Spring Term:

Spring Two - Landscapes and Symmetry:

This unit will introduce Year Two to landscape painting.  They will conduct a detailed study of Turner’s Snowstorm and Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows. They will compare the work of these artists, who were contemporaries, and allow them to study the different ways in which artists work, whether by sketching outside and then working in the studio, producing finished paintings outside or painting from their imagination.

Year Two will look at how Turner used bold brushstrokes to show rough and stormy seas. They will create and evaluate their own seascapes, revisit how to apply paint in different ways, using sponges and large, bold brushstrokes to create a stormy sea and sky.

Finally, Year Two will also  look at the effect of symmetry in art, using The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, The Avenue at Middelharnis by Hobbema and work by the modern sculptor Andy Goldsworthy who makes temporary works of art using natural objects. They will use different drawing techniques to become familiar with the painting by Hobbema and then go on to create their own temporary symmetrical sculptures in groups using natural objects. The idea of symmetry in art is revisited in year 3 in the unit on Architecture.

Spring One - Portraits and Self-portraits:

In this unit we will explore the difference portraits and self-portraits.  We will look at three renowned paintings: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Holbein’s portrait of Edward VI as a child and Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Bonito.  We will then explore the self-portraits of Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Gentileschi.  We will learn about how a portrait can show much more than just how a person looks: an artist can choose to represent a person’s personality, emotions and status. To complete the unit, Year Two will paint their own self-portrait, using mirrors, learning about the proportions of the face, and how to recreate skin-tones. They will consider how they can represent themselves, by the expression they show and by what they choose to put in the background of their portrait. Finally, they will evaluate what they think of the self-portrait they have created.

Autumn Term:

Mix it!

This project teaches children about basic colour theory by studying the colour wheel and colour mixing. It includes an exploration of primary and secondary colours and how artists use colour in their artwork.