Junior School Visual Arts Workshops
Images (from left): Lilly Blue with Isadora Sach (Year 2). Jasmine McEachern, Elisa Chamoun, Ivana Tsaloukas (Year 2) and Lilly Blue. Amelia Stevenson and Willow Bodecott (Year 2).
From 17–18 October 2016, the Junior Art Room in the Croydon, Centre for Art, Design and Technology became a hive of creative exploration as students from Years 2–5 attended a special workshop by artist, Ms Lilly Blue.
Lilly Blue is a Visual Artist and educator with a background in physical performance, installation and community arts. Along with Jo Pollitt, she is Creative Director of BIG (Bravery, Imagination, Generosity) Kids Magazine.
Lilly aims to connect children with the work of professional artists through a collaborative process. This concept formed the basis of the Junior School workshops where students were invited to respond to a self-portrait artwork created by Lilly.
Students were guided through a series of approaches to making a self-portrait such as creating work with closed eyes, or using their non-dominant hand. They were encouraged to be brave and take risks with their artmaking. Students were pleasantly surprised by what they created using these techniques.
Year 2 enjoyed warming up their drawing skills with various forms of graphite on large-scale paper before creating a series of quick self-portraits involving white pastels and fine tip pens. Year 5 embraced their bravery through deconstructing their initial sketches to form large-scale people which were photographed and later recycled.
Both year groups created a resolved artwork in response to Lilly Blue’s workshop - a self-portrait that reflected their thoughts or personality through the use of symbolism. Some of these artworks were showcased in the 2016 KidsArt Exhibition held in the Adelaide Perry Gallery.
Read about the 2016 KidsArt Exhibition