Young Caxton Artist • VII Annual KS3 Art Exhibition. May 2020

Given the unusual circumstances that surround us, we are glad to present in a digital format the annual Art exhibition of our Year 7, 8 and 9 students. Despite the distance, and working from home under the attentive look of their art teachers, our students haven’t stopped creating to portray and show us their deep emotions.

Music and Abstract Art

The current theme for Year 7 is Abstract Art, pupils have studied the work of a range of Abstract artists and are learning how to develop their own Abstract work.

Initially pupils were asked to focus on abstracting forms from their homes, using close- ups and cropping, to find areas of interest that could form one of four given moods: Happy, Sad, Calm or Angry. These photos were then edited in order to exaggerate these characteristics and were then recreated and reinterpreted, using whatever art materials were available at home.

The same four moods were also used to provoke a response using basic paper engineering. Pupils found ways to manipulate paper to create 3D forms and having explored a variety of shapes, selected and combined them to convey the mood though this method.

As the link between Music and Abstract Art is a strong one, several pieces of music were selected in order to provoke an emotional response, initially through words which described these feelings and then visually. These were recorded quickly in shapes and lines on a continuum before pupils returned to these to add colour, as was felt to be appropriate to the mood of the music.

Selecting an area from this response to music, pupils were invited to work further into it, in a relaxed and mindful state in order for intuition to be allowed to flow.

These forms are now being further developed to create mini installations inside a box, with the intention of photographing the result through an aperture to give the impression of a room that strongly conveys any selected emotion.

Diego M
Coloured pencils on paper.

This is an abstract piece of art where I did a drawing while I heard a certain type of music that made my imagination grow.

Irene C
Coloured pencils and pen on paper.

This task requires lot’s of hearing skills. As the task was all about listening to music and feeling the shapes and colours. This task helped improve lots of things in my abstract drawing because it helps you to concentrate in what you are doing because if not you will get it wrong and the abstract art piece could be much better, as Ms Edward said “draw what you see and not what you think”, in this case, “draw what what you hear and not what you think”.

Martina V
Cardboard assembly.

The Fun Fair. I chose this title because I think it looks like a fun fair: with all those high ítems and fun shapes. I think this represents happiness with a little sadness and I really enjoyed making this.

Samuel A
Cardboard assembly.

The Joy of Spring .This paper sculpture was created as part of our Abstract Art project. After experimenting with lots of paper engineering ideas I created this to try and express a Happy mood. I had to play around with shapes to see what worked best first and I was of course limited to the materials I had at home, but
really enjoyed doing it!

Blanca C
Acrylic on paper.

Free Anger. I created this drawing by experimenting with different types of red, pink and Brown colors so that they created a variety of different types of anger.

Martina R
Cardboard assembly.

In class we’ve been doing Abstract Art. This abstract project reminds me of a party, so my Project comes from the happiness.

Rodrigo A
Pastel pencils on paper.

Inside the rock. This piece of artwork was created as part of our abstract art drawing topic. After having played around and edited the photos changing the tone and contrast, I finally chose the one I wanted to draw. I used pastels and some cotton buds to smudge the color a little bit and used different tones of green and blue to give it more expression and more realism.

Carla O
Graphite on paper.

This drawing was made for my Abstract Art project. In order to make this, I had to edit my drawing of the mood Sad and draw it out onto my sketchbook. This took me quite a bit of time.

Non Western Native Traditional Work

The current theme for Year 8 involves the History of Art.
We have focused on specific movements including non western native traditional work and pupils have been encouraged to select from the immense range available to deconstruct the style of the work.

Moving forwards we plan to apply what has been learnt from a chosen style to design an object, such as a chair, that will convey the essence of that genre.

Apolline V
Chinese ink on paper.

Chinese ink horses. Both these horses have been painted with chinese ink along with the technique of blending distinct pencil shades together. For this specific task I had to copy a drawing from a non-western art country and I decided to copy two horses originally created by a chinese artista named Xu Beihong. I chose them because I specifically love the life like movements that the horses give off on the paper.

Yago P
Coloured pencils on paper.

Sunrise over the Eastern Sea. This piece of work was originally painted by Fujishima Takeji, he was commissioned to create a painting to the newly ascended emperor, Hirohito. He painted this drawing on the ex-japanese colony Taiwan.

Daniela M
Acrylic on paper.

African patterns. This piece of work was part of our Non-Western art Project and it is an African style painting. I chose this style because I learned a new culture and also the use of some colours. I am really proud of my work because I’ve put a lot of effort in it and I enjoyed doing it.

