Art students learn the principles of pattern

The lines between art, history, geography and math were blurred during this month’s Artists in the School program.

During recent weeks, artists Jordan Eveland and Gail Caswell were back at Nottawasaga and Creemore Public School for the annual in-school art program funded through Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society. 

This year’s program, about the principles of pattern, was offered to students in Grades 4-8. They learned how to apply their math skills to make basic shapes using their rulers, protractors and compasses, which would be the foundation for their creations.

Students in the Grade 7/8 class used relief blocks to print on fabric and create wall hangings, while the Grade 6/7 class used a batik inspired method to make colourful scale shapes, and the Grade 5/6 class made black-and-white 2D circles on a square background, telling a story with shapes and finding the natural focal point. The Grade 4/5 class made colourful shapes, which not unlike the scale project, would later be fitted together to form a much bigger pattern, a collaboration of each individual artist. 

Caswell said she was motivated to develop the lessons after students repeatedly referred to art as painting. She wanted to help them explore other mediums and methods to broaden their understanding of what constitutes art. 

Four separate art projects involving different mediums were used to explore other cultures as they discussed other themes, including how artistic abilities can translate into the workplace. 

Trina Berlo photo: NCPS student Lily Hall with the wall hanging she created during the Artists in the School program.