentine Gallery, London to see the work of New York artist Jean Michel Basquiat. Although the initial stimulus was seeing the exhibition, the children had already created a 3D New York display in the classroom based on the book 'Snow White in New York' by Fiona French.
	The children were given a guided tour of the Serpentine by Gallery Staff and were provided with pencils/paper to make sketches and notes which were then referred to back in the school when the children researched into the artist's life. Emphasis was placed on investigating the work of a modern day artist and making links to the work of other artists. Basquiat and his art appealed to the children as he was young, trendy, black and 'cool' and a lot of the images/symbols he used were familiar to them.
His works were very personal, depicting his feelings about city life - consumerism, greed, racism. They felt they could identify with him because of his lifestyle - music, graffiti, fashion, drugs, city life - and this initiated interesting and sensitive discussions around these and other environmental issues. A classroom display was set-up using posters, postcards and reviews.
	Each child completed a large scale (A1 card) painting which was totally individual and personal to them. Assessment was ongoing and based on the degree of involvement and choice/use of media (paint, pastels, felt markers, collage with magazine pictures, newspaper/magazine pictures/headlines, stencils). They selected from a variety of tools (sponges, brushes, rollers), learnt how to paint using a restricted palette and explored the use of symbols to convey meaning. All of the children achieved a high standard mainly because they were motivated and had lots of visual stimulation and personal choice
Finally, they discussed ways of presenting the finished works and made their own frames for hanging them which involved a variety of skills. The main difficulty encountered was the limited space available for the children to work and to complete 29 individual artworks. An alternative development could be a collaborative project with the children working together to produce one 'huge' mixed media work perhaps with an alternative contemporary artist who could visit the school and communicate with the children directly.
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