Check out our new Artists of the Month displays in Imagine block and the Junior Learning Village. Some brilliant work from our KS3 students!!
Mrs Young and the Art Department ran several lunchtime workshops for Year 7 students in the run up to the Christmas break, creating baubles with inspirational phrases on. These include all of the different languages spoken by our students in school, and our EAL students spent some time in their morning coversation sessions, creating baubles in their own languages. Take a look at the beautiful decorations!
Big thanks to the amazing art teachers in the North East who joined us at Cramlington Learning Village after a long day at school, for a gelli print skills-share evening workshop, led by Mrs Clazey and the art team. We had such a brilliant turn out with over 45 people attending, and some absolutely stunning prints! Local networks are so important, and we're very lucky to have such a strong supportive community of art teachers and educators in NEATEN(North East Art Teacher Eductator Network)
Students in Year 7, 8 and 9 were involved in a series of workshops with staff to create artwork to support the Cramlington in Bloom competition. Students used a range of techniques and media including feltmaking, photography, painting and paper craft to create some stunning outcomes inspired by flowers. The artwork was then displayed in the town council offices and Manor Walks Shopping Centre in Cramlington with some fantastic feedback from members of the public!
In the last week of the summer term, as part of Project Week, our Year 7 students had the opportunity to work outside creating some en plein-air paintings of our school. They then composed their own poems inspired by the sights, sounds and smells of the school, and layered these over their paintings using Pixlr E. Fantastic outcomes!
To celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III, A Level Art and Photography students at Cramlington Learning Village produced a series of prints inspired by the legacy created through his patronage as The Prince of Wales, with support from Cramlington Town Council. The banners were inspired by the following themes and were displayed in Manor Walks. Take a look at how amaing they looked!
Creating an organic garden at Highgrove
Creating the Duchy Organic Food range
Reducing his personal carbon footprint
Preserving heritage crafts
Being Patron of the Campaign for Wool
Leading the Prince’s Trust to help people aged 11-30 get into jobs, education and training
Wildlife conservation
In celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in June, over 1000 of our students in Year7,8 and 9 created their own portrait of the Queen in their art lessons. Cramlington Town Council and Youth manager, Maggie Martin, then exhibited the portraits on bunting to create Cramlington's Jubilee Line, alongside those from local primary schools and community groups in Manor Walks Shopping Centre and The Hub. They looked amazing all together and it was a great opportunity for students to show off their artwork to their families when they were out shopping.
Our Y12 A Level Art students were approached by a local company in Cramlington, GCS Leisure Buildings who are based at Azure Garden Centre. Sales of 'shoffices' - a garden room or shed used for work - rocketed by 500% in the UK last year as the Covid pandemic maintained its grip and employees decided they needed a better set-up than the kitchen table or the spare bedroom, with remote working looking set to be the new norm for many heading into the future.
Two teams of students were given a budget, asked to prepare mood boards and present their designs for a garden office or summerhouse. The themes chosen by the students were Northumberland’s Night Sky – inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night and the country’s own iconic Sycamore Gap Tree – and the jungle. Isabella Robson, who is keen on a career as an interior designer, said her team’s jungle concept combined nature with the office. “We thought it was really nice to have vibrant colours so your workplace is nice and lively but you can still sit down, work in it and have a bit of fun at the same time,” she said. Gracie Mair, who was part of the Northumberland’s Night Sky team, said: “There was a bit of extra stress, considering we’ve never done anything like this before, but that challenge really pushed us to be as creative as possible. I am so thrilled. It’s been a lot of hard work and it’s really paid off. “Planning, budgeting, mapping it all out and then see it come to life was really rewarding. I promised myself after my GCSEs I would never do Maths again, but here I am! We stayed well inside budget and I’m really proud of us all.”
Students were offered an amazing opportunity by the Northumberland Archive who have been working with Cramlington Camera club to commemorate their 50th Anniversary as part of a National Lottery funded project.The project started in March with a visit to CLV from the Archive curatorial team led by Jo March. Jo led the students, selected from Year 8-10, through the history of Cramlington illustrated by a series of documents and photographs she had selected to get the students to actively consider how things have changed and how, with their cameras, they have the power to capture their own views of their surroundings. Colin and Paul of the Cramlington Camera Club then visited, and they spoke of their love of photography and how, even as amateurs, they have been rewarded with so many opportunities and been able to realise their own personal ambitions from photographing the Great North Run, to heading out to Kenya to be part of a photographic safari of the Massai Mara. Students were then tasked with their own challenge to take a photograph that would show someone in 100 years time what their town is like.
To provide context of where their images would eventually end up, the students had a trip to the Northumberland Archives at the Woodhorn Museum. Students were treated to a behind the scenes look at the extraordinary measures that go into preserving the region’s history. From a refrigerated room to ensure that no creepy crawlies are hiding inside old documents, to the use of non-corroding metals used in their paperclips.
Upon their return students submitted their images which as well as being preserved permanently at Northumberland Archives, were also exhibited at Cramlington Hub near Concordia leisure centre over Easter. Our students can be so proud of their contributions to the archive with their images displaying great use of composition and natural lighting, as well as genuine thought about what should document Cramlington in 2022.
Students in Year 7 art club completed some stunning large scale A2 drawings of insects using oil pastels. They looked at the incredible macro insect photography of Levon Biss and used these as inspiration for their own drawings.
