Art
At Burford, our children are encouraged to think and work like Artists and Art Critics. They study art which spans time and place, unpicking the tools and materials needed to create it, the inspiration behind it, and explore what it may be trying to communicate. They learn that art is a product of its context and comments upon it. They learn that art is subjective and that we must respect differing opinions.
We make strong links to our oracy curriculum, providing the children with sophisticated vocabulary with which to describe that they are seeing and sentence stems to encourage them to formulate their thinking verbally. They explore the biographies of artists both past and present, and from different continents, in the hope that they may become role models and dismantle cultural prejudice. We discuss what motivated these artists to create art - often to address problems, overcome barriers, or communicate a message.
We visit art within our local area and dismantle some preconceptions about where art should live - whether it be formal galleries (such Nottingham Contemporary and New Art Exchange), outdoor spaces (such as Anish Kapoor’s ‘Sky Mirror’), religious spaces, or rural settings (e.g. Yorkshire Sculpture Park). We study art produced in Nottingham, and by the people of Nottingham, now and in the past, and how this reflects our ever-changing multi-cultural community. In this way, we seek to develop our learners’ understanding of themselves and their place within our community through the medium of artistic self-expression.
Children are encouraged to create art which may help them to express their thoughts and feelings, and discuss how mindfulness and externalisation can help us to maintain good mental health. They will discuss how art can be liberating and a means of communicating things which may be difficult to do so verbally. Children explore their own creativity using a wide variety of materials, tools and techniques. We enlighten children about how they can express their own identity through colour, shape, texture and pattern. They learn that art is intentional and powerful, and that it can be a persuasive way of communicating with others. They develop the knowledge and skills to translate what is in their head into a final piece of art via an intentional unit structure which seeks to empower them and promote independence so that they are able to design their own work, make it a reality, reflect upon it, and explain their choices.