The Year 3 and 4 girls at the Girls’ School have been busy having lessons in art by looking at the symbols they see around them in daily life and discussing the meanings of these, and there are many!

They also have looked at a range of artwork from the past and present to find symbols. By looking at a portrait by Rita Angus, the girls then became symbol detectives as they looked for clues that would help them work out what these signs might mean.

The highlight of the girls’ lessons in art was two lessons at the Auckland Art Gallery. The first lesson looked at paintings of Maori leaders from the past by artists Charles Frederick Goldie and Gottfried Lindaur. The girls had to examine the paintings and look at their cloaks, jewellery, tattoos and feathers that might tell them more about the subjects.

The girls then went downstairs to look at an installation of a camp fire created by stone carvings, and had to work out what the story being told was all about.

Back in the classroom, the girls had small squares of paper where they had to draw symbols that represented them – their likes, their friends and family. They then cut this out and chose a coloured piece of paper that was also symbolic of them for their background.

Once the pieces were arranged in a meaningful way, the girls then used vivid or watercolour pencils to add an extra dimension and for the important features stand out which they discussed with a partner.

The girls thoroughly enjoyed their trip and the feedback from the teachers at the Art Gallery was how lovely the girls were, and how nicely the girls spoke to each other.

With thanks to Year 4 Teacher/Director of Curriculum, Miss Fiona McKenzie

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