Our new Y12 A Level Art students enjoyed painting en plein air(outside) with Mr Hodgson for one of their taster sessions. They observed and painted views across the grass behind Imagine block using acrylic paints. Take a look at their beautiful paintings!
Our Year 8 students(and art teachers)took part in 4 brilliant after school art club sessions working with Miss Wafer, one of our PGCE students. They really enjoyed learning how to work with glass to create some amazing sun catchers. Check out some of the beautiful work that they created.
Take a look at the new GCSE Photography work which has been displayed in the corridor upstairs in Imagine. We think it looks amazing!
What a fantastic group of Y13 A Level Art students we had, who over the past 2 years created some brilliant, diverse artwork in our sixth form studio, filling the space with creative chatter and clutter. It was such a shame to see them leave without completing their final art exam, but we know they would have been amazing!
Mrs Clazey, Miss Batchelor and Mr Hodgson had great fun in school putting together these amazing art packs for our Y10 GCSE Art students. Look at all of the lovely little paint sets!!!!
We had some amazing photos sent to us of the brilliant 'Movie on a Toilet Roll' creations made by our students during lockdown(and also from some staff and parents too!) We really love the range of materials and techniques used by students, from drawing and painting right through to collage and modelling clay. We absolutely love them! See if you can tell which movie they are based on.
Students had great fun at lunchtime in the Art rooms in the JLV creating some Surreal Potato collages inspired by some of their favourite characters from books as part of World Book Day 2020. The room was absolutely packed with students; not sure we could have squeezed anyone else in! Take a look at some of the examples and see if you can see who they are.
Take a look at these amazing paintings of birds which were completed in a 1 hour special voluntary enrichment session. Y9 students had the opportunity to learn about painting using acrylics, and we think that they did an amazing job, especially as they had never used acrylic paint before. Staff in the department also joined in and there was a really lovely supportive atmosphere in the room. A great way to end the week!
October 2019
Take a look at the amazing GCSE and A Level work which has been displayed in the corridor upstairs in Imagine. We think it looks brilliant!
October 2019
This was such a brilliant GCSE Photography Halloween inspired lesson, where students first learned how to carve and then photograph pumpkins of all shapes, colours, textures and sizes. They experimented with different ways to light them in the darkroom with some fantastic results. Mrs Clazey's room had a very 'interesting' smell afterwards...
October 2019
Another very busy open evening with lots of Y6 students looking forward to their Art lessons at the 'big' school. We always try to get all of our visitors involved in making some art when they come to look around. Take a look at some of the examples of what they've created below.
December 2018
As part of our whole school 'Big read' week the Art Dept and Mrs Armstrong (our amazing school librarian) came up with the idea to create some book inspired decorations for our 12 foot Christmas tree in the JLV. Y7 and 8 students filled the art rooms at lunchtimes, making some of their favourite characters from books using a wooden peg as the starting point. They also created Reading Resolutions on library tags to hang on the tree. Check out the pictures to see the decorations being made and also how amazing they looked on the tree.
December 2018
Our Y12 Art students created these stunning A2 size papercuts to decorate a local residential care home in Cramlington. Students took inspiration from 'The 12 Days of Christmas' and each piece was carefully cut by hand. They looked amazing, and the residents all loved seeing them on their windows.
October 2018
A group of Art and Photography students had the amazing opportunity to take part in a 3 day Art residential at beautiful Boggle Hole in North Yorkshire. Whilst there they took part in practical workshops with artists including Sue Slack, Phil Reynolds and Susan Coles, along with session by art teachers. Students learned about acrylic painting techniques with Sue Slack, inspired by the local North Yorkshire landscape, and learned about underpainting and drawing upside down. With Phil Reynolds, students worked outside on the beach, learning to use charcoal and chalk to create expressive observation landscape drawings in concertina sketchbooks. Susan Coles worked with students to create mixed media collage pieces inspired by the surroundings at Boggle Hole, and also introduced them to art activism, and opened their minds to the power and value of art. Take a look at some of the photos to see some of the amazing work created over the 3 days.
December 2017
Our A Level Art students had the opportunity to work alongside Northumbria Police, to create a series of posters and flyers for a domestic violence campaign. There were some really powerful final pieces in a wide range of media. Take a look.
October 2017
In October 2017, a group of 40 students and 5 staff had an incredible 5 days on an Art Trip to Holland.
Students had a jam packed, fun filled week exploring the culture and arts of Holland. They had the opportunity to visit some amazing galleries such as the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, The Escher Gallery and and Gemeente Museum in The Hague, Anne Frank's House, the stunning windmills at Kinderdijk, the beach at Noordwijk, a night at the cinema and a full day exploring the weird and wonderful theme part Efteling(complete with dutch pancakes for lunch!) There were art and photography activities every day, and in the evening students also took part in some creative challenges including 'The'Great Van Gogh Off' shoelace challenge. Take a look at some of the pics below to see what an amazing time we had.
Take a look at our newly renovated Sixth Form Art Studio. All students in Year 12 and 13 now have their own individual working spaces, similar to those you would find in art rooms in colleges and universities.
Students have all really enjoyed personalising their areas, and it's great to see some very exciting work emerging.
Check out the link below to take a look and see how it looked before and during the transformation.
We all love it!
It was a hive of activity in the JLV art rooms in the run up to Christmas as Y7 and 8 students were involved in making all of the decorations for the 12 foot tree for the JLV. Decorations included lolly stick Santas, salt dough creations, some really quirky Christmas birds and loads more. Check out the pictures to see the decorations being made and also how amazing they looked on the tree.