Portraits, Places, & People - Clayton Gibson & Taikura

An Exhibition by Art Teacher Clayton Gibson and students from Taikura Rudolf Steiner School.

"As a high school art, history of art, history of architecture, mythology and drama teacher at Taikura Rudolf Steiner School, I am constantly engaged in planning and teaching the subjects that I am passionate about.

As preparation for the lessons and the units of work that I teach, I use my visual art practice to help me process the content, and trial some of the art assignments that I am asking my students to attempt. By doing so I am able to gain a deeper insight into the themes I am exploring with my students and I am able to work through the pitfalls that they may experience while creating their own work.

Due to the breadth of subject areas that I am asked to prepare for, and my way of preparing through my art practice, this particular exhibition is quite eclectic in nature.

I have attempted to break the work into three distinct themes. The first theme explores events that have occurred in Aotearoa History that may have not been part of my own education.

The second theme explores portraiture. Even though I don’t see myself as a portrait artist, I ask my year 13 students to explore this very subject matter, so it would be unfair to ask them to explore this area of art without attempting it myself.

The third part of the exhibition explores art techniques that I am asking my Year 10 and 11 students to explore. This part of the exhibition explores places that I have been, or feel connected to. I have used this subject matter as part of our studies in History of Art.

Accompanying each section of the exhibition are examples of student's work from our school, showing what they can create using similar techniques and subject matter." - Clayton Gibson

Take a look around...

Close