Art is a means of making and communicating meaning through imagery. Visual arts activities enable the child to make connections between the imaginative life and the world, and to organise ideas, feelings and experiences in visual, tangible form (Primary School Curriculum, 1999, p. 5).

Principles

The importance of visual arts education in the school curriculum

• Visual arts education has an important role in the child’s holistic development
• The creative process that children go through in making art and the importance of the arts as a way of knowing complement the other areas of learning
• The process of  making art is emphasised
• The pupils encounter a broad developmental programme in drawing, paint and colour, in a three dimensional medium such as clay, in print-making and construction.
• Work in computer graphics may be substituted for work in fabric and fibre
• Opportunities are given to reflect on art forms from our own and other cultures
• Topics chosen will be based on a synthesis of approaches – the techniques approach, the thematic approach and the environmental approach
• All pupils will have equal access to a visual arts education
• The programme provides opportunities for children with special educational needs to show capabilities and achievements
• Visual arts activities will provide for linkage with other curricular areas, but will be planned in parallel with them, and not subsumed by the other areas
• Sufficient time will be allocated for visual arts education, and it is recommended that the visual arts lessons are not planned for Friday afternoons
• Assessment criteria will identify what is significant and of value in the child’s visual expression and in his response to art works.
• A brief check-list of what to look out for when observing children’s work is compiled
• Use will be made of ICT to broaden the children’s understanding and  experience of art.

Organisational Planning: Roles and Responsibilities

Developing a shared sense of purpose for visual arts education

Board of Management

• Provides support for the development and implementation of the school for the visual arts within its available resources

Principal

• Oversees the development and implementation of school plan
• Identifies teacher (s) with particular interests and expertise in visual arts to lead staff discussion and to draw up draft policy document on the place, purpose and content of visual arts education

Special Duties Teacher

• Development and co-ordination of school plan in Visual Arts throughout the school
• Responsibility for displays throughout the school – corridors and notice boards
• Organises resources for particular themes and advises on purchases of general requisites and tools

Other Teachers

• Provide information on sources of support for implementing the visual arts programme
• Provide for their pupils a broad and balanced programme in the visual arts
• Work collaboratively with colleagues

Classroom Assistant

• Assists with preparation of materials for pupils in junior classes
• Assists pupils during visual arts lessons in junior classes

The Visual Arts Curriculum

• In the  transitional phase of the introduction of the Primary School Curriculum (1999), it is not intended to use all of the media. For the immediate future, work will not be attempted in fibre and fabric.

Media

• Drawing
• Paint and colour
• Print
• Clay
• Construction
• Computer graphics

Aims

The aims of the visual arts curriculum are

• To help the child develop sensitivity to the visual, spatial and tactile world, and to provide for aesthetic experience
• To help the child express ideas, feelings and experiences in visual and tactile form
• To enable the child to have enjoyable and purposeful experiences in the different art media
• To promote the child’s understanding of and personal response to the creative process involved in making 2D and 3D art
• To foster sensitivity and appreciation of the visual arts
• To enable the child to experience the achievement of potential through art activities

Objectives

The visual arts curriculum should enable the child to

• Look at, enjoy and make a personal response to a range of familiar and unfamiliar objects in the environment, focusing on their visual attributes
• Explore and begin to develop sensitivity to qualities of  line, shape, colour, tone, texture, pattern, rhythm, spatial organisation and the 3D quality of form
• Express ideas, feelings and experiences in visual form
• Experiment with a range of art materials such as pencils, paints, crayons, chalks, markers, ink, clay, papier maché and construction materials
• Explore the possibilities of the materials with a range of 2D and 3D media such as drawing, paint and colour, print, clay and construction
• Apply skills and techniques
• Explore atmosphere, content and impact in the work of artists
• Identify a variety of visual arts media
• Develop an ability to identify and discuss what he considers to be the most important design elements of individual pieces
• Begin to appreciate the context in which great art and artefacts are created
• Respond to visual arts experiences in a variety of ways
• Use appropriate language in responding to visual arts experiences

Overview of Concepts and Skills Development- All Classes

Concepts

• An awareness of line
• An awareness of shape
• An awareness of colour and tone
• An awareness of texture
• An awareness of pattern and rhythm
• An awareness of space

Strands

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Infant Classes

Concepts

An awareness of line

• Begin to discover that lines can have a variety of qualities and can make shapes
• Create movement with lines
• Begin to represent familiar figures and objects with free lines and shapes

An awareness of shape

• Begin to develop sensitivity to qualities of flat shape
• Invent and work with shapes that have a variety of characteristics

An awareness of form

• Become aware of the 3D nature of form and of form in objects – volume in a toy, a ball, a  box
• Handle, feel, manipulate and begin to form clay

An awareness of colour and tone

• Become sensitive to colour
• Recognise and mix primary colour and tones
• Distinguish between light and dark colours
• Use colour expressively

An awareness of texture

• Begin to explore the relationship between how things feel and how they look
• Create texture with a variety of materials and tools

An awareness of pattern and rhythm

• Become aware of pattern and rhythm in visual surroundings – raindrop in a puddle, clouds in the sky, markings on a stone

An awareness of space

• Become aware of how people and objects take-up space
• Examine simple structures in the visual environment
• Begin to make basic structures – balance open and closed boxes on each other

