Art and Design at St Francis de Sales

'Art is a place for children to learn to trust their ideas, themselves, and to explore what is possible'  MaryAnn F. Kohl

Our artists will...

• Explore a variety of tools and techniques
• Experiment with colours and manipulate materials
• Talk about what we like and don't like through art
• Design, make and review products
• Explore the work of different artists

Click here for our Art Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

Click here for our Art Policy

Click here for our Art Progression Document

Click here for our Art Curriculum Overview

Click here for our Art Vocabulary Overview

2024-2025

Reception Art - Courtney Mattison

Courtney Mattison is an American artist who handcrafts large sculptures inspired by coral reefs and climate change. Courtney’s work is often colourful in the middle, but white around the outside. She creates wall-mounted spirals made up of smaller sculptures, which are all different colours and textures. The Reception children thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with a mixture of shells and pebbles (both colourful and white) to design their own spiral, 3D sculptures in the style of Courtney Mattison. Take a look at some of their masterpieces!

2023-2024

Year 1 Art - Romero Britto

Romero Britto is a Brazilian artist who is well known for his pop art, cubism and graffiti art. The children have really enjoyed learning about Britto and evaluating his work. This term, the children have learnt how to draw detailed facial features using guided lines. They were then able to use these skills and apply them to their final piece. They had lots of fun using oil pastels and watercolours! Take a look at the photographs below to see our fantastic

Britto inspired work!

Year 2 Art - Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was an American artist who is most famous for his bright, colourful paintings and prints. This term, the children have looked at some of Warhol's most famous pieces of art and discussed what they liked or disliked. The children tested out lots of printing techniques, by experimenting with different materials. They took inspiration from Warhol, who is most well known for his pop art pieces and created their own fantastic prints using printing ink and polystyrene. Take a look at their stunning art work. 

Reception Art - Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian artist who is very well known for his abstract paintings. The children have really enjoyed looking at Kandinsky's work and talking about how it makes them feel. In Reception, the children focused on the different line style techniques that he used in some of his paintings. They then took inspiration from his work and created their own piece of work. This was also a very good technique to help build fine motor skills!

Year 1 Art - John Ndambo

John Ndambo is from Africa and is a self taught artist. Ndambo likes to use deep, rich colours in his paintings and often uses a palette knife to spread the paints. The children have looked closely at Ndambo's work and discussed the different techniques used. This term, the children have focused on creating secondary colours by mixing primary colours together. The children were able to create some beautiful final pieces in the style of John Ndamdo! Take a look at their work!

Artist workshop for Year 1

This term, our Year One children were lucky enough to have a visit from an artist. Gill taught the children how to vary their  brushstrokes, by using different sizes paintbrushes to give different effects. The children then used these techniques to create their own painting of a bird. Look at the beautiful feathers they created using a flicking technique. Well done everyone!

Year 2 Art - Claude Monet

Claude Monet was a French artist, who most enjoyed using oil paints to create a lot of his famous pieces. This term, the children have looked at Monet's work and discussed the different techniques he used. Taking inspiration from Monet's work, the children created their own skyline painting of our city Liverpool. The children looked at photographs, to help sketch the outline of the skyline before drawing over it using a black Sharpie pen.

Reception Art -

Giueseppe Arcimboldo

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian artist who created some very interesting paintings. He mainly created portraits of heads made entirely of objects such as fruit, vegetables, flowers and sea creatures. This term, we have focused on colour mixing and printing. The children have really enjoyed experimenting with mixing primary colours to create secondary colours.

Year 1 Art - Margo Selby

Margo Selby is a British artist and designer who is very well known for her handwoven artwork. This term the children have focussed on weaving and have learnt lots of new techniques. They starting by weaving paper and then moved on to use wool. It was quite tricky threading the wool, however with lots of patience, all children were able to create their own beautiful weft using a cardboard loom.

Take a look at their final pieces below! Well done everybody!

Year 2 Art - Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley is a British sculptor who is best known for his 'bodyform' sculptures, based on casts of his own body. 

Artist workshop for Year 2

We welcomed Gill the artist back this term to work with our Year Two children. They focused on sculpture and learnt some very useful techniques. By the end of the session all children had created their own vase using clay. They made some lovely patterns on their vase by pressing various objects such as leaves, twigs and wire into the clay.

The children are really excited to paint their vases once the clay has dried!

Reception Art - Anni Albers

Anni Albers was a German printmaker and she is most known for the beautiful weavings she created. The children really enjoyed researching Albers and finding out how she created her fantastic artwork. Firstly, the children experimented by threading ribbon under and over elastic bands. They then moved on to create their own mini loom and selected some beautiful fabric to weave. Look how well they did!