Curriculum Art

At St Michael’s School our curriculum reflects our school vision: Let Your Light Shine. We want all of our children to be excited and motivated throughout their time at our school, and to develop the skills and knowledge to enable them to make the best possible progress in their learning. 

Intent, Implementation & Impact: Art

St Michael's World Bot

After appearing in the 'Greatest Dog Show on Earth 2025' our Norbot, designed by Molly in Year 5, is now back at school. Molly's design incorporated the flags of all the countries children at the school have links with. There were quite a lot to include. Can you find any that have a link to you?

Curriculum Overview (whole school): Art

St Michael's Children Art Exhibited In London at the Royal Academy of Art

Four of our children had their art work displayed in an exhibition at The Royal Academy of Art in London as part of the Young Artists Summer Show. One of them is now on sale as a print and another has been made into a greeting card. We are all incredibly proud of you and of all the other artists whose work was entered. 

Progression of Skills

Upcoming Events 

More ways to explore your creativity!

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery Bristol Museums

Holiday activities -  Children's Scrapstore Free Events — Children's Scrapstore (childrensscrapstore.co.uk)

RWA- free exhibitions to visit What's On | RWA Bristol

Arnolfini Free family workshops   Workshops - Arnolfin

GoSketch offers free online art sessions (see link below)

https://www.gosketch.co.uk/

Curriculum Art - Our Projects

Year 3

Year 3: 3D Sculpture

Artist Study - Alberto Giacometti

Building on this learning, we went on to explore the whole human figure. We studied the sculptures of Alberto Giacometti, focusing on his distinctive elongated forms and expressive poses. Using his work as inspiration, we planned and designed our own figures, deciding on poses before constructing them with foil over a wire armature. Finally, we attached our sculptures to plinths, creating impressive displays that showcased our understanding of the human form and movement.

Year 3: Printing inspired by William Morris

Inspired by the intricate patterns and natural forms used by the designer William Morris, as well as our own observational drawings, we created collagraph printing plates. To build our designs, we experimented with a variety of textured materials, including flat cardboard, corrugated cardboard, string, sandpaper and matchsticks. We carefully selected and arranged these materials to produce balanced and visually pleasing compositions.

As printmakers, we quickly discovered that careful planning was essential. We had to remember that our designs would print back-to-front, so shapes and patterns needed to be considered in reverse. We also learned how to apply the correct amount of printing ink to achieve a clear, successful print, striking a balance between too much and too little. Through studying Morris's work, we explored how repetition and symmetry can be used to create decorative designs.

Our second printing project involved creating printing plates using LEGO tiles. This time, we focused on rotational symmetry, designing patterns that pivoted around a central point. By carefully arranging the tiles and experimenting with different arrangements, we created striking geometric prints that demonstrated both creativity and mathematical thinking. The finished prints beautifully showcase our growing understanding of pattern, texture and printmaking.

Year 3: Weaving inspired by Claude Monet

Weaving is an incredibly relaxing form of textile art. After exploring the paintings of Claude Monet, we created our own woven interpretations inspired by his use of colour, light and texture. We carefully selected yarns to reflect the colours and atmosphere of our chosen scenes.

We began by learning tabby stitch, weaving over and under the warp threads with different thicknesses of weft yarn and then reversing the pattern on the return journey. Some of us also chose to incorporate Rya knots, adding a textured fringe.

Throughout the project, we developed important weaving skills, including maintaining the correct tension on the weft yarn so that the warp threads remained straight rather than being pulled in at the sides. We also learned the importance of alternating the weaving pattern at each edge to create a secure structure that would not unravel. The finished weavings are wonderfully textured, colourful and expressive, capturing the essence of Monet's work in a completely different medium.

Year 4

Year 4: Oil Pastel Ice Creams

With the recent spell of hot weather, thoughts of ice cream were never far away! Inspired by the colourful and playful artwork of Wayne Thiebaud, famous for his paintings of delicious-looking cakes and ice creams, we explored the exciting possibilities of oil pastels. We learned how they can be blended to create smooth colour transitions and realistic effects, as well as how artists use light and shadow to give objects a convincing three-dimensional form.