Strand unit: Making drawings

The child should be enabled to

• Experiment with the marks that can be made with different drawing instruments on a range of surfaces – wriggly, smudgy, gritty, light , dark, crayons, soft pencils, chalks, textured papers
• Make drawings based on vividly recalled feelings, real and imaginative experiences – my house, my teddy, my dream, special occasions (birthday)
• Draw line and shape as seen in natural and manufactured objects – line in stones, leaves, curvy, straight-edged, big, small, simple
• Explore the relationship between how things feel and how they look – texture in natural and manufactured objects

Looking and responding

The child should be enabled to

• Look and talk about his work, the work of other children and the work of artists – describe what is happening, the different kinds of marks made, how the artist might have worked

Strand Unit: Painting

The child should be enabled to

• Experiment with a variety of colour drawing instruments and media to develop colour awareness – paint, coloured pencils and crayons, print, colour-mixing
• Use colour to express feelings, experiences and imaginings – home and play, dreams and longings, special occasions
• Distinguish colour in the visual environment – beginning to distinguish between lighter and darker colours, making paintings with a single colour and black and white
• Discover colour, pattern and rhythm in colourful objects – stones, flowers, colour magazine cut-outs
• Discover the relationship between how things feel and how they look – texture in natural and manufactured objects

Looking and responding

• Look and talk about his work, the work of other children and the work of artists

Strand Unit: Printing

• Experiment with the effects that can be achieved with simple print-making – use apples, potatoes – cut in half and print; make impressions with marla with keys, lego; print impressions, initials; pictures of fish – print bubbles with different sized lids; over-printing – print a pattern all over the page with one colour. Allow to dry. Overprint with a different colour; masking out – parts of painted block are masked out using torn paper before printing

Looking and responding

• Look and handle and talk about familiar objects for experience of shape, texture and pattern
• Look and talk about his work, the work of other children and art prints
• Look and talk about examples of print in everyday use - borders, frames, copy covers, invitations, cards, posters, wallpaper, wrapping paper and packaging

Strand Unit: Clay

• Explore and discover the possibilities of  clay as a medium – pinching, squeezing, squashing a ball of clay
• Making a variety of forms in clay – fat, twisty, squat, bumpy
• Making a clay form and manipulate it with fingers to suggest a subject – worms, snakes, snails
• Invent mixed-media pieces in representational and non-representational modes – pressing lollipop sticks, feathers, buttons into clay

Looking and responding

• Look at, handle and talk about objects with free-flowing forms – smooth stones, fruit
• Look at, handle and talk about own work, the work of other children and simple pieces of clay pottery

Strand Unit: Construction

• Explore and experiment with the properties and characteristics of materials in making structures – free play with construction toys – mobilo; build a stair or wall with light boxes – cheese boxes; talk about tallest, widest
• Make imaginative structures – make an imaginative play structure with large boxes balanced on each other; make an imaginative house using pieces of polystyrene; paint the finished work; make a space helmet or a party hat

Looking and Responding

• Look at, investigate and talk about spatial arrangements and balance in collections of objects and photographs – toy buildings, model farms, simple furniture
• Look at, talk about structures that are easily accessible –decide how many pieces were used to make a table, a swing

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First and Second Classes

Concepts

Same as for Infant Classes

Strands

Same as for Infant Classes

Concepts and skills development

An awareness of line

• Recognise that lines have various properties and can create shapes, textures, patterns and movements
• Look closely at the linear qualities of objects in the surroundings
• Develop personal symbols to represent familiar figures and objects visually

An awareness of shape

• Become sensitive to shape in the environment
• Become aware of outline shape, silhouette and shadow shapes
• Invent and experiment with shape in compositions – collage, print, drawing and painting

An awareness of form

• Become aware of the 3D nature of form in the visual environment
• Explore the relationships between parts and the whole – balance
• Express understanding of form in clay

An awareness of colour and tone

• Develop sensitivity to colour in the local environment
• Begin to analyse colours and mix them purposefully
• Distinguish between colour and pure colour (hue)
• Use colour and tone to create unity and emphasis in composition – use tones of one colour to create effects

An awareness of texture

• Express the relationship between how things feel and how they look
• Create variety in surface textures using a range of materials and tools
• An awareness of pattern and rhythm
• Recognise pattern in the environment – clouds, leaves, flowers, railings, fields, lichen
• Become aware of repetition and variation in own work and in the work of others – in line, shape, colour, form

An awareness of space

• Develop awareness of how people and objects take up space
• Begin to show relationship between objects and figures in drawings and show some sense of scale
• Begin to develop a practical understanding of structure through construction activities

Strand unit: Drawing

The child should be enabled to

• Experiment with marks, lines, shapes, textures, patterns and tones that can be made with different drawing instruments on a range of surfaces – crayons, soft pencils, charcoals, chalks, textured papers, computer art program
• Make drawings based on personal and /or imaginative life – friends playing ball, school bag, book
• Explore shape as seen in nature and manufactured objects and become aware of the shape of shadows – silhouette drawings, shapes of objects and their shadows
• Draw from observation – variety of natural and manufactured objects – tree, leaf, flower, fruit, vegetable, classmate

Looking and responding

• Look and talk about own work, the work of other children and  the work of artists

