This semester, Year 10 Visual Arts students were introduced to pure abstraction and the aesthetics of ‘mark making’ with a focus on mixed-media and painting as the expressive form. Their experiments were complemented by studying the work of Wassily Kandinsky, and later, the works of American Abstract Expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock. Students were able to contemplate the complexities dealt with in Abstract Expressionism through the creation of small postcard art studies and large-scale artworks.
The students worked in groups to emulate a series of Pollock’s large scale works. Pollock’s signature style is often described as action painting; a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed, or smeared onto the canvas, rather than carefully applied.
“Students enjoyed being able to express themselves in a new and perhaps unconventional manner. Being able to get messy and walk or dance around the large scale canvas was something new for them! By emulating Pollock’s work, students were able to gain further insight into the artist’s intentions and his artmaking practice.” Mrs Villareal, Visual Arts Teacher
