: Kei Raro i Te Moana — Underwater Garden
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Approach:  Independent  
4.5Mb
Focus: Students can create an expressive painting from an imaginative idea, showing a variety of shapes, detail, colour mixing and spatial effect. 
Resources: Video recording on laptop computer, cue card,. Per student: B3 green sugar paper, flat no 8 brush, flat no 6 brush, round no 10 brush, 6-hole palette, A1 polythene desk cover, white chalk, sponge, water, mixing card, plastic cups, acrylic paints: white, yellow, ochre, scarlet, blue, purple.
He whakatau kupu: whakaranu = mix; paraihe = brush; aho = sunlight; maramara hautai = piece of sponge
Time: 45 mins  
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Click here for student examples
Questions/instructions:

He maki rorohiko tënei, e 45 meneti te roa.
Ka noho ngä äkonga ki mua i te pouaka whakaata rorohiko, ki wähi kë atu i ö rätou tëpu.
Me noho tonu ngä türu ki te taha o te mata rorohiko, kaua e whakahokia ki ngä tëpu.
Me tü ngä äkonga ki te whakatutuki i ä rätou mahi peita.


He mahi peita tënei. He tioka kei ngä tëpu hei hoahoa i ä koutou pikitia, me ngä tae peita e ono.
Mä te whakaranu i ënei peita, e puta ai ngä tae katoa. E taea ana ngä peita te whakaranu ki runga tonu i te pikitia. Me whakaranu anö te peita mä, kia äta kitea ngä tae i runga i te pepa. Ki te hiahia koutou ki ëtahi peita anö, me tono mai ki ahau.
He rahi tonu ngä peita. E toru anö ngä momo paraihe, he wai, e rua hoki ngä maramara hautai. Whakamahia tëtahi o ngä hautai hei whakapaipai, hei whakamaroke i ngä paraihe i mua i te whakamahinga i tëtahi atu tae.
E pai ana te whakamahi i ngä paraihe, i ö koutou matimati, i tëtahi maramara hautai ränei hei whakatutuki i te mahi peita, kia rerekë anö te ähua o te peita.

E 45 meneti hei whakaoti i ä koutou pikitia, ä, me whakapau te katoa o taua wä.

Me äta whakarongo ki ngä whakamärama mö te ähua o te pikitia. He pai pea kia katia ö koutou karu, kia rongo ai tö hinengaro i taku whakamärama.

Whakahautia ngä äkonga kia katia ö rätou karu i a rätou e whakarongo ana ki te whakamärama e whai ake nei.

Whakaarohia he uri koe nö Tangaroa. Kei roto koe i te moana e kimi kai ana, e kimi ana i tëtahi wähi huna. Engari ko te korekore kei ö taha katoa. Kua kore he aha hei whakaihiihi i a koe. Ko te wai moana anake. Ko te mea e tino hiahia ana koe, ko tëtahi mära miharo ätaahua, he huhua ngä momo tipu me ngä momo toka i roto. E hiahia ana koe kia mïharo tonu tö noho ki te moana, kia ngahau, kia pïataata.
Ko täu mahi, he peita i tënei mära miharo – te mätotoru o ngä tipu e whakamiharo ana i te tirotiro a te karu, hei wähi täkaro, hei wähi huna hoki. Mä tö hinengaro e whakaaro te hanga o ënei momo tipu – he tipu nui, he pïataata, he miharo hoki ngä tae me te noho mai o ngä ähua, tëtahi ki runga i tëtahi. Äkene pea he rua hei kauhoe mäu, he toka hei huna i raro. Ina titiro whakarunga, he miharo, he ätaahua te ähua o te aho e känapanapa mai ana i te mata o te wai.
Huakina ö koutou karu, ka mätaki ai i te pouaka ataata. He äwhina anö kia puta ai ngä whakaaro ki tö hinengaro mö te ähua o ngä tipu i roto i te mära miharo i raro i te moana, me te noho whakapiripiri o ënei tipu.


Whakaaturia te whiti ataata.

 

This activity uses the computer.
Seat students around the computer, away from their table spaces.
Keep the chairs at the computer rather than allowing them to be taken back to tables. Students stand to paint.


