Art and design – creating pieces of batik artwork
Year 5 learnt about Ancient Islamic Civilisations in history. This was the first element in a Connected Curriculum unit, which was soon followed by examining some of the traditional artwork created during the ‘Golden Age of Islamic Civilisation’.
The unique style of Islamic art inspired many other countries around the world to develop similar artwork, usually in the form of a mosaic patterns. These designs are made by repeating several geometric shapes. They are always finished in vibrant colours making the art eye-catching and very appealing.
Year 5 copied and developed their own patterns using the artistic technique of ‘Batik’. Batik is usually made on a wax resistant material using colourful dyes. The children started the process by drawing shapes with blocks on paper, creating repeating, geometric patterns.
The designs were transferred onto a thin section of fabric, and glue was applied to cover certain areas that should not be dyed. Once dry, vibrant dyes were painted on the remaining sections to finish the beautiful patterns.
The process was lengthy, yet enjoyable and resulted in the creation of artwork truly inspired by ancient Islamic civilisations. It also helped reinforce the importance of these civilisations that the children had learnt about in history.
