Magnets

For the last art group session of the year, there were only a few of us, I can't compete with end of term treats and films, but we did make some 'fridge magnets' using various pieces of wood and sticks. From making these test pieces the students have come up with some ideas for how we can develop the ideas further using magnets and a range of other objects. These will be used on various parts of the fence to fit in with the marble run and other elements.

Tiles

Aimee dropped off the fired tiles from the workshop we did a couple of weeks ago and they are great. Some of them will be worked on further and we plan to start working on the designs students have done for the fence tiles next year.

Broken Fingers

A couple of photos from last weeks plaster casting. We did some more hands but also experimented with leaves and other objects, which we will have a look at later in the week as they had not fully cured last week. The next session will be the last of the year, so we will have a mess around with some simple ideas to finish off the school year.

Sculpture Ideas

A couple of the students have done some small sculpture test ideas based on bird's nests, and next year we shall further develop their ideas, along with the hand sculptures and other ideas we have been working on.

Bird's Nest Sculptures Natalie Tyler 

Photo via This is Colossal 

Environmental Art from Mr Randall's Classroom

Tile Workshop

We had the tile workshop today, where we tested out different designs for some tiles that we will be making for the top of the fence posts. Aimee run the workshop and brought all the materials to make the tiles and decorate them. The workshop went very well and at break time more students turned up and had a chance to make some tiles. Once these tiles are completed Aimee and I will plan the rest of the tiles and how to produce the 40 designs students from the school have designed.

Plaster Casting

Last week was a lovely sunny day, so we went out and painted the fence artworks and afterwards the students filled their gloves with water and enjoyed the odd shapes the water filled gloves made. So we decided to make some plaster filled gloves, which we did this week. Earlier in the year we had looked at some ideas for using hands in different ways as part of the fence project, so these tests will be a good start to developing the idea further.

Otari School Fair

A few photos from the School Fair fence workshop, these are the first of the artworks and the students have been working on some further pieces that will go up on the front fence. When the work is placed along the fence, a qr code will also be mounted on the fence so people can listen to the sounds the artworks represent.

Student's Sound Sculptures

Fence Artwork

This is a test for the artwork going on the fence, this piece is based on the spectrogram of a tui and the colour scheme is taken from the colours of a tui. The final pieces when they are made will each have a qr code attached, so people can scan the code and listen to the sounds each artwork represents. Click here to listen to a tui.

Colours of Otari School

Last week the students took a series of photographs of the colours found around the school, this is part of our mapping work but it will also provide us with ideas for painting the sound artworks, which we will be starting at the Twilight Fair next month. Over the next couple of weeks we will be trying out some small test sculptures, recording sounds commonly heard in the area, such as tui and children playing and collecting more colours.

Sound Fence - Twilight Fair

The Art Group and I will be running a workshop at the Twilight Fair, the idea being to get the wider School community involved in the fence project.
The workshop will involve building a series of artworks, made from recycled wood, which will represent the sounds students recorded earlier in the year as part of the sound map they made, these include bird song, children playing, wind and rain. Below are some images showing how the artworks will look and if you need any further information, feel free to contact me.

Spectrogram of a Tui