TAP 2018/19 Gael Scoil Carrigaline 4th Class Muinteoir Nora Ui Nuanain & Artist Carol Healy

Presentation of our finished TAP  drawing project with 77 pupils from three 4th classes 

A great exhibition for friends and family to see all the work that 4th class had done during our project.  We opened with  two songs  ‘Ar Scáth a Chéile a Mhaireann na Daoine’, meaning we live under each other’s shadow, or we depend on each other, and ‘Pompeii as Gaeilge’ le Choláiste Lurgan. Bhí an-lá ar fad acu. Bhain gach duine ana thaithneamh as.

 A speech from the head master , and a few words from myself and muinteoir Nora.  So much work went into this display and the feedback from parents and pupils was fantastic ! Great conversations were had by all discussing art, nature, the environment , education and science.  
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Nora's 4th class pupils holding up their portfolios. with our framed water colour drawings in the background.

Beautifully drawn covers by the pupils of 4th class

Our Journey

We worked on the theme  ‘Ar Scáth a Chéile a Mhaireann na Daoine’, meaning we live under each other’s shadow, or we depend on each other.  One branch does not make a tree, so we planned to make a large scale triptych, consisting of 80 individual twigs/branches drawn in pencil and water colour to represent the old  ​seanfhocail 'we live under each other's shadow'

I carried out a series of drawing sessions between the 3 classes, introducing them to drawing- line and mark-making, blind drawing and drawing through their senses of touch, smell & taste , and sound.  This built confidence in the pupils to draw freely and to experiment and discover new ways of seeing the world around us.  Each exercise allowed them to express themselves, and a great part of this is the show and tell, the pupils loved showing their drawings and telling the story behind it.  These specific exercises allow every child to shine as there is no "good or bad" drawing , it's all about the process and fun rather than the finished piece, so it's very freeing and opens up creativity within each child.  

We used pressed leaves to practice blind drawing and close observation exercises in the classroom, in preparation for our field trip to Currabinny woods. 
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Two coaches arrive in Currabinny woods with 77 pupils all very excited to explore the woods through drawing, they made sketches as they observed all the wonderful details in the plants and trees of the woods. They also did a bug search and identified them using a bug kit.   

All of the drawing exercises we did in class were put into practice out in the woods. Great observation of details and noticing the richness of the eco systems in real life, discovering through their own curiosities how much is there to see when you slow down and look.   

Excellent use of drawing to record the details of a bug , the descriptive words to describe the bug also and a blind drawing to focus on the outlines/contours.  This page shows how the pupil was very engaged and focused on something so small as a bug and had the skills to document what they discovered for themselves and to share with the class later.   

Without a doubt the trip to Currabinny woods was a huge success, everyone  had fun and learned so much about the local woods

Back in the classroom - Each of the 77 pupils collected a twig from the forest, unique in every way just like we are.  The project was to draw your twig and paint in colours on the large paper, to symbolize the seanfocail ​  ‘Ar Scáth a Chéile a Mhaireann na Daoine’, meaning we live under each other’s shadow, or we depend on each other.  One branch does not make a tree.

Here is one of the three finished framed art works, signed by each pupil and will hang in the new school for years to come, memories encompassed forever.

To really show off the amount of work done throughout the project , we displayed all the sketchbooks and extra pages such as the Fibonacci code using math's and geometry , the code of nature. A word chart was also displayed showing the wide expansion of vocabulary each child had learnt along the way.  

Some of the positive feedback from the pupils reflecting on their experience of having an artist collaborating with them in their school.