Lorena L
Coloured pencils on paper.

The American fish. This fish is from the traditional North American art. It’s part of the nonwestern topic. I chose this because it reminds me to the sea. The colors are very simple but the red and blue makes it look very bright because they contrast the color black. It took me some time but I think that it doesn‘t matter because I enjoyed doing it and it finally looks quite good.

Rodrigo T
Coloured markers on paper.

Marathi mask. This piece of painting was created as part of Non Western Art- Part C. After looking carefully to other African masks I mixed some different shapes of each country and drew it. This mask isn’t just to scare people it can also be to protect your face or hide it.

Irina P
Acrylic and watercolor on paper.

Imitation of ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa. I created this drawing when I was working on Non-Western Art. I chose this particular design to represent Japanese Art. It was not an easy task, in order to make it the most realist I could I spent time to appreciate in detail the original art piece. It took a long process to reach the complete result, I began with a light sketch. Secondly, I painted with thin paint brushes and water colours. Thirdly, I used acrylic paints to add any colours left. Finally I attempted to paint any final details such as shadows and textures.

Daniela B
Pencil on paper.

Indomitable Nature. I drew this as it was part of a task I had to do exploring non western art. It took me a while since I was finding the perfect Indonesian sculpture to draw, until I found this one and it resonated with me. I think it truly represents how powerful nature really is, as it shows a man fighting against some animals, which seem non-submissive.

Xiao P
Pencil on paper.

Chinese Ancient Jade Horse. I have drawn this, as part of the ‘Non-Western Art’ project. I have been researching about the Art of China and drawn a chinese Jade Horse artefact. Drawing this, had really entertained me at home.

Flora and Fauna

Work by Year 9 has focused on the theme of Flora and Fauna. They have used natural forms as inspiration to create black and white photos in the manner of Karl Blossfeldt and worked from these to create tonal drawings.
Using whatever materials are available at home, pupils have recorded both plants and animals in a variety of styles, learning from other artists and working from photos.
After this development of technical skills there will be time for more imaginative work.

They are about to study the existence of Mythical Creatures, with links to Science and Natural History, including references to the ‘Fake News’ that many sailors of the past returned home with by either having sewn together parts of different creatures or exaggerating what they had seen.
From this research will develop an opportunity to create their own Fantastic Creatures either in 3D or on paper, depending on their circumstances and preferences.

María G
Pencil on paper.

Natural form art. This piece of work is the drawing of one of the photographs Blossfeldt took. I have tried to use different shading techniques to try and give it the shape of a leaf.

Laura Ll
Watercolor on paper.

Half a Tomato. This is one of the drawings of my “Flora and Fauna” project. I used watercolours to do this and for the details I used colouring pencils (like for example darker shades of red and bits of yellow).

Yi Z
Pencil on paper.

Allium Ostrowskianum. This is my work, the original intervened photo is from Karl Blossfeldt(1865-1932)

Andrea D
Pencil on paper.

Leaning pears. This drawing of pears was part of a class assignment. To make this drawing I had to play around with the shadows created by the lights towards the pears. After several attempts drawing them, I finished this one and was quite satisfied with the result!

Mar N
Pencil on paper.

Mimi. In class, we are studying flora and fauna. Our task was to draw an animal from our teacher’s pinterest board. I couldn’t decide on which one I should draw, so I drew several. This drawing, is just a rabbit, in two different postures. I created it again, with a pencil, by shading trying to use mostly the hatching and smudging technique. The trick for the smudging technique is using a paper towel, not your hands! For me, this one on the top, was one of the most difficult tasks that we have been assigned, because the shape kept looking like a seal and I couldn’t get the tone right. But remember, everyone makes mistake, the effort you put into it is what really matters! The title is Mimi because I used to have a rabbit who was named like that.

Lorena X
Pencil on paper.

This wolf illustration was drawn for a task. Lines are created with a soft touch, making the drawing seem not so harsh. It creates a wolf’s image being fierce as it is, but also a kind of loyalty and owning a multi colored aura. The drawing was created with techniques using a pencil, to show off different depths and tones to achieve its variety of realistic characteristics.

Álvaro N
Pencil on paper.

The Veggie. I drew this in the Flora and Fauna project, this show an aspect of a vegetable showing how simple but beautiful life is. I enjoyed drawing this in house for the first time.

Galyna Z
Pencil on paper.

The Dracaena Plant. This is a drawing of my own plant that was in my house. I took a picture of it and edited it to make black and white so that it looks like a Karl Blossfeldt photo. This drawing took me about 2 evenings to do. Here, I used only 2 types of pencils.