Friday, June 23, 2006

CBHS Art Teacher Alison McLeod with some of the
students' work displayed.

Artwork produced by students at all schools on Cayman Brac was on display at the Heritage House for a special two week exhibit.

The display included some of the Cayman Brac High School Year 11 work, taken from their final presentations for the external arts course this year, said Art Teacher Alison McLeod.

"Each student must undertake three units in different areas of skill - such as drawing, printmaking, ceramics, textiles - and produce a presentation for each. The course culminates in an exam based on one of the areas they have studied," she explained.

"The Year 7 work on display was based on a study of the artist Huntderwasser. The students study his style of work and are then asked to produce a piece, in this case they were using elements of the face, in that style," she said.

Year 10 students, Amadeo Mena and Daniella Christian, who were at the Heritage House to showcase their graphic design work, explained how their ideas grew into art. Amadeo designed a poster for a game produced by a fictional company called Heart Shot, he said.

"Ms McLeod asked us to advertise something we were passionate about. I started with the company name and the name of the game," he explained. Then he added the character called Sky and an evil dog, as the whole picture came together.

He said that he and his friend Tyler Scott plan to make video games together when they are older.

Daniella Christian likes wolves and nature, and so created an eye-catching poster around these two themes. She is also interested in hiragana symbols (Japanese alphabet) and incorporated these, giving her poster the title "Okami", meaning "wolf".

She found that a strong environmental message crept into her poster - the geese reflected peacefulness - but couldn't quite explain why she had crows in her picture.

"This is a good example of where graphic design flows into expressive art," said Ms McLeod.

"At Year 10, we try to develop ideas, but if they move away from the brief and develop further than what they are asked to do, that's a good beginning to develop in a personal and expressive way."

Jordanna Tibbetts had an example of a mono-print drawing, a technique in which each print is different, which, as Ms McLeod pointed out, is the opposite of the general intention of printing, to create uniform copies.

"It's a simple technique and a good exercise in drawing. You really have to look at the drawing and think about what you are doing," she said.

Jordanna, who, like Daniella and Amadeo, has chosen to take Art in her final two years of high school, said the attraction of the subject is that she can express the images in her head in a picture.

One of the career options she has in mind is drafting, so she is also taking graphic design, she said. Daniella claimed she has loved art since she was a little girl and wants to get better.

"Ms McLeod is a really good teacher. When you listen to what she has to say, you really get better," she said.

nicky@caymannetnews.com

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