Strand Unit: Paint and colour

• Explore colour with a variety of materials and media – paint, crayons, felt-tipped pens, print, collage, using computer program to create images and experiment with colour
• Use colour expressively to interpret themes based on personal or imaginative life – poems, stories, songs, music, what might happen next in a story
• Paints objects chosen for their colour possibilities – flowers and other objects from the nature table
• Discover colour in the visual environment and become sensitive to tonal variations between light and dark and to variations in pure colour – discover colour and tone through themes chosen for their colour possibilities (a sunny or stormy sky)
• Discover harmony and contrast in natural and manufactured objects and through themes chosen for their colour possibilities – features that blend with environment and those that stand out
• Discover colour, pattern and rhythm in natural and manufactured objects – using repeated complementary colours
• Explore the relationship between how things feel and how they look – rough, smooth, bumpy, fluffy, prickly

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look and talk about own work, the work of other children and the work of artists – describe what is happening in the painting, the colours and tones chosen, the lines, shapes, textures and  patterns created, how they are arranged, how colour was used, what the artist was trying to express, what he likes best about the painting

Strand Unit: Print

• Experiment with the effects that can be achieved with simple print-making – with oddments that have interesting textures or shapes, making rubbings from tree bark, using a limited colour range to focus on texture, shape, pattern, discovering how simple prints can be developed further by overprinting with contrasting colours
• Use a variety of print-making techniques to make theme-based prints – relief prints, composing a relief block print using one or more colour, creating a design for a print by drawing thick and thin lines into a slab of clay; printing with mask-outs; making stencils; making wax-resist pictures, making wax crayon transfer prints; doing a number of  exploded designs using a computer art program

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at, handle, and talk about familiar objects for experience of shape, texture and pattern
• Look at and talk about his work, the work of other children and art prints – describe print, line, shape, colour and tone, texture, pattern; how materials and  tools were used to create effects; what he likes about the print; looking at some prints to investigate print-making techniques
• Look at examples of print design in everyday life

Strand Unit: Clay

• Explore and discover the possibilities of clay as a medium for imaginative expression
• Changing the form of a small ball of clay using the medium expressively – making animals or birds, making figures based on stories
• Make simple pottery – designing and making a pinch-pot, varnish when dry
• Experiment with and develop line, shape, texture and pattern in clay

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at, handle and talk about natural and manufactured objects for experience of 3D form – pebbles, shells, simple potter
• Look at, talk about own work, the work of other children and figures by famous sculptors – form, what artist was trying to express, what hw likes best about the work

Strand Unit: Construction

• Explore and experiment with the properties and characteristics of materials in making structures – grouping, balancing and building with small components and with construction toys; how spaces and outlines are created; how the different parts are related to the whole; how some materials can add colour, pattern, texture and interest
• Make imaginative structures – design a large complex with a variety of spaces (castle); design a structure with some complexity in the division of space (theatre set); design an imaginative plaything (robot)

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at collections and photographs of natural and built structures and investigate spatial arrangements, balance and outline
• Look at and talk about his own work and the work of other children – describe the structure, the materials and tools chosen, how the spaces were arranged, how the balance was achieved
• Look and talk about a local building, at a famous building and visually stimulating artefacts (or slides or prints) -  Fingal County Hall, St Colmcille’s Church, photographs in local history pack, Pavillions Shopping Centre

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Third and Fourth Classes

Concepts

Same as for first and second classes

Strands

Same as for first and second classes

Concepts

An awareness of line

• Recognise that lines have varying qualities and can create shapes, textures, patterns, rhythms and movement
• Look closely at and interpret the visual environment with increased sensitivity to materials and tools
• Begin to show more keenly observed action in figure drawing and painting
• Begin to use line sketches and diagrams to clarify design ideas to be interpreted in 3D form

An awareness of shape

• Become sensitive to shape and the relationships between shapes in the environment
• Invent and experiment with a variety of shape characteristics to create movement, balance, contrast, emphasis and a sense of space in paintings, drawings, collage and print

An awareness of form

• Recognise the 3D nature of shape and objects – a mountain, a car, a teapot,  a piece of fruit
• Explore the relationships between the parts and the whole of a complex form – balance, symmetry, the play of light and shade
• Interpret form, creating surface texture in line, pattern and rhythm
• Use materials as media in which to design and invent

An awareness of colour and tone

• Develop sensitivity to colour and tone in the visual environment
• Analyse and mix increasingly subtle colours and tones
• Become aware of the effects of warm and cool colours and of variations in tone
• Begin to use colour and tone to create emphasis, rhythm, contrast in 2D and 3D work

An awareness of texture

• Explore the relationship between how things feel and how they look
• Create variety and contrast in surface texture using a range of materials and tools
• Experiment in interpreting texture in drawing and painting

An awareness of pattern and rhythm

• Discover and explore pattern in nature and in visual surroundings – ripples in water, sand formations on the shoreline, flowers
• Recognise and use repetition and variation of line, shape, texture, colour and tone in 2D and 3D work

An awareness of space

• Discover awareness of how people and objects occupy space
• Create space and depth in drawings and paintings – by diminishing sizes of figures and objects further away by overlapping
• Develop an understanding of how spaces can be organised through experience of construction

