On Tuesday 26th November we all met for the first time when I made a real visit to P4 class. Teacher Dearbhla introduced me to the class of 16 boys and girls. This class is part of the Irish speaking part of the school and I soon learned the word for an artist – ealaíontóir.

We talked about what an artist does and why and the way that an artist can try to express something about what they see and feel. I told them I made lots of drawings about the experience of running, because I like to run.

We looked at real drawings and then I gave the children a copy of the image to make their own drawing after our discussion. Here are some of the responses the children made:

       

  

 

Even Teacher Dearbhla made a drawing…

 

 

Here are the wonderful drawings by the children:

We talked a little more about the project we were about to begin and that we were going to base this around the word  INTERPRET. We talked about how artists interpret the world through their work. The children had been looking this term at the work of Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh and so I brought along a copy of a drawing he made in 1889 called ‘Wheatfield with Sun and Cloud’ and it was made in black chalk:

 

‘Wheat field with Sun and Cloud ‘ by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

 Each child had a copy to look at and talked about how the artist had used his lines and marks to create a sense of space and distance and movement through the field. Vincent had used his eyes, heart and hand to create a powerful scene. The children made their own interpretation of this. They used charcoal which they rubbed in with their hands and also a rubber to eke out lines and marks from the black charcoal:

      

Here are some of the results – look at the energy in these!

Look at our carpet of drawings!!!