Mr Baker reflects on his first term at Hazlegrove as Head of Art!

Hazlegrovian’s have enjoyed a productive and creative spring term in Art, and for me personally it has been an enriching and rewarding experience getting to know the pupils during my first months at the school.

What has struck me the most is the energy and vitality that the children have brought to lessons. They are always keen to get stuck in and genuinely excited about experimenting with mediums and new techniques. Naturally, this high level of engagement has led to the making of lots of impressive work!  

Lower School have been a fantastic bunch. They have enjoyed coming to the Art room once a week to don their aprons and get active (and messy!). The focus for Year 3 has been patterns and, amongst other activities, they have used black and white card to explore the ‘op art’ style and gouache paint to investigate colour mixing. Year 4 have developed work based on the landscape, first getting inspired by the amazing view from the classroom and then exploring other artists and styles. Both year groups have demonstrated impressive levels of independence and have confidently worked through lessons with big smiles on their faces! 

Year 5 and 6 have made a superb impression with their enthusiastic and spirited approach to lessons. Both year groups have had the opportunity to develop their observational drawing and design skills and they have also worked with the relief printing medium of lino. Year 5s ‘Ndebele’ project produced many fantastic prints which I look forward to displaying in school. During festival week, Year 6 produced some particularly impressive ‘photograms’ in our makeshift darkroom! 

The Upper School have worked reliably studiously and have gained experience working in several mediums. Whilst Year 7 have developed tonal and colour work based on buildings, Year 8 have looked towards the art movements of cubism and pop art to find their inspiration. Both year groups also recently experimented with pinhole photography and a range of mysterious ‘photographs’ were taken.  

Clubs, boarders’ activities and scholars have all been very well attended with pupils enjoying the freedom to express themselves and explore their personal interests. I wish all Hazlegrovian artists a relaxing Easter break! 

Mr Baker