Using templates, we each drew three ice creams and applied both a shadow colour and a local colour to create the illusion of form on the cones and scoops. We practised this technique with chocolate and vanilla flavours before letting our imaginations run wild for the final ice cream. The results were wonderfully creative, with some very unusual flavour combinations appearing. While I am not entirely convinced they would all taste delicious, they certainly made for some fantastic artwork! Inspired by Thiebaud's bold colours and tempting treats, the finished pieces are vibrant and eye-catching.

Year 4: Anglo Saxons craftsmanship

The Anglo-Saxons were incredibly skilled craftspeople, and we explored two beautiful examples of their work: illuminated manuscripts and stone carving. We studied the distinctive lettering styles, rich colours and intricate decorations used in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts before designing our own illuminated letters. Each letter was created to represent something personal about ourselves.

Once our designs were complete, we traced them onto thick card covered with foil, indenting the  outlines into the surface. We then used translucent Sharpies and matt Posca pens to add colour, producing a vibrant, glowing effect similar to the illuminated pages that inspired us.

Our second project focused on the carved patterns found on Anglo-Saxon stone crosses. Rather than carving stone, we used layers of cardboard collage to create our own relief designs. We studied the symmetry and repeating patterns found on the original crosses and incorporated these into our work. Although recreating the intricate interlacing Celtic knots exactly was beyond the limits of our materials, we found creative ways to represent them through layered shapes and carefully constructed patterns. Working collaboratively in groups, we shared ideas, solved design challenges and combined our skills to produce impressive large-scale pieces that reflected the craftsmanship, balance and beauty of Anglo-Saxon art.

Year 4: Grotti Lotti Inspired Painting 

Inspired by Australian artist Grotti Lotti, who is known for her stunning layered paintings of birds we created our own expressive animal artworks. We began by studying native British birds that we might spot in our school grounds, as well as other familiar wildlife. Drawing animals proved quite a challenge, especially when working from video footage of constantly moving subjects. Thankfully, we could pause and freeze the images! As we observed more closely, we discovered that focusing on just one feature, such as an eye, beak or feather, revealed far more texture, colour and pattern than we had first imagined.

To create our paintings, we worked in layers. First, we covered our pencil sketches with a watercolour wash, tilting the paper and allowing the paint to drip naturally down the page, just as Grotti Lotti does in her own work. Next, we carefully studied the markings, patterns and textures of our chosen animals and added marks to represent these details using acrylic paint. Finally, we used Posca pens to refine and enhance our artwork.

Although we used photographs of real animals as inspiration, we made our own artistic choices when selecting colours, creating expressive and imaginative interpretations rather than strict copies. The finished pieces are vibrant, layered and full of character, beautifully combining careful observation with individual creativity.

Year 5

Year 5: Alien Clay Creatures

This is one of our favourite projects and always sparks the children's imagination. Learning how to shape, join and manipulate clay into different forms, we created unique alien creatures, each with its own name and backstory. We began by transforming a ball of clay into a pinch pot and carefully followed the five rules of joining clay: score, score, slip, wiggle and smooth. This ensured that any pieces we attached remained secure during the drying process. Once the clay had dried, we applied a base coat of acrylic paint before adding intricate details with Posca pens to bring our creations to life. The finished sculptures are absolutely gorgeous, full of character, creativity and imagination.

Year 5: Ancient Greeks Columns - Printing

Year 5: Rainforests Cushions

After studying the work of Rousseau and Matisse, we designed and created our own rainforest-inspired cushions. Each design featured a chosen animal, with some creatures being more rainforest-themed than others! Our aim was to fill much of the negative space to create a balanced and visually appealing composition, while still leaving room for additional leaf stencilling if desired.

Using fabric paint on calico, we carefully brought our designs to life, adding extra detail with fabric pens and decorative embroidery stitches. Along the way, we learned and practised several sewing techniques, including running stitch and backstitch, before using blanket stitch to neatly close our cushions once they had been stuffed.

The finished cushions are fantastic. They quickly become treasured creations and often make a reappearance on the Year 6 residential, where they are proudly brought along as pillows!

