artists of the week!

What better way to end the week than to showcase and celebrate the work produced by our amazing UGS Art & Design students; and this week the Department are thrilled to announce that they have chosen the following students from Year 10 as their Artists of the Week: Saasha 10M, Thomas 10S & Evie 10T

Here Head of Department Mrs Nanvazadeh provides the context and background to the current Year 10 course of study, and we are proud to share their phenomenal work:

During the initial portfolio project of 'Close-up', students in GCSE Fine Art Year 10 have responded to the work of Marcia Baldwin.

Baldwin is an artist from America who says that ‘art has always been a passion of mine’.  Before working as an artist full time, Baldwin worked as an advertising designer, an art teacher and art consultant, and she has published a number of books that teach different painting techniques. Her oil paintings can be categorised within Realism, Impressionism, and Abstract art, and she has achieved a number of awards and accomplishments for her artwork, including:

Illustrator of the Year 1974 Louisiana Tech University, Ruston

Louisiana Artist of the Year 1996 Ruston Peach Festival, Ruston

Baldwin is famous for her creative use of colour, making her paintings bright, vivid and rich in colour.

Baldwin's painting style has been described as a mix of realism, impressionism and abstract, meaning that her paintings have a clear, life-like subject, and that they (the subjects) are interpreted in an imaginative, colourful way that isn’t realistic. 

Baldwin’s oil paintings often have a close up or ‘cropped’ subject, and the viewer isn’t able to see much background. The subjects are inspired by a range of natural forms, from wildlife to flowers and plants and even water and landscapes.

Painting subjects such as flowers from a ‘close-up’ perspective means that Baldwin is able to make the shapes of the petals and leaves very clear. This adds a sense of realism to her paintings – a contrast to the surreal and saturated colours she paints with.

Baldwin’s oil paintings have a fluid, loose quality, thanks to the way that the artist allows the oil paint to move around the canvas and blend colours together. Curves, squiggles, curls and sweeping shapes are exaggerated by blending a large range of tones in a small amount of space.

To enhance the vibrancy of the oil paints, Baldwin often uses a complementary colour scheme. For example, in her paintings of sunflowers, each petal has a large tonal range; very light yellows, pale oranges, deep yellows, reds, red-oranges etc. And in the background, Baldwin uses opposite colours like blue and purple, to make the warm tones seem even brighter.

Year 10 students, throughout the project, have worked with a variety of materials, such as paint, pen and mixed media. They have become more independent when finding their own resources and responding to primary sourced images: this will develop their work and make their outcomes more personalised.

Students will present their work within their sketchbooks and on an A2 design sheet.

The outcome will be a large-scale painting that will bring together all techniques learnt.  

Skills Cover of the course: 

Finding inspiration. 

Responding to stimuli. 

Analytical drawing. 

Developing ideas. 

Creating a design brief. 

Experimenting with materials and techniques. 

Recording and observing. 

Annotating your work

With huge thanks to the students and department for allowing us to enjoy these wonderful pieces of work. Well done all!

And in other exciting Art & Design news, this lunchtime saw the launch of a brand new Sixth Form Extra-curricular Creative Club, an enriching opportunity for KS5 students to enjoy crafting and some Art & Design-inspired R&R!

As ever, to enjoy more examples of the work produced by students in the department, and for rolling up-to-date news on all that takes place, follow their socials at:

Instagram: @urmston_grammar_art 

X:  @UGS_Art 

Pinterest: @urmstongrammar_art