Strand: Drawing

• Experiment with the marks, lines, shapes, textures, patterns and tones that can be made with different drawing instruments on a range of surfaces – outline drawing, silhouette, shape; using a computer art program to create images and to organise a composition
• Make drawings from recalled experiences, emphasising pattern, detail, context and location
• Express imaginative life and interpret imaginative themes – stories, poems, songs, imaginary people, places, creatures and objects
• Draw from observation – still life, the human figure

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look and talk about own work, the work of other children and the work of artists – describe what is happening in the painting, the colours and tones chosen, the lines, shapes, textures and  patterns created, how they are arranged, how colour was used, what the artist was trying to express, what he likes best about the painting, problems encountered and solved, work of artists who have interpreted this theme in a similar or dissimilar way

Strand Unit: Painting

• Explore colour with a variety of materials and media – paint, crayons, oil or chalk pastels, felt-tipped pens; print, collage; using a computer art program to experiment with the effects of warm and cool colours
• Make paintings based on recalled feelings and experiences, exploring the spatial effects of colour and tone, using overlapping with some consideration of scale – recent and vividly recalled events from own life; everyday familiar locations
• Express imaginative life and interpret imaginative themes using colour – songs, stories, poems; what might happen next in an adventure story; make large scale paintings of characters and story features
• Paint from observation – make large scale paintings that emphasise colour, tone, texture, shape and rhythm, portraits of classmates
• Discover colour in the visual environment and become sensitive to colour variations – mixing and reproducing as accurately as possible the colours of objects of visual interest; using colour and tone to create a background, middle ground and foreground in simple still lifes, landscapes and cityscapes
• Discover harmony and contrast in natural and manufactured objects – working out a colour scheme for a 3D model
• Discover pattern and rhythm in natural and manufactured objects
• Express the relationship between how things feel and how they look

Strand Unit: Looking and Responding

• Look and talk about own work, the work of other children and the work of artists – describe what is happening in the painting, the colours and tones chosen, the lines, shapes, textures and  patterns created, how they are arranged, how colour was used, what the artist was trying to express, what he likes best about the painting, the work of other artists who have interpreted the theme in a similar or dissimilar way

Strand Unit: Print

• Experiment with a widening range of print-making techniques
• Use a widening range of print-making techniques to make theme-based or non-representational prints – making relief prints, composing relief block prints, impressing found items into a slab of clay, making a variety of small-scale relief prints (stamp printing), making stencils, making mono-prints, combining with other techniques
• Make prints for functional uses – wrapping paper, boxes, posters
• Use a computer art program to create original images that are not dependent on clip art

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at, handle, and talk about familiar objects for experience of shape, texture and pattern
• Look at and talk about his work, the work of other children and art prints – describe print, line, shape, colour and tone, texture, pattern; how materials and  tools were used to create effects; what he likes about the print; looking at some prints to investigate print-making techniques; how problems were solved
• Look at and talk about examples of print design in everyday life

Strand Unit: Clay

• Explore and discover the possibilities of clay as a medium for imaginative expression
• Make simple clay pots
• Make sturdy figures in clay
• Work inventively and expressively with cubes or oblong blocks of clay
• Develop line, shape, texture and pattern in clay
• Work inventively and expressively with papier mache

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at, handle and talk about natural and manufactured objects for experience of 3D form – pebbles, shells, simple potter
• Look at, talk about own work, the work of other children and figures by famous sculptors – form, what artist was trying to express, what he likes best about the work
• Look and talk about ritual masks, street theatre masks and figures, functional and decorative pottery (slides or prints)

Strand: Construction

• Explore and experiment with the characteristics and properties in making structures – washing-up bottles to make model of Round Tower with the emphasis on balance and construction
• Make drawings from observation to analyse the structures of buildings and the natural structure of plants – design and model a skyscraper; make a model of St Colmcille's BNS, model of St Colmcille’s RC Church, make planets, spaceships and rockets; investigate structure balance in contemporary architecture – Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge
• Make imaginative structures – a new town, designing papier mache forms and structures- exotic heads

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at collections and photographs of natural and built structures and investigate spatial arrangements, balance and outline
• Look at and talk about his own work and the work of other children – describe the structure, the materials and tools chosen, how the spaces were arranged, how the balance was achieved – honeycomb, bridges, tower blocks, 
• Look and talk about a local building, at a famous building and visually stimulating artefacts (or slides or prints)
• Look and talk about interesting examples of contemporary architecture and the work of great architects and builders of history

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Fifth and Sixth Classes

Concepts

Same as for third and fourth classes

Strands

Same as for third and fourth classes

Concepts

An awareness of line

• Recognise that lines can have varying qualities of density, texture, pattern and direction, and can create shapes and suggest movement, rhythm and form
• Use line expressively and with greater sensitivity to materials and tools
• Interpret the human figure and progress beyond personal symbols
• Demonstrate more concentrated observation in interpreting the visual world
• Use drawings and diagrams to solve design problems and to clarify and develop ideas to be carried out in another medium

An awareness of shape

• Be sensitive to shape in the visual surroundings
• Invent and experiment with a variety of shapes to create rhythm, balance, contrast, emphasis and a sense of space in drawings, paintings and other media
• Focus on shape, edges and layout on the picture plane without emphasis on depth
• Use overlapping shapes and scale to suggest 3D depth

An awareness of colour and form

• Develop sensitivity to subtleties in colour and tone in the visual environment
• Develop awareness of the effects of warm and cool colours
• Mix and use subtle colours and tones and create rhythm, emphasis, contrast, spatial effects, mood and atmosphere in 2D and 3D work

