Barrow Hill Junior School

We invite you to...

 

Thank you Lily for designing the poster and to Vlad, Vika, Paige, Sara and Ava for their artwork.

Htein Lin: Burma Inside Out - Year 4 Workshop

This week, Year 4 went to Asia House to see an exhibition called 'Htein Lin: Burma Inside Out' and carried out a workshop in response to the exhibition.

The work was produced by Htein Lin, between 1998 and 2004, while he had been imprisoned in Burma. He painted secretly whilst in jail, using white cotton prison uniforms as a substitute for canvas. Htein Lin had to improvise, using a variety of materials and tools, such as soap blocks, syringes, cigarette lighters, pieces of netting, plates and mugs, and his own body to create his art work. His images depict prison life, the memories, hopes, fears and dreams of prisoners, Buddhist faith, and memorable events spent behind bars, like the Millennium.

Printing blocks made from bars of soap

       

   

We studied and talked about the art work, spent some time sketching some of the patterns in the prints and then used these and our own ideas to print a banner, using some of the same techniques that Htein Lin used to create his prints.

   

   

   

   

                           

Take a look at the 'Asia House Workshop - Year 4' photo album for more photos... ALL UP NOW!

"I liked the printing because you could use your fingers and hands. I also liked meeting Htein Lin because he seemed like a nice person." J.J. 4L

"I enjoyed monoprinting, drawing and meeting Htein Lin. I liked his art and techniques. His life story is amazing. I felt happy and lively, it was fun and great. Thumbs up!" Klara 4L

"I enjoyed learning about Asia, meeting Htein Lin, learning about art and trying a different way of printing." Ebun 4L

"I enjoyed asking questions, printing and painting and having a gallery walk of our work!"

"I enjoyed monoprinting. I felt excited, happy, enthusiastic, pleased, it was fun and I worked hard." Joana 4L

The exhibition is open until 13th October

Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm, closed Sundays

Admittance £2, free to Asia House members and concessions

Asia House

63 New Cavendish Street

London

W1G 7LP

Karen's Summer Art Experiences...

During the summer holidays, I visited Tate Modern a number of times. One of the things that kept me wanting to go back again was the instillation in the Turbine Hall, called 'Global Cities'.

This installation looked at the changing faces of ten international cities: Cairo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo.

The show presented films, videos and photographs by more than 20 artists and architects exploring each city through five themes - speed, size, density, diversity and form. Through the combination of my love of travel and my fascination of moving from a small town to a huge city, I found this collection of work, facts and images absolutely mind blowing.

I have chosen this image of a comissioned work by Nigel Coates called 'Mixtacity'. I really enjoy the way he plays with everyday materials (toys, food, biscuits, machinery...) to recreate life in the city along the Thames.

This photograph, by Andreas Gusky, called 'Copan', caught my eye first through the colours and the lines. Once I looked at it for a while, it made me really think about the density in which some people live. I spent a long time imagining what it would be like to live in one of these buildings.

This final photograph is an image taken of a 'favela' in Sao Paulo. The contrast between the left and the right of the photo is fascinating. It has captured the huge difference between the rich and the poor of Brazil.

The installation closed on 27th August, however, a lot of the information, some of the films and some photographs has been compiled onto the Tate website. If you are interested check it out...

Tate - Global Cities

Have fun exploring!

Karen

A new year!

So a new school year has began... we hope that you all had a wonderful summer and that you did lots of fun things. I am going to begin this year with a post about some of the exhibitions that I went to over the summer and some of my favourite exhibits.

While I was in Paris, I visited the Musée des Arts décoratifs and the Musée National Picasso Paris

Musée des Arts décoratifs

The idea behind the Musee des Arts Decoratifs is “to keep alive in France the culture of the arts which seek to make useful things beautiful”. The museum houses 150,000 works. You will find furniture and objects from everyday life in departments organised by period or speciality: from medieval furniture to contemporary design via the 18th-century in France, the Empire, Art Nouveau and Art Deco; as well as large collections of jewelry, toys, wallpaper, gold work, ceramics, glass, drawings and an Islamic and Oriental collection.

My favourite piece was this green glass sculpture:

      

I like the reflection as much, if not more than the sculpture itself! Unfortunately I don't remember who the artist was.

Musée National Picasso

I really liked Musée Picasso because I love seeing and reading about things and then seeing them in real life. I had seen in books, or heard about many of the paintings, drawings and sculptures exhibited at the museum and so found it quite exciting being able to see them for real!

Le Jardin de Sculptures was one of my favourite rooms.

Have you visited any galleries or been to see any exciting exhibitions recently? If so, share them with us here...

Surrealism and Design at the V&A

"In half term I went to the V&A to see a show called 'Surrealism and Design'. It was very interesting, my favourite bit was the sofa shaped like lips."

Alex, Year 5

Salvador Dalí and Edward James

Mae West Lips Sofa
1938
Wood carcass, upholstered in satin
86.5 x 183 x 81.5 cm.

In June 1936 Salvador Dalí and his wife Gala stayed with Edward James at his London home and together they developed ideas for objects and furniture...

This exhibition runs until 22nd July 2007.