Class 7 English Graphic Novel Writing

Last week, as part of English Practice, Class 7 explored the genre of the Graphic Novel.  A hybrid between a regular novel and comic, graphic novels can make stories of old, with their archaic vocabulary, more accessible.  Young people of this age are often such passionate artists, and many students in the class draw for many hours as a treasured hobby.  Graphic novels, for such students, provide inspiration for their art, and the ways that visual clues like facial expression, the direction of the character’s gaze, colour and symbols from our culture can hint at the likely trajectory of the story, or generate suspense.  Due to their mostly visual storytelling medium, graphic novels can support and encourage struggling readers, allowing them to access for longer, and without stigma, inferring deeper meaning from the pictorial information. 

Last week, Class 7 enjoyed creating their own graphic novel pages, even asking to return to them at any spare moment.  There were seasons changing, from panel to panel, seen in the foliage of a tree; there was a worm marrying a bird, complete with tuxedo and dress; and various other, usually humorous, vignettes.

Katie Southall

Class 7 Teacher

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Class 8 Art History

Class 8 has just finished its first foray into the fascinating and wonderful world of art history. The Art History Main Lesson allows students to delve into and appreciate examples of fine art, which show the development of human consciousness. By looking at representative works of art from early to modern civilisation in a chronological sequence, students will appreciate the pendulous swing of the canons of beauty over the centuries.

Our journey taking us from Palaeolithic times into Ancient Egypt with students beginning the Main Lesson by creating clay fertility goddesses similar to those found in many matriarchal Indigenous cultures and prehistoric times. The class delved into prehistoric caves from around the world where we examined the wonderful cave paintings, mostly of magnificent animals such as bison, deer and felines, which were left behind by our ancient ancestors. From the Palaeolithic world we jumped through time to Ancient Egypt where we examined some of the superb paintings, sculpture and carvings created by the Ancient Egyptians. Our Main Lesson surreptitiously aligned with the WA Museum’s Ancient Egypt exhibition and the Main Lesson culminated with a visit to the museum which the students enjoyed immensely.

Students demonstrated their artistic abilities by creating some wonderful and original pieces of art showcasing their own creativity as well as recreating some of the works of art from both the prehistoric world and Ancient Egypt. Students were challenged to create a title page that merged aspect of the prehistoric world with Ancient Egypt.

The study of art, which students will return to over the coming years, cultivates a refined sensibility and appreciation of beauty, the aesthetics of which is dependent upon a rich vocabulary of art language.

Ethna Brave

English and Humanities Teacher