An awareness of texture

• Explore the relationship between how things feel and how they look
• Create variety, contrast and emphasis in surface textures using a range of materials and tools
• Use a variety of drawing instruments to suggest texture from observation of objects

An awareness of pattern and rhythm

• Analyse pattern in the visual environment through drawing, painting and other media
• Use repetition and variation of line, shape, texture, colour and tone to create contrasting and harmonious effects

An awareness of space

• Continue to develop awareness of how people and objects occupy space
• Develop basic understanding of aerial and linear perspective
• Design and construct a model with multiple spaces, open and closed – with cells, rooms, enclosures

Strand: Drawing

• Experiment with the marks, lines, shapes, textures, patterns and tones that can be made with different drawing instruments on a range of surfaces
• Discover how line could convey movement and rhythm movement in nature, Book of Kells, calligraphic styles, cartoon figures in action
• Make drawings based on themes reflecting broadening interests, experiences and feelings – pastimes, outings, special events
• Draw imaginative themes using inventive detail and pattern – stories, poems, songs; dream cars, motorcycles, houses; futuristic fashion; characters in cartoon strips
• Draw from observation – still life, aspects of the environment viewed from different angles (using a viewfinder); the human figure

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at and talk about his own work, the work of other children and the work of artists – describe what is happening; the choice of materials and tools; how rhythm and form are suggested; problems encountered and solutions found; the use of overlapping and scale; other interpretations of the theme; what he feels about the interpretation

Strand Unit: Painting

• Explore colour with a variety of materials and media – paint, crayons, oil or chalk pastels, felt-tipped pens; print, collage; using a computer art program to experiment with the effects of warm and cool colours
• Make paintings based on recalled feelings and experiences, exploring the spatial effects of colour and tone, using overlapping with some consideration of scale – recent and vividly recalled events from own life; everyday familiar locations
• Express imaginative life and interpret imaginative themes using colour – songs, stories, poems; what might happen next in an adventure story; make large scale paintings of characters and story features
• Paint from observation – make large scale paintings that emphasise colour, tone, texture, shape and rhythm, portraits of classmates
• Discover colour in the visual environment and become sensitive to colour variations – mixing and reproducing as accurately as possible the colours of objects of visual interest; using colour and tone to create a background, middle ground and foreground in simple still lifes, landscapes and cityscapes
• Discover harmony and contrast in natural and manufactured objects – working out a colour scheme for a 3D model
• Discover pattern and rhythm in natural and manufactured objects
• Explore the relationship between how things feel and how they look – discovering texture in natural and manufactured objects; interpreting textures in colour and tone and in mixed media

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look and talk about own work, the work of other children and the work of artists – describe what is happening in the painting, the colours and tones chosen, the lines, shapes, textures and  patterns created, how they are arranged, how colour was used, what the artist was trying to express, what he likes best about the painting, the work of other artists who have interpreted the theme in a similar or dissimilar way; how he feels about the painting; using the internet or CD Rom to access the work of an artists and to answer questions as above

Strand Unit: Print

• Experiment with more complex print techniques – discovering how simple prints could be further developed; overprinting with contrasting colours; overlapping
• Using more complex techniques to make theme-based or non-representational prints – make a variety of relief prints; composing relief block prints with line, shape, texture and pattern; re-interpreting observational drawings and sketches in relief prints; making mono-prints, making pictorial rubbings, making silk-screen prints
• Make prints for functional uses – making posters, designing and printing cards and logos
• Use a computer art program to create original images that are not dependent on clip art

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at, handle, and talk about familiar objects for experience of shape, texture and pattern
• Look at and talk about his work, the work of other children and art prints that demonstrate a variety of print-making techniques– describe print, line, shape, colour and tone, texture, pattern; how materials and  tools were used to create effects; what he likes about the print; looking at some prints to investigate print-making techniques; how problems were solved; the decisions taken while working; the techniques used by the artist and speculating on why they were chosen; the most satisfying elements or impact of the print

Strand Unit: Clay

• Explore and discover the possibilities of clay as a medium for imaginative expression
• Use clay to analyse and interpret form from observation
• Explore some of the essential characteristics of 3D work – develop an understanding of structure
• Make simple pottery and sculpture
• Experiment with and develop line, shape, texture and pattern in low relief
• Make an imaginative slab-built structure
• Work inventively and creatively with papier-mache

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at, handle and talk about natural and manufactured objects for experience of 3D form – pebbles, shells, fruit, household items
• Look at, talk about own work, the work of other children and figures by famous sculptors – form, what artist was trying to express, what he likes best about the work, problems encountered and solved, the experience of working with materials
• Look and talk about ritual masks, street theatre masks and figures, functional and decorative pottery (slides or prints)

Strand Unit: Construction

• Explore and experiment with the properties and characteristics of materials in making structures – outlines and spaces; how the different parts relate to the whole; the rhythms that are set up; the play of light on the structure; the overall sense of balance created; paper sculptures with moving parts; make a model of the immediate school environment
• Make drawings from observation to analyse form and structure – a bird’s nest; make a model of Swords Castle; design large-scale papier-mache forms and structures – monsters, dinosaurs, huge masks, crib
• Make imaginative structures – wire sculpture using light weight florists’ wire; design a model with moving parts

Strand Unit: Looking and responding

• Look at collections and photographs of natural and built structures and investigate spatial arrangements, balance and outline
• Look at and talk about his own work and the work of other children – describe the structure, the materials and tools chosen, how the spaces were arranged, how the balance was achieved – honeycomb, bridges, tower blocks,
• Look and talk about a local building, at a famous building and visually stimulating artefacts (or slides or prints) – make a plan or model for an imaginative building
• Look and talk about interesting examples of contemporary architecture and the work of great architects and builders of history

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Developmental Approaches to Various Topics

In this section of the Plean Scoile, greater detail is given with regard to the techniques which were outlined under the various strands.