Year 6

Year 6: Artist Study - Julian Opie

Julian Opie’s artwork is known for its bold and distinctive style. Inspired by his work, we created our own digital self-portraits, which will be featured in our Year 6 yearbooks. While we incorporated key elements of Opie’s style, such as strong black outlines, simplified facial features, and flat blocks of colour for hair and skin, we also had the option to design unique and personalised backgrounds.

Year 6: Perspective, Collage and Artist Study - L S Lowry

For this project, we explored the life and work of L.S. Lowry. We learned how to draw using one-point perspective and applied this skill to create our own collaborative urban landscape collage. This was quite a challenging task that required lots of discussion and teamwork, particularly when deciding how to layer different elements, create the shapes of buildings, add features such as windows and doors, and choose additional details and embellishments to enhance the final piece.

Year 6: Jewels - Tints, Tones and Shades

We explored the different shapes that jewels can be cut into and carefully drew our chosen geometric design, following detailed instructions in preparation for painting. We then experimented with mixing a range of tints, tones and shades, arranging them to create the effect of a jewel shimmering in the light. While painting, we used a variety of brushes to cover both large areas and smaller corners effectively, aiming to minimise visible brush marks. Achieving this required excellent brush control, including twisting the wrist and pulling the brush smoothly along the surface rather than pushing it.

Previous Projects

Year 4: Grotti Lotti inspired painting - Mesy Birds

As part of our topic on endangered animals and linked to the RSPB Big Garden Bird watch we set out to discover the beauty and challenges faced by our native birds. We looked closely at their form through videos (helpfully pausing the video as they never stayed still when watching them in our school woods), listening and drawing their song and close observation of feathers. Our finished pieces were inspired by the paintings of Australian artist Grotti Lotti. She allows paint to find its own path, dripping and merging together, We experimented with this and had lots of fun making different marks and seeing what the paint did. Our final layer was added using Posca pens, adding the details we had seen when studying features. The end results were beyond all my expectations - beautiful. 

Year 5: Ancient Greeks

We have been studying the architecture of Ancient Greece, in particular the different columns they created - Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. We learnt about their different sections through sketching, then created our own prints (reduction printing / foam block printing) inspired by them, printing on a variety of different types of paper, exploring the different results. Finally, we collated all our art together, selecting and choosing the prints we wanted to share. The foam blocks were still tacky with printing ink so we had fun adding ghost prints to our sketchbooks too.

Ask any year 5 and they will tell you columns have teeth, moustaches and sausages! Really, they do!

Year 4: Painted Perspective - River Landscapes

Whilst some of Year 4 were on camp, those back in school took part in a two day art project. We looked at a lot of different types of water and discussed landscape perspective - how things look larger the closer they are to us. Before starting our final paintings, we explored the medium of water colour, how direction of brush mark is important and how texture marks can be added. 

 Year 3: Pre-History Art - from handprints to Beaker Culture inspired coil pots

We looked at the importance of the handprint in ancient human art and why it might have been used. We found out about how they made some of their paints (seriously gross) and then created our own handprint art. Inside our negative handprints we added items that were important to us e.g. chicken nuggets, art, sports, family, pets, computer consoles etc. What would you include in yours?

Beaker Culture covers an ancient people from Europe, including Britain, and is famous for their distinctive pottery. We looked at the shape and decoration used and created our own version using the coil method. Its was a lot of fun rolling out lots of sausage shapes but it is harder than it looks to make them. To join all our pieces we used the 5 rules - Score, Score, Slip, Wiggle, Smooth. (Slip is a watery clay mix used as a glue.)

Year 3: Polar weaving

In year 3 we explored the way colours make us feel and how artists use them in their work. We looked at landscapes from cold climates, including those showing the northern lights, using them as inspiration for weavings.  A card loom was used to hold the warp thread, allowing the weft to go 'under over, under over'. It is very relaxing to weave but you have to remember to keep a gentle tension on the weft yarn.

Year 4: Roman Mosaics

We looked at a range of Roman mosaics and how the Romans created them. Beginning with paper squares, we had a go at creating lines and shapes, making sure there were small gaps in between them. This is harder than it looks! The Romans created very detailed pictures but as we were just starting out, we focused on the patterns they used. Once we had chosen a pattern we transferred it to a board using small tiles (tesserae). Some we had to cut with tile cutters which we had to use very carefully. 

