Looking for some brilliant ideas to enhance a Term 1 inquiry unit about “Being Me” to start your year off with a bang? Wanting to link art to student well-being and move away from the traditional posters and collages while incorporating some new resources? Then this workshop might be just what you need! Participants in this workshop will be given the opportunity to explore some simple yet stunning new ideas for decorating those bland classroom walls and corridors, while focussing on individual student interests and information! Using card templates, photographs and a wide range of mixed media materials for embellishment, these activities can be used across all levels and will create great interest and enjoyment amongst your students. Come along and join in!

Engaging senior students in Visual Arts can sometimes be challenging, but this unit of work is guaranteed to inspire and motivate even the most resistant student. A Pop Art study is a brilliant way to introduce such artists as Yayoi Kusama, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring and Romero Britto and it will open the door to artwork and some mind-blowing techniques your students may never have seen before. Although this workshop will be aimed at senior students, the activities can be simplified and undertaken in all year levels. A great way to incorporate an artist study into your program, if existing Inquiry Units do not easily lend themselves to visual arts activities. If you have never ventured into this area of art, then this workshop is a must!

As can be expected, the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo are going to be an incredible starting point for a diverse range of Visual Arts activities on body movement, sport, multiculturalism, Asian studies and marketing. In this workshop, participants will experiment with a variety of materials, skills and techniques with the goal of creating a term’s unit of work for levels P – 6. A brand new range of products will be demonstrated, as well as original products used in new and innovative ways for the theme of the Olympic Games in Japan. Come and discover some really fun activities to not only celebrate this amazing event, but also offer an insight into the Japanese culture. Not to be missed!

If you tend to avoid threads and textile units in your art program, then you are going to love this workshop! Using the animated movie “Ugly Dolls” as a starting point, participants in this session will be shown how to make a soft sculpture ugly doll with simple clothing. Once a template has been created, the doll shape will be cut from felt fabric and “ugly” facial features will be sewn on, before the body is stitched and padded with nylon filling. Using the original body template, clothing will then be cut and sewn too. This brilliant unit of work is fail-proof because the doll is intended to be as ugly as possible, so imperfect stitching and cutting will simply add to the effect! Break down those threads and textile barriers and come to this workshop!

Ideas spring from not only Book Week theme, but also from the short listed books and their illustrations.Activities undertaken can be linked to literature and Inquiry Units that arise throughout the year.

With the huge push towards making our students aware of environmental sustainability and the impact that we can all have on the health of our planet, a visual arts unit using a combination of recycled materials and mixed media resources, can prove extremely rewarding and beneficial. In this workshop the participants will be given the opportunity to use newspapers, magazines, books, milk bottles, cartons, bags and paper scraps to create some amazing works of art. Suitable for all year levels, it will fit in perfectly with classroom inquiry units on sustainability and it will offer a meaningful insight into how art can be expressed in so many ways. Heaps of fun and definitely not a strain on the art budget!

“Life Cycles” is still a very popular Inquiry Unit undertaken by junior classes in many schools and in this workshop, participants will experiment with some new and exciting materials to create a range of stunning insects, caterpillars and mini beasts, which will definitely enhance this classroom unit. Materials such as stockings, nylon filling, chenille stems, sequins, felts, wire, joggle eyes, new polystyrene shapes and beads will be used to produce wild and fabulous bugs that the students will be thrilled to own. A fabulous way to incorporate threads and textiles, collage and construction in one activity, as well as using up all those scraps and bits and pieces you never know what to do with!! Come along and see some innovative ways of creating those little creatures.

With Christmas fast approaching, this practical workshop has been designed to show participants a diverse range of simple yet effective ways of creating delightful Christmas cards. Come and see exciting methods of transforming those blank cards using foils, aluminium, beads, felts, threads, chenille stems, templates and other multimedia materials. Techniques such as felting, printing and embossing will be included and many of the activities can be modified for other celebrations and occasions. Your students will be thrilled to create such professional looking, yet inexpensive cards that they can give to their buddies or family. A brilliant unit of work that is fail-proof, easy, innovative, functional and extremely rewarding for all concerned! See you there!