Drawing 

Related concepts – line, shape, colour and tone, texture, pattern and rhythm, spatial organisation

Children’s drawings are spontaneous and reflect the extent to which they can manipulate tools with which they work and how keenly they can observe their environment. Opportunities to record events and occasions that interest them give practice in developing their skills and while adult conventions are not imposed, the children are facilitated by the teacher providing experiences of a wider range of materials and by encouraging discussion before and after picture making. The possibilities of different materials offer opportunities for new developments and discussion leads to ideas that may feature in the children’s pictures.

Many of these tools may be explored to see what marks they can make – dots, lines, smudges.
A technique is not usually mastered in one experience only
The first should be a simple drawing with only one element in it – a flower, a person and house. Emphasis is on the new technique. Then some time later, a more elaborate picture, more elements. Then adding more difficulties such as more colours.
Finally an acquired skill to be used as suitable.

Drawing Exercises

1. Pictures
2. Taking a line for a walk
3. Line Patterns
4. Creative Drawing
5. Calligraphy

Paint and Colour

Colour Media

• Kinds of paint: powder, liquid, poster, block, acrylic, watercolour
• Brushes: paste, bristle, nylon.
• Marks: dots, lines, filling on dry /water paper
• Painting pictures – free expression gradually incorporating techniques learned in school

Painting Techniques

• Painting without a brush – sponge, paper roll, printing
• Blob painting – shape and colour, colour mixing, identifying shapes,
• String painting 
• Blow painting
• Drip painting
• Spatter painting
• Dabbing with a brush
• Rotating with a brush
• Rolling with a brush
• Marbling

Tie and Dye Techniques

• Marbling
• Lines
• Circles

Pottery

• Oxides in suspension in water
• Painting of unfired pottery
• Colouring for glazes – transparent and coloured, pouring, dripping and brushing
• Coloured slip – colour for unfired pottery

Collage

• Newspaper – pattern, picture, medallion, mosaic
• Coloured papers – tissue, crepe
• Exploded shapes – edge symmetry, parallel pieces, positive /negative designs, exploded pictures
• Paper mosaic –cut squares, torn pieces
• Stained glass windows – one colour window, large coloured panes, narrow coloured shapes

Print

• History – Gutenberg and Caxton 
• Blob printing
• String printing – string + ink on folded page ; string + ink on folder page, pulled under pressure
• Printing with waste materials – match boxes, spools, cylinders
• Methods – brush : ink brushed on block before each print; Inking pad: block pressed on pad before each print
• Prints – free printing without any plan; patterns using grid of folded paper; patters in two or more colours
• Vegetable prints
• Printing large areas – leaves – ink on block with brush or roller; paper over inked block; pressure from above
• Cardboard blocks
• Collage of cardboard shapes
• Lino prints
• Polystyrene tray prints
• Mono prints

Construction

3D Work

• Paper – plaques, freestanding, reverse folding, mobiles
• Waste materials – boxes, cylinders, bottle tops
• Papier mache
• Craft sticks
• Clothes pegs
• Carving – soap, plaster, dried modelling clay
• Modelling clay – play, one piece modelling, assembling, pottery

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Preparation of Schemes of Work

Outline of Scheme

Features of Scheme:

• Special occasions – seasons, weather, feasts
• Application of art to other lessons
• The Environment
• Variety
• Revision
• Basic plan of drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, collage and 3D work

Suggested Programme

Junior Infants

• Rubbings
• Pictures with crayons
• Picture with paint
• Picture with chalk on dark paper
• Picture with chalk on wet paper
• Blob painting
• Finger printing
• Matchbox (spool /cylinder) printing
• Simple clay figures
• Clay animals
• Clay pot
• Paper bag puppet
• Fold and dye
• Paper plate mask
• Matchbox construction
• Collage – geometric shapes –pre-cut and assembled as patterns
• Torn paper collage
• Roller printing
• Box sculpture
• Choosing a colour and drawing
• Finding and using a “new” (mixed) colour

Suggested Programme

Senior Infants

• Crayon resist – one figure over-painted
• Rubbings (assembled as group on page)
• Patterns with groups of crayons
• Side of crayon – lines, rotation
• Blob painting – butterfly
• Comb painting
• Wet sheet painting
• Matchbox or spool painting (movement)
• Collage medallion (+ rubbing)
• Collage (fish shape)
• Matchbox construction
• Simple clay pot with printed patterns
• Coil work – free coils, people
• Paper bag masks
• Simple paper weaving
• Paper hat – folded or cylindrical shape
• Painted or collage decoration
• Mobiles – circles or squares
• Assemblage – houses (without adhesive)
• Colour walk – collecting colours for collage of fish, animals, house
• Finding a “new” colour from primary colours

