“Collaborators aren’t born, they’re made. Or, to be more precise, built, a day at a time, through practice, through attention, through discipline, through passion and commitment – and most of all, through habit.”
Twyla Tharp, The Collaborative Habit

To celebrate the return of students to the Barbreck Art Studio after the summer holidays, our Prep to Year 6 students created a collaborative artwork for the back wall of the Art Room.  

Collaborative projects are an expectation in the performing arts, but there is also much to gain in the process of visual art making. Students’ skills are enhanced when working together towards a shared goal. 

Our 200 Barbreck students were introduced to the image of the artwork they were to adapt. The lower and middle primary students’ processes were scaffolded to help them follow the explicit instructions and all classes were given an Art element and a limited palette for their task. This resulted in wonderful cooperative art making. That is, making individual artworks to be pieced together to make a whole artwork.  

Our Years 5 and 6 girls cooperated in their artmaking process as well as being involved in lively classroom discussions about how all the wonderful small paintings, cutouts, inks, prints, pastels, and collage works were going to be arranged to make the St Catherine’s emblem.  

When working collaboratively, students are not focussed on their own achievements but on those of the whole group in order to achieve their clearly defined goal.  

All Year levels are currently appreciating their final artwork and enjoying the feedback and reflection between their peers.