Art Speaks Japanese 'Comes Alive' Competition 2013

Art Speaks Japanese 'Come Alive' Competition 2013

 The Japanese Foundation

‘Art Speaks Japanese

Come Alive’

Competition 2013

This term the students of Art Zone, plus a few visitors from classes 5/6 at Farrer Primary School, entered the competition.

We were issued with a resource pack containing photographs and descriptive text, featuring some of the Japanese Artwork in the collection of the National Gallery of NSW.

The students selected a variety of materials including air drying clay, paint, collage, water-coloured pencils, ink, and fabric, to create their artwork.

It was really interesting to see what inspired the artists. Malcolm (yr2) was inspired by “Death of Atsumori” by Toyohara (Yoshu) Chikanbu. 

He used air -drying clay, to model a likeness of the hero, holding his sword and flute.

                                                            "Samurai" by Malcolm (Yr 2)

Some studied several artworks and incorporated them into their piece.

Imogen (yr 6) was inspired by the artwork “Slaughter Cabinet ll’ by Moriura Yasumasa  and ‘Karaori’ noh robe with design of flowers of the four seasons Edo(Takugawa) period 1615-1868.

She printed silk to represent a newspaper, which she fashioned into a miniature kimono.

                                          "Japanese Newspaper Kimono" Imogen (Yr 6)

Hanging scrolls inspired Jenny (yr 6), Grace(yr 4) Alessia (yr 5) and Lily (yr 6).

The girls worked on their pieces using paint, ink and water-coloured pencil.

 Jenny (Yr 6) and Grace (Yr 4) chose their own composition to incorporate into the scroll. 

"Blossom in the Wind" Jenny (Yr 6)

Alesia was inspired by the Calligraphy piece ‘When the mountain is high the moon rises late”(17^th Century) by Kano Tan'yu for her  brush and ink illustration. 

 by Alessia (Yr 5)

Lily’s illustration entitled ‘Echo of Beauty’ was inspired by ‘Beauty looking back’ by Kainosho Tadaoto . 

   

"Echo of beauty" Lily S (Yr 6)

We were required to incorporate Japanese language into our pieces and  submissions.

Thank you to Hibberd Sensei and Yuko Sensei at Farrer Primary School, who interpreted for us.

All the students did a fantastic job and we submitted 14 entries under Farrer  PSch. You can view our submissions on the Japanese Foundation’s website from November onwards.

Thank you to all involved, particularly the families and classmates of the students, and the teachers and staff of Farrer PSch.

http://artalive.jpf-sydney.net/

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/asian-art/east-asia/japan/

Truffle Festival at Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets

 

 

Truffles (we are talking about the fungi variety, not the chocolate ones here) have been highly sought after by chefs and foodies for years: 

And it's Truffle season in Canberra from June 'till mid August.

To celebrate the Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets are holding a Truffle Festival from June 23rd until July 27th.

There will be fresh black truffles and truffle products at Mart Deli, Deli Planet, Wiffens and Happy Pastures.  And truffles on the menu at Bean and Grain, Deli Planet and Ocean Fresh Seafoods. 

Be sure to take in one of the truffle cooking demonstrations presented by 3seeds . Or why not book yourself into a Master class?

So that the kids don't miss out there are even truffle cooking classes for 6-12 year olds.

And we are doing FREE  truffle- inspired craft from 11am - 2pm Saturday July 20th.

There is a great line up of live music to enjoy, plus truffle flavoured popcorn, kids colouring competition and face painting..see you there!!!

To find out more about Truffles and the Canberra Region Truffle Festival follow these links.

Heirloom Gardening

Heirloom Gardening

Whilst visiting the beautiful coastal town of Metung in Victoria, we bought some Heirloom, or sometimes called Heritage, seeds from one of the stallholders at the ‘Local Growers’ market.

We live in an Alpine area with frosty winter nights, which is not the easiest climate for growing winter vegetables, but I was delighted to find a few varieties available.

Now, Heirlooms are varieties of many of the fruits, flowers and vegetables, which we know and love today. The difference being they grow in their original form from many years ago. Did you know that carrots were once yellow or white? That capsicums and potatoes were purple?

Take a look at this link to see some AMAZING multicoloured corn varieties. www.masterchef.com.au/glass-gem-corn.htm

Some Heirloom fruits and vegetables are readily available to buy at markets and grocery stores, but many you will have to grow yourself. There are a few online outlets you can purchase Heirloom seeds, plus seed swops and grower markets.

I don’t have room to grow corn, but my children’s school has an Environment Centre, so I have encouraged them to grow the plants which require more space, in the spring. I am trying beetroot, crimson flowering broad beans, endives and broccoli to start with, as these grow well in the winter.

Right! Better get these things into the ground..let’s see how we go over the next few weeks!

 image by MonaMakela

                                                                                                                              

I have included some links to sites for further reading and obtaining seeds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heirloom_plant

http://www.seedsavers.net/

http://www.diggers.com.au/

Be careful when buying seeds from online sites, as we have extremely strict laws regarding the import of seed into Australia.

Art Classes Term 2

Tie-Dyeing

Tie-Dyeing

You will need:

Light coloured pillowcase, t-shirt etc (must be at least 75% cotton)

Elastic bands

Derivan Screen Printing Ink in various colours

1 teaspoon of salt per dye bath.

Cold water

Mixing bowls large enough to submerge your pillowcase

Mixing spoon

Measuring jug

Rubber gloves

Waterproof table covering

Method:

1. Cover your workspace with plastic covering, as the dyes will stain permanently.


2. Measure about ¼ of the jar of each of the inks into separate mixing bowls. Add the salt and stir really well. After a minute or two the ink will become quite runny.  

Add equal amounts of cold water and stir. This will be used for your dye baths.

Experiment a little amount of water you add to the dye baths. The more water, the softer the colours will be.

You can do a little colour mixing at this stage. Red+ yellow will give you orange. Blue + red will give you purple. Yellow + blue will give you green etc

3. Wet and thoroughly wring out your pillowcase. Working from the middle outwards, twist small sections of the fabric and SECURELY tie with the elastic bands.

The area twisted and covered by the elastic band won’t absorb colour, which gives us the interesting spiral patterns. Check out the different methods you can experiment with, at the bottom of the page.

4. Put on your rubber gloves, and start dipping your pillowcase into the bowls of dye. Start with the lighter colours first and work your way to the darker ones.

It is a good idea to only pick a couple of colours, and try and keep the colours from overlapping too much. This will keep your designs nice and fresh.

Don’t forget what you know about colour mixing. Red, blue and yellow together will give you a muddy brown, as will red and green. So think about the effects you would like to achieve and don’t be tempted to have a dip in every bowl!

5. When you are satisfied with your design, leave it to sit in a separate bowl or sink for 

about 30 minutes. This helps the dyes to penetrate the fibers of the fabric, and will give you a brighter design.

6. Rinse your pillowcase thoroughly with cold running water, until the water runs clear.

7. Remove the elastic bands and your design will be revealed. Hang your pillowcase out to dry in a warm shady spot.

8. When dry, iron with a hot iron for at least 3 minutes to finally set the dyes.