And who hasn't, at some point, wanted to be Tintin...

You have got to love this......One of our Y12's is transforming her little bother into Herge's legendary reporter and adventurer Tintin. What a wonderful idea and well executed piece of work...well done..!

The bond between them...

Here we see the work of one of our Y12 students who is portraying the bond between father and son. The subjects portrayed are relatives of the artist. Our student has used honed her painting technique to really capture the warmth, love and bond between the subjects. Dedicated time has been spent refining this work to great effect, outstanding stuff, well done and we look forward to seeing the outcome on display…

It's all about you...

We see here the work of one of our Y12 students who is creating work to portray the her boyfriend, in particular his personality. Great care has been taken to experiment with a range of media and perfect new techniques. The monochrome piece in particular is a real sight to behold in our art studio measuring some 6ft across by 4ft wide. We are really proud of the experimentation that has taken place within this project and look forward to seeing the final outcome on display. Well done, great stuff…

Inspired..!

One of our year 12 students working towards the culmination of his portraiture exhibition has been greatly inspired by the work of Leeds artist Thomas Houseago. Houseago’s classic, masculine forms have inspired our student to create powerful imagery that portrays his father in a strong manner. These large scale works are fashioned from card, mod-roc and ink and offer a striking, powerful presence in our art studio. The eventual vision is that these too will portray an almost tribal support of the game of football and Stoke City in particular...!

Shoes, shoes, shoes

Our Y12 student’s are currently working hard towards the culmination of a project with the aim of conveying the essence of an individual. One of our Y12 is aiming to portray her sister through the shoes that she walks her life in…. Her work is striking and bold in its colour selection, making the viewer consider the subject and how her life is played out through the shoes that she wears.

Our very own ‘terracotta army’ invades the Friary School

Our terracotta army inspired by Antony Gormley’s work 'Field for the British Isles' is nearing completion. Our army is the result of collaboration between ourselves and our primary feeder schools. The process was taught to Y6 students at the feeder primary by our Y10 students. See Gormley’s work at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/5495167/Antony-Gormleys-terracotta-army-invades-Devon-barn.html .Watch this space for final installation…..  

Busy, Busy, Busy…

Now halfway through the academic year our exam students find themselves within a real busy time of their course. All are stepping up to the mark however and creating work of real personalisation. We still cannot let them off leaving their studio in a mess though………………….

Year 10 update....

Our “year 10 GCSE’ers”, inspired by the work of Microbo (see previous post), have been recording a range of natural forms recently. The theme of their overall study is “growing & decaying” and this they have been showing through the range of natural forms that they have chosen to record. Their drawings have all been produced through primary observation with some have been informed by their recent visit to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The work they are producing at the minute is stunning and is a testament to the focus, commitment and sheer amount of time that they are investing into their “recording” unit…..Well done year 10’s….

Year 7's next move...

Following the successful completion of their mask drawings our year 7's have now moved on with their African Art project. They have started to work on African pattern designs inspired by individual tribes within Africa. This work will in time lead towards a final batik outcome…..watch this space…

My First African Mask

Our year 7 students have all now completed and had marked their first extended piece of work in the Friary Art department. They are working on an African themed project and have all drawn an African mask from primary observation in their Art lessons. Some of these masks were very peculiar and represented a real challenge for our year 7’s to draw. Students were encouraged to use line, shape, tone and form in their drawings and I am sure you will agree have done a fantastic job upon their first major piece of Art work in senior school….Well done all…

Year 12 "Portraiture"

Following their recent visit to the BP Portrait Awards at The Wolverhampton Art Gallery our year 12 A level students have been working hard towards creating their own portrait ready for exhibition.

In the early part of their portraiture unit they are working hard on their "Record" assignment where they are recording from observation aspects of the human face and form in a range of media.

They have responded to this assignment fantastically so far and some of the stunning results of what they have observed can be seen here...

Wallpaper printing begins...

Our Year 10 BtEC Art & Design students have been working hard creating designs for their own range of wallpaper. They are working towards a brief where their client requires designs for a range of wallpaper insipired by natural forms. These designs were informed by their visit to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Today our students reached the stage where they actually put roller to printing block. Some of the results can be seen here.

Year 11 "Twisted & Crumpled" homeworks...

Our year 11 GCSE Twisted & Crumpled homeworks were due in today and the students didn't disappoint.....

As seen here a fantastic job has been made by the students drawing from difficult twisted or crumpled forms.

The folds, twists and turns in these objects make them very difficult to record and a great deal of patience has been required from the students whilst they have been away from school on their half term break...... 

Well done year 11...

Where we are at.....