Year 3: Egyptians

In our Ancient Egyptian topic we created drawings of pharaohs, gods and other people using a grid, follow the same rules that they did. We also studied the landscape of Egypt, looking in particular at the River Nile, mud brought by the floods, green planted areas and the sky. We creating weavings to represent these layers, some of us even having a go at putting pyramid shapes into them - it's hard!

Year 4: Endangered

During our topic Endangered we studied some of the most threatened animals in this country. We looked closely at their form (shape) and the texture on their bodies and surroundings. Watercolour paints were used to add colour inside a frame, with us all really focusing on our colour mixing skills.

Year 5: Crime and Punishment

Studying graffiti has been an interesting topic and we've noticed many types around Bristol, particularly focusing on the legal street art variety! We created our own printed brick walls then added a oil pastel blended tag with accents.

Another way we used our knowledge of graffiti style typography was through textiles - creating an applique composition using a 'tag' and a variety of stitches to attatch the pieces together. 

Year 3: Still Life and Artist Study - Paul Cezanne

During this term we immersed ourselves in the work of Paul Cezanne and in particular his love of colour, shape, still life and apples!

We looked closely at the form of fruit and other objects and how to create depth through overlapping in a still life - in particular seeing where objects start and stop in relation to each other. 

We also looked at tone and how shadows are formed away from the source of light. Lastly we used all the skills we had practised in a watercolour still life. 

Our sketching and understanding of an objects form and how they overlap was supported through collage too. We were very happy with the result. 

Year 6: Railroad Quilts

For this code project we took our inspiration from the quilts used by African Americans in their journey to freedom from slavery on the Underground Railroad. We researched some of the main quilt patterns and their meanings and learnt about some of the people who had experienced this very difficult journey. We thought about journeys we had been on in our own lives and how we could pass the details of these on to others through the use of coded patterns. These we planned using mainly geometric shapes that could be produced as paper quilt blocks. It was important to be accurate so that the pieces fitted together. Can you guess what the codes might be telling you?

Year 3: Artist Stydy  - William Morris

We began this project by learning about the life and work of William Morris. Looking closely at examples of his wall paper and textile designs, we noticed his use symmetry and translation when depicting flowers, leaves and animals. Drawing on this, we created our own compositions for a collagraph plate, using pieces of cardboard, string, pipe-cleaners, matchsticks and corrugated paper. We explored the use of the different textures to make our collagraphs interesting.  During this process we learnt that keeping our designs big and bold made them easier to make and created a clearer print! These are some of our collagraphs before we 'inked' them.

Once the glue on our collagraphs had dried we could then print from them. Lots of force was needed to get a successful print - you really had to get your fingers in to all the little corners. The results were fantastic and the inked collagraphs look like pieces of art in their own right too.

 During our printing topic we also explored rotational polystyrene press printing. Continuing to use William Morris' work as inspiration, we planned a design that could be rotated around a central point. We used the same sort of process as the collagraphs but rather then raising up the design we pushed it into the tile. We also added a sticker to the centre point to help us remember which corner needed to be in the middle. 

They look even better than we expected and many 'oooh's and arhh's' were heard when revealing them!

Year 5: Portraits

As part of our Tudor topic we looked at Holbein and how his portraits  helped shape our understanding of Tudor England. We explored the 'magic' proportions of the face and had a go at creating our own using pencil, then a larger try in charcoal. I was blown away by the mark making and effort the children put in to getting the features in the right places. We are now going to develop our portraiture work into the 3D medium of cardboard relief sculpture using Kimmy Cantrell as our inspiration.

Year 4: Artists Study - Rosalind Monks

This year we looked very closely at the bodies of different British insects, many of which are endangered. We were really surprised at how intricate and beautiful they were. We were also inspired by the work of designer Rosalind Monks, who works in pen to create detailed designs.

Here are a few pieces of our pen work, some done at school and others whilst home learning.

Artist Response - WOW

Hi Mrs Fraser and Year 4,

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful drawings with me. I am so impressed with all the detail and care you took with your line work. Drawing in pen is hard because you can’t erase anything, you just have to adapt if you make a mistake! I am so honoured to have inspired you all to create your own beautiful artwork. Drawing is very special to me and I couldn’t imagine life without it. I love being out doors and finding new things to draw, the possibilities are endless. I very much hope that creating these brought you the fun and magic it brings me and please keep up the great work! 

