WEEK 5
Starting week 5, we began to paint another piece for the red technology area. As we had already hung the Roy Lichtenstein piece we decided to pick something with a similar colour scheme to go alongside it, that was representative of the art department which was in this area. I decided upon a Mondrian inspired De Stijl piece. As the canvas for the piece was quite large, I used a spirit level, meter stick and masking tape to ensure the lines were straight. The students helped to paint the sections. Once this was dry I went over the black lines in between with a steady hand and it was hung up.
WEEK 6 & 7
In an attempt to add some colour and positivity to the halls of the school we painted to large murals with positive quotes. Painting straight onto the wall was better than hanging boards or canvases in these areas as they would be too bulky or get knocked during lesson changeover. I painted up the first quote - 'Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass its about learning to dance in the rain'. I painted an umbrella above this and added expressive colourful marks around it. These marks extended up and along the wall, as if it was going behind the display boards. The students helped with painting on this project and chose the colour scheme. On the other portion of this wall I wrote out a simple quote about being a student in black POSCA paint pen. I added accents of colour and the school logo beneath it in a quick, sketched style. This filled a lot of space without taking up too much time and provided a lot of reinforcement.
WEEK 8
As part of mental health awareness week, I encouraged the student to draw expressively. They all drew dream catchers, which also tied into their normal syllabus, and wrote down their anxieties or negative thoughts on one side. On the other side they wrote positive thoughts and words of encouragement. They designed them how they wished too and these were displayed around one of the balcony areas.
WEEKS 9 & 10
For the large area of space near the girls toilets, I wanted to focus on a women empowerment project. In my Fine Art Methodology I used the same silhouette of a woman regularly. I drew this outline in thick black marker and photocopied it. Each girl in the class was provided a copy to fill in. I told them to focus on the idea of building women up rather than tearing them down and that they could do what they wished with it, e.g. write song lyrics, write a quote, paint a picture. These will ill up space to the left of the toilets. For the right hand side, I wanted a large scale of this silhouette. I drew it out onto a larger board and filled it with masking tape. Having done this, I painted in an expressive, colourful background then let the girls have fun adding drips, splatters and pours of paint. Once the masking tape was peeled, it left a beautiful figure in the mess of paint. Currently I am deciding on some words to go with the piece that can be written without the female profile.