As “The new Friary School Art Department” we have completed 7 weeks, one half term.

So where are we at for when we start back on Monday?

Year 7 will be taking their “Africa” project to the next stage, having now completed their drawings of African masks they will push forward into pattern work focusing upon individual African tribes.

Year 8 have now completed their up close drawings of creepy crawlies and will now take one of their drawings forward and turn it into a design/motif. This will then be used up until Christmas as the basis for their printmaking; they will look into mono, relief and intaglio techniques.

Year 9 are working on a body language project. So far they have looked up close at the eyes and hands. They will now examine the proportion of the body as a whole as they look into figure drawing.

Year 10 GCSE have been working on a natural forms unit, specifically on their “record” assignment where they have used a range of materials to record and capture interesting natural forms. This will need to be finished off and then they will start their “develop” assignment where they will study the art of Microbo, Blossfelt and O’Keefe.

Year 10 BtEC are working upon UNIT 2 (2D Communication) they too have looked at natural forms towards creating a range of wallpaper inspired by natural forms. When we start back on Monday they are ready to create their printing block and begin printing their wallpaper.

Year 11 GCSE are now working hard towards their en of their “Twisted & Crumpled” unit. They have completed their “record” assignment where they have recorded twisted and crumpled forms relevant to them. They are now working on their “develop” assignment” and will soon start experimenting towards their final piece which they will produce in December.

Year 11 BtEC are busy working towards then end of their UNIT 4 where they are to work towards their own brief. They have visited Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and are to produce a piece of promotional artwork to publicise the museum. They have just about finished their designs and will begin making very soon.

Year 12 are working very hard on their Portraiture unit. They are currently working on their first assignment “record.” They are recording people and their personalities in a range of media following their visit to the BP Portrait Awards exhibition. They will have a further 3 weeks on this when we start back.

Year 13 have just handed in their “Homage” unit and have now started work on their “There is a Place…” unit. They have started assignment 1 (record) and will have 4 weeks on this. They are to consider a place that they have a connection to (however big or small) and record this place in a range of media.

Art club are busy working towards their exhibition focusing upon the Madness song “Baggy Trousers” this exhibition will coincide with the whole school theatre production of “Our House.” Art club’s exhibition will take place in the week beginning.

Keep checking for more updates….  

Ready for marking.....

Well done to all of our Year 13 students. Every single one of them met the deadline for their "Homage" exhibition and got both their work up on exhibition and sketchbooks into mark before the end half term.

All work will be marked in time for their lesson on Monday 31/10/11, Halloween......

They have already started work towards here second exhibition "There is a place..." more updates to follow.  

Misuse of stationary…….

Paper clips are one of the items on Earth most commonly misused, that is not used for their intended function, with most being broken up whilst on the phone…..

On of our Sixth Form students has continued this trend by using them as an art material, in their homage to Chris Ofili. As we see here the paper clips have been used to apply line and tone to create a remarkably identifiable portrait…….

Much care was taken to allow the clips to rust in order to create as great a range of tone as possible.......

Printing, printing, printing.....

Printmaking has been a popular medium to work within this half term with both our Art club and our sixth form students working with a range of different techniques.

Here we see the work of one of our sixth form students who has been working with both intaglio and relief methods to find a style that best befits his homage to Stanley Spencer...

"Homage 2011"



Homage to Chris Ofili



Students in year 13 have put the finishing touches to their "Homage" exhibition; this exhibition is the culmination of just 5 weeks of work. Within this exhibition students have paid homage to a single artists who has been a personal inspiration to them. A range of artists past and present have been studied, from Michelangelo to Jeff Koons. All are the result of a personal journey into the rationale of the artists studied.

BP Portrait Award

Distracted by Wim Heldens © Wim Heldens

Our year 12 students recently visited "The BP Portrait Award" at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in preparation for their own portraiture exhibition to be held in the new year. All students were amazed at the quality of the portraits on exhibition and commented on the number of different techniques and styles on show. It too was obvious from the exhibition that as well as the head and shoulders, students should take into account the body as a whole, setting and props when producing a portrait of real meaning.



For more information on the BP Portrait Award visit http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/wolves/exhibitions/004694.html

Microbo...........

Our year 10 GCSE students have found great inspiration recently in the work of  Sicilian street artist Microbo. Her colourful, edgy work inspired by micro organisms has offered a great link to our students who are studying "natural forms" as the focus of their work. Having recorded natural forms from life at "the Birmingham Botanical Gardens" we are now working hard on imagery of our own. Keep checking back to see the results.....

A greater selection of Microbo's work can be found at http://www.microbo.com/