Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Clinton, and I'm so glad that you've joined me today for our lesson.

I'm going to help you with our learning today.

Today's lesson is called Design and Artwork to Express Beliefs, and it's from unit Spirituality: How is Art Used in Religions and Beliefs? We will be thinking about how we can produce a piece of art that shows your beliefs and your values.

Now, sometimes learning can be hard, but don't worry, I'm here today to help us have a great time and to learn some really interesting new things.

In this lesson today, we have some keywords, and so let's have a look at what they are.

Our first keyword is values, and that's the principles and beliefs about the world, people, and communities.

We have the word belief, which is an acceptance that something exists or is true.

And we have the word worldview, which is a particular philosophy or a conception of the world.

We've got two learning cycles in our lesson today.

And number one is what artwork have pupils made expressing beliefs? So here is a piece of artwork that somebody has painted.

What building do you think they've painted? What can you see in the painting? What do you like about this painting? What do you think the artist is saying about the building they have painted? And what do you think the artist is trying to get us to think about? You might like to pause this video to give yourself time to think about your answers to these four questions or to talk to a partner.

Welcome back.

I hope you had lots of ideas.

Well, it was created and painted by a year 4 pupil who wanted to think about the religions that they had in their local area.

And they used strong colours in the painting to show the strong beliefs of the people who worshipped at this place.

And it's an image of a mosque, and you can see there's a clue there with this crescent moon in the sky.

And obviously, it's a very nice day because the clouds and the sky is blue, and you can see lots of greenery around.

Now, here's some more work.

Now, these are digital pieces of artwork.

They were created again by year 4 pupils in their information technology, their IT and RE lessons from a joint project they did in their school.

And they were created after they'd visited an Orthodox Christian Church near their school, and they used the icons that they saw in the church as inspiration for this piece of artwork.

Now, their teacher says, "In these images, the pupils were trying to use patterns and colours that reflected something of their beliefs," the pupils' beliefs.

Red was used to symbolise energy.

Yellow was used to symbolise happiness.

And black was used to symbolise mystery.

So, can you see how the pupils have expressed some of their beliefs about themselves through the use of colour, but also taking pictures of themselves and then making those into digital images? And you can see that all of them have got a circle around their heads.

And this was inspired from seeing images in the church of people who have circles or halos around their heads, showing that they're somebody worth listening to or somebody of importance.

True or false? True or false: Red in artwork is often used to symbolise mystery.

You might like to pause this video so that you can think about your answer or talk to the person next to you about what is the right answer.

Welcome back.

So, was it true or false? False.

Well done if you got that right.

Why? Well, red is often used in artwork to symbolise energy, not mystery, energy.

Now, here is a piece of Islamic art.

The purpose of Islamic art is to express the spiritual and infinite nature of God, Allah, through beauty and creativity.

It avoids depicting living beings to prevent idolatry and instead focuses on intricate patterns, calligraphy and geometric designs that reflect harmony, order, and the eternal nature of the divine.

Now, these tiles were created from an art and RE joint project by year 5 pupils.

Each pupil created a pattern, and you can see the pattern below that the pupil created.

And it could be turned and printed so that it created a bigger pattern.

And that's what you can see in the larger image, the way in which that has been created.

Now, these bigger patterns were then printed as tiles that could be used as pieces of art.

And they look beautiful, don't they? I wonder if they've chosen blue because it reminds them of peaceful days or sunny days.

But there's a lot of blue, isn't there? Different shades of blue and some red in there, again, about energy.

This artwork was created after a visit to a local mosque, where pupils saw geometric shapes in and around the mosque on the walls.

So patterns like this reveal Islamic beliefs and values in God, Allah, as the bringer of harmony and order.

And again, you can see here on the left how the pupil has designed a square, and then how that has been rotated through 360 degrees to create the whole tile, and then how that has been printed and you create this bigger pattern.

It's very clever, isn't it? But very effective.

And I really like the design.

Here's a new piece of art that a pupil has created, and I have some questions for you to think about.

What can you see in this piece of artwork, and who do you think has been painted in it? What do you think the artist is saying about the person they have painted? What images can you find around the painted person? And what do you think the artist is trying to get us to think about? You might like to pause this video to give yourself some time to think about your answers to these four questions and maybe to discuss your thoughts with a partner.

Welcome back.

So, this piece of artwork was created by a year 4 pupil after visiting a local church.

They had noticed how many of the images of Jesus had a halo around them, a circle around them, showing the belief of the divinity, the divine, of Jesus, that Jesus is the Son of God for Christians.

So, they created this art piece showing Jesus having risen from the dead.

I wonder if you had guessed correctly that it was Jesus.

Well done if you got that.

So, which of these pieces of artwork shows divinity? You might like to pause this video so that you can talk with a partner or think about the answer for yourself.

Welcome back.

The correct answer was C.

Very well done if you got that correct! Someone's worldview is made up of how they see the world and how they make sense of it.

Your beliefs and values are part of your worldview.

So, make a plan for a piece of artwork that you're going to create, and we want it to show something of your beliefs and your values, your worldview.

So, I'd like you to think about what colour palette will you use to express what you want to say? You know, the colours to use that express beliefs and values that you want others to consider.

And think about your style and medium you would use to create your art piece.

So, is it going to be a painting? Is it going to be digital art? Is it going to be repeated art? Will it involve you? Or maybe it'll be more symbolic than that? So sometimes, art can be symbolic, it can be realistic, it can be abstract.

So, there;s all those different styles for you to think about.

So, I'd like you to have a go at doing that.

You might like to pause the video whilst you do that.

Welcome back.

Your plan for your artwork could include: I'm going to use the following colours in my art piece.

Yellow to symbolise happiness: I believe happiness is an important attitude to have every day.

Then I'm going to use black as I believe the universe is full of mystery, and I want others to acknowledge this.

I'm going to create an abstract art piece as the style of my artwork.

And I'm going to use watercolours as my medium.

Of course, your answer might look different from mine, but as long as you have thought about and planned what beliefs you might like to show