Art Deco Jewellery
Primary,
Year 3 and 4, Age 7-9
(Teacher: Daphne Strachan),
Stephen Bruce,
Anson Primary School
Cricklewood
Brent, UK
This cross-curricular art project involved children in Year 3 and 4 and looked at the influence of ancient Egypt, particularly after the excavation of the tomb of Tutanhkhamun in 1922, on the modern world demonstrated through Art Deco. Examples of architecture, which included the Chyrsler Building in New York, the Hoover Buidling in London and the Egyptian Hall in Harrods, were studied and an in-depth study of Art Deco jewellery was made as part of the childrens' work in art and technology.
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The classes studied a display of Art Deco objects which included a powder compact, a silver hairbrush and hand mirror, a clock, some rings, brooches and a bracelet, and similarities in style were discussed. The children were also shown examples of other Art Deco objects in books and observational drawings were made from both sources. The teacher followed up this activity by giving each child a photocopy of a small piece of an Art Deco design which they extended to make into their own design. |
| The next activity involved the children designing their own Art Deco jewellery piece. They made pencil drawings which were included on the planning sheet to show the progression of their work. This design was made into a collage using black and white sticky paper and it gave the children an understanding of how they might build up their pieces in Fymo. |  |
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Black and white Fymo was rolled out to produce a base shape and rulers and blunt kitchen knives were used to cut the Fymo into geometric shapes. Once the base was finished the other parts of the design were moulded and attached. After baking and varnishing, brooch pins were stuck on to complete the article. This was followed with a discussion about what they had made and what they felt they had learnt from the project which also gave the children experience in using art vocabularly. |
This scheme of work shows how cross-curricular art teaching can form a sequence of activities that build upon each other, developing progression and continuity in the childrens' work and contributing to a greater understanding of art.