Suggested Programme

First Class

• Crayon etching (with black paint)
• Crayon transfer (with chalk)
• Crayon resist (with coloured paper)
• Rubbings (different textures)
• Rubbings from coiled string
• “Stained glass window” (crayon)
• Blob painting
• Painting without a brush (sticks, paper roll, card, sponge)
• Cylinder painting
• Medallion shape cut out and backed with tissue
• Animal mosaic
• Name patterns
• Clay statue
• Thumb pot
• Paper vase
• Cylinder mask
• Paper hat from cylinder (cut out and decorated)
• Street of box houses (some adhesives used)
• Finding “new” colours from primary colours

Suggested Programme

Second Class

• Crayon etchings (picture at night)
• Candle rubbings (over-painted)
• Rubbings from nature
• Blob painting (monochrome – one colour + black + white)
• Textures with paint (chart)
• Comb painting (pattern)
• Rolling brushwork
• Matchbox printing (movement or pattern)
• Torn paper collage (newspaper + black)
• Paper mosaic
• Picture from tissue pellets
• Exploding a shape (fish / bird /leaf shape)
• Tissue window (narrow strips)
• Animal mask (features, ears) – paper bag
• Tall pots in clay – coil work
• Puppet with paper bag head
• Bottle figures – heads + clothes on bottle
• Finding a “new” colour (by mixing) and using with “a line for a walk)
• Painting a picture with a “new” colour

Seasons, festivals, special occasions (First Confession –Good Shepherd; First Holy Communion) cards, pictures, mobiles, stories from books.

Suggested Programme

Third Class

• Picture –crayon, Autumn day
• Line for a walk – crayon and paint
• Rubbing from paper cut-outs
• Stencil painting (with cut-outs from previous crayon class)
• Spatter painting (using same stencils)
• Blow painting (+ bubble painting)
• Leaf printing (single leaf, pattern of prints, overlapping prints)
• Exploded shapes (square, shapes cut from edge and replaces symmetrically)
• Window (Tissue) – large panes
• Mobiles – one unit (geometric shape)
• Paper plaques – cut pattern folded outwards
• Paper weaving: (i) plain  (ii) folded and cut
• Puppet: plate or box on head
• Houses from boxes and corrugated paper
• Mask: box and waste materials
• Modelling from waste materials
• Group work: traced hands assembled to make tree, hedgehog, dragon
• Group mobiles
• Clay work: faces and flat dishes
• Colour exercises in conjunction with “line for a walk” – growth, patterns, grids

Suggested Programme

Fourth Class

•  “Line for a walk” using mixed colours
• Candle rubbings –two colours
• Rolling brushwork (with overlapping to allow mixing of colours)
• Marbling
• String prints : (i) similar to blob painting ; (ii) string pulled out under pressure
• Paper mosaic : picture (group work)
• Exploded shape : shapes cut and moved out from edge
• Exploded picture from magazine
• Mobiles: with two elements balancing
• Paper castle : group work
• Paper work: fold-up sculpture, folded standing figures
• Rod puppets from card or in three dimensions
• Weaving – paper
• Clay: statues of animals

Seasons, cards, festivals, decorations, special occasions, pictures, history, posters, geography, mobiles, artists’ work - appreciation

Suggested Programme

Fifth Class

• Crayon transfer (with chalk) – pattern
• Comb painting: pattern
• Drip painting: developing into a picture
• Stencil pattern
• Poster
• String block poster (string glued to box or block)
• Mono-print : drawn on ink plate for paper resist
• Pattern –collage
• Lantern or mobile transparency
• Early Irish art as source: Cross, panels from High Cross, patterns
• Calligraphy
• Colour: tone, exercises on grids or with “line for a walk”
• Mobiles: multi-element, group work
• Box sculpture : cutting boxes to alter shapes
• Box puppets
• Paper sculpture
• Tie and dye: (i) basic shapes, (ii) cushion covers, wall hanging
• Paper weaving: woven pieces in collage picture
• Bookcraft: covering rectangles or squares
• Special feature: Theme explored in depth – e.g. Christmas – decorations, crib, frieze, mobiles, gift-wrapping, cards

Suggested Programme

Sixth Class

• Study of patterns in environment
• Crayon resist patters (drawn in crayon, over-painted)
• Potato cut or box-pattern
• Mono-print
• Robot from boxes
• Printing from card block
• Collage
• Study of stained glass windows, tissue windows as a result
• Painted pattern
• Colour: scheme of mixed colours for pattern or design
• Revision of tones in colour: still life or buildings in pictures
• Poster or postage stamp
• Dot painting (mosaics, Impressionism)
• Box sculpture: adding coloured windows
• Clay : thumb pot (texture, colour); shallow bowl
• Slab pottery
• Puppets used in puppet play in box theatre with tie and dyed curtains, painted or collage back-drop, cut-out props
• Book craft: Single section books
• Marbling on cover of Confirmation Book
• Special feature: Environmental Study as a basis for art work- object from nature studied and used to create patters, designs, pictures from various techniques

Seasons, festivals, St Brigid’s Cross, special occasions, geography, history, reading, cards, posters, decorations, pictures, mobiles, appreciation – version of subject using artist’s style

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Assessment

Evaluation in the visual arts is no less important that in any other area of the curriculum. The purpose of evaluation is to discern the strengths and weakness of pupils’ work so that work can be planned accordingly. The following criteria provide a basis on which to assess children’s progress:

What should be assessed ?