Year 4: Winter Penguins

We created a sky watercolour wash and then collaged on top with our weird and wonderful penguin characters.

Year 4: Natural Disasters

As part of a topic looking at Natural Disasters, we explored the form of volcanos, creating them in collage. First, we used paint and lots of interesting items to create the different textures we observed in volcano pictures. We then tore, cut and arranged pieces to make the 3 distinct sections of an exploding volcano.  

Continuing our collage theme (and explosions) we explored the work of PopArt artist Roy Lichtenstein, making onomatopoeia compositions. 

Year 4: Natural Distasters - Hurricane

We watched videos of various natural disasters, listening to the sounds as well as watching the movement and visual elements of them. We saw ships on huge seas and winds whipping up plants and other items. We recreated the movements, feeling and noise through the medium of water colour. It was a very dynamic session!

Year 6: Henry Moore -

WW2 War Artist

Henry Moore is mainly famous for his monumental sculptures. What is less well known is his drawings from the underground tube shelters during the London Blitz. We explored how he used various, simple materials to create tonal drawings of human 3D forms. 

Using ipads, we had a go at organising our own compositions for a 'shelter huddle'.  We thought about the relationship between the figures and how we could use contouring to show the 3D form of each body part.

The results are very impressive and you do get a feeling of the claustrophobic, dark and scary nature of the situation.

Year 4: Surrealist Vikings!

We linked our history topic on Vikings with Surrealist Art. Yep, strange, but that Surrealism - strange items that are placed together to surprise and make you think!

In the particular project we took inspiration from 'The Son of Man'  by Rene Magritte. Magritte wanted to see what was behind the things we can see so we created different overlapping layers. We also allowed a little corner of one eye to be seen, just like in the original. Here are some of our interpretations of these pictures using the computer programme Paint.net.

Year 5: Alien Creatures and Plants

During this project we explored two different types of sculpture medium - clay and Modroc. They are both types of additive sculpture, but when using the Modroc an armature of scrunched up newspaper was used to model on top of.  Some pupils also used subtractive methods, removing clay to create skin texture. In general we were pretty split between which was our favourite medium.

As part of our planning process we thought about the environment the alien and plant lived in. Was it a cold/warm/dark/swampy place? How did the plant and alien co-exist? There were some very involved backstories! These are some of our truly gorgeous creations. 

Year 6 Eyes

We studied the colour wheel, looking at making the primary, secondary and tertiary colours with smooth, careful brush strokes.  These we them used to create these stunning collage eyes.  

Year 6: Artist Study 

Creating our own digital portraits, in the style of Julian Opie, is one of the projects we all look forward to. The key to making them look realistic is faithfully outlining the face and hair, plus (strangely) adding the chin line! Click on the pictures - can you see those chin lines? This year some of us wanted to explore the backgrounds a bit more and add details, rather than use a flat colour like Julian Opie.

These portraits will be included in our Year 6 Yearbooks. 

Year 6: Mayans

We studied the glyphs and ceremonial headdresses of the Ancient Mayans. Looking at  fierce (and some not so fierce) animals from the South American rain-forests we incorporated them into our headdress design. These were then painted using powder paints  displaying our colour mixing skills.

Year 5: Tints and Shades

We explored the medium of powder paint and used them to create tints and shades. Once we were confident with the medium we used our skills to create landscapes (showing fore-ground, mid-ground and background layers) and a visual illusion cube composition.

Year 6: L. S. Lowry

As part of a topic based on the Victorians we looked at the industrial landscapes created by famous British artist L. S. Lowry. His work inspired our city collages, which included muted colours and focused on perspective.

Year 5: Artists Study

As part of our Crime and Punishment topic we looked at graffiti and street art - the differences between them and the legality of them. We looked in particular at the artist Jean Michel Basquiat and how his style developed from graffiti art. We explored how he used stylised, primitive-looking faces with backgrounds full of colourful imagery and phrases. Both the text and images on his work mean something to him and we did the same - adding our own words and images to our compositions.