In this activity you will be making a painting.
On your table you each have a piece of chalk for planning your picture, and a palette with six colours of paint. With these colours you can make almost any other colours you want by mixing and blending your paints. You can mix colours directly on the painting. You will need to mix white with your colours to help them show upon the paper. If you need more paint you can ask me, because we have plenty. You also have three different kinds of paint brushes, some water and two pieces of sponge. Use one piece of sponge to clean and dry your brush each time before you change to a different colour of paint. Sometimes you can use your brushes, your fingers or a piece of sponge to paint with. They will give you different kinds of marks.

You will have 45 minutes to make your picture, and I want you to use all of that time for painting.

Now listen carefully as I explain what your painting is to show. It might help if you close your eyes and try to see in your imagination what I am explaining.

Encourage students to close their eyes
as they listen to the following description.


Imagine you are a sea creature hanging about looking for somewhere to feed and hide, but your space is full of emptiness.
It’s so dull and uninteresting for you. You’ve got nothing but water.
What you would really like is a beautiful, magical underwater garden with all sorts of unusual and wonderfully coloured magical plants and rocks.
You want your life in the water to be bright, interesting and full of fun.
In your painting you are going to paint this magical garden with some plants that are overlapping and unusually exciting to look at, play in and hide in. These will be make-believe plants – plants that are big, bright and magical in their colours and overlapping shapes.
There might be underwater caves to swim through and rocks to hide under.
When you look up the plants in your garden will create wonderful dappled patterns of light rippling on the surface of the water.
Open your eyes now and look at the video which will also help you to think about the plants in your magical underwater garden, and the way they clump together and behind each other.

Click the Underwater Garden button. The video will start.




[No voiceover; soundtrack of atmospheric music only]

Ka tïmata te mahi peita inäianei, engari e toru ngä mea hei maumahara mä koutou.

Whakaaturia te kari tohutohu, ka pänui ai i
ngä körero. Kätahi ka tohutohu i ngä äkonga kia tïmata ä rätou mahi.

Kaua e roa atu i te rua, i te toru meneti ränei hei hoahoa i te pikitia ki te tioka. Mäu tonu e ärahi ina raruraru te äkonga.

Kia toe mai te 10 meneti:
Tekau meneti e toe ana mö tö mahi peita. Kia kaha te mahi i roto i taua wä. Me haere tonu te mahi kia pau rä anö te 10 meneti.

Ina pau te wä: Me mutu te mahi peita inäianei. Hoki whakamuri ka tirotiro ai i tö pikitia. Kätahi ka haramai ki te noho.

He wä körerorero hei whakamutu i tënei mahi. He körerorero öpaki hei whakaputa whakaaro mö te whiti ataata.

 

You’re going to start your paintings now, but here are three things to remember.

Show and read aloud the cue card, then instruct students to commence work.

Students shouldn’t spend more than two or three minutes sketching with the chalk. Give guidance where necessary.

When 10 minutes remain:

You have 10 minutes left for painting. See how much you can get done in that time. Don’t stop painting until it is time to stop.

When time is up:
It’s time to stop painting now. Stand back and have a good look at your picture, then come and sit on a chair.

Conclude the activity with a brief informal discussion when students talk about what they thought of the video (not their own paintings).



 
Mean Score

[click on graph for enlargement]
Key attributes: (0 low – 3 high)  
expressiveness:
relevant image;
development of mood;
objects and symbols;
originality;
avoidance of cliche

1.48

composition:
depth – overlapping, receding space;
variety of shapes;
coherence

1.33

detail:
finer features included;
diversity of objects;
symbols (preserving coherence);
appropriate use of textures, patterns

1.27

use of media:
appropriate use of tools;
choice and mixing of colours;
control of paint, confidence

1.38

Global rating:
(0 low – 5 high)

1.54

Commentary
The results show that most students' expressive painting was judged to be in the lower to middle range of performance. While the task offered much scope, it nonetheless set boundaries for content and required skills of visualising, planning, forming images and using paint to give effect.

UNDERWATER GARDEN – STUDENT EXAMPLES:
For exemplars with comments, refer to the general education report, Visual Arts - Report 30
[click on pictures to enlarge]

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