1. The child’s ability to make art
2. Ability to look with understanding at and respond to works of art
3. The quality of the child’s engagement with art.

These skills and dispositions are inter-related and are assessed on the basis of : perceptual awareness, expressive abilities and skills, critical and aesthetic awareness and disposition towards art activities.

Assessing perceptual awareness: the child’s ability to explore, observe, understand and discuss art elements

Assessing expressive abilities and skills: the child’s ability to express ideas, feelings, and experiences through art; to make imaginative use of materials and tools; to respond to stimuli and develop intentionally

Assessing critical awareness: the child’s ability to view, question, recognise categories, understand and respond to art works

Assessing disposition towards Art activities: the child’s ability to take a positive, personal approach to art work

Assessment tools

• Teacher observation
• Teacher designed tasks
• Work-samples, portfolios
• Curriculum profiles

Evaluation

Evaluation may be linked to characteristics related to stages of development and the skills learned from the programme covered in each standard

Check lists

Infants

Developmental Characteristics

• Line used purposefully (drawing a definite object)
• Beginning to use symbols
• Baseline used
• Skyline used
• Correct colour for objects

Skills

• Can draw with a crayon
• Can draw with chalk
• Can draw with brush
• Can create line patterns
• Can create shape patterns
• Can use brush to paste objects
• Can use scissors
• Can fold paper
• Can manipulate clay
• Can identify a new colour
• Can name a new colour
• Can use side of crayon
• Can weaver 4 strips of paper
• Can cut and paste wool

First and Second Classes

Developmental Characteristics

• Symbols used
• Realistic human figure
• Clothes drawn realistically
• Emotion shown on faces in drawings – smile, frown
• X-Ray pictures
• Symmetrical pictures
• What is known is drawn rather than what is seen
• Colour related to object
• Improved use of tools

Skills

• Can draw with crayon
• Can use crayon heavily
• Can draw with side of crayon
• Can etch with crayon
• Can use crayon transfer
• Can draw with chalk
• Can draw with brush
• Can create line patterns
• Can create shape patterns
• Can show texture in brushwork
• Can use brush to paste objects
• Can use scissors
• Can fold paper
• Can cut and assemble paper and waste materials
• Can manipulate clay
• Can manipulate wool
• Can identify a new colour
• Can name a new colour
• Can follow directions on choice of colour

Third and Fourth Classes

Developmental characteristics

• Use of horizon line (distance)
• Objects placed on page in relation to distance
• Human face /figure in profile
• Increased use of detail

Skills

• Can draw with crayon
• Can use crayon heavily
• Can draw with side of crayon
• Can etch with crayon
• Can use crayon transfer
• Can draw with chalk
• Can draw with brush
• Can create line patterns
• Can create shape patterns
• Can show texture in brushwork
• Can use brush to paste objects
• Can manipulate scissors (more complex cuttings)
• Can fold paper
• Can cut and assemble paper and waste materials
• Can manipulate clay
• Can weave with wool
• Can identify a new colour
• Can name a new colour
• Can follow directions on choice of colour
• Can note variations in colour (different reds)

Fifth and Sixth Classes

Developmental characteristics

• Visually realistic drawing
• 3D accuracy emerging in drawing (distance and space)
• longer work span possible
• 3 D work improved
• colour sense well-developed
• discouraged by inability to reach adult standards

Skills

• Can draw with crayon
• Can use crayon heavily
• Can draw with side of crayon
• Can etch with crayon
• Can use crayon transfer
• Can draw with chalk
• Can draw with brush
• Can create line patterns
• Can create shape patterns
• Can show texture in brushwork
• Can use brush to paste objects
• Can print with single objects and blocks
• Can manipulate scissors (more complex cuttings)
• Can fold paper
• Can cut and assemble paper and waste materials
• Can use clear and decorative lettering
• Can manipulate clay
• Can weave with wool
• Can use tie and dye techniques
• Can identify a new colour (hue)
• Can name a new colour (chroma: red-brown)

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Display Policy

Principles

• The visual appearance of the school contributes to its image and ethos
• The displays in the public areas reflect the life, work and values of our school
• The displays are intended to be educative, informative and visually stimulating
• The displays are intended to have a positive effect on pupils’ interest and motivation

Considerations

• Displays are related to recent, current or impending learning topics
• Displays are labelled in order to identify the work by name and class
• Displays are well-maintained, and are removed when they have served their purpose

Displays in Public Area of School

• Special duties teacher with responsibility for visual arts is responsible for organising thematic displays in public areas, e.g. at Christmas, Easter
• Special duties teacher with responsibility for handwriting organises display of prize-winning entries
• Class teachers are responsible for display areas immediately outside their class rooms

Displays in Classrooms

All displays are designed and produced on the general understanding that they serve an educative and a visually stimulating purpose

• They may show exemplary work of a particular kind
• They may show the entire range of responses to a common starting point, irrespective of their nature and quality
• They may be intended to reward a pupil or pupils for outstanding effort and progress
• They may act as teaching and learning aids
• They help to inform parents, BOM, other teachers and pupils about the nature, standards and ethos of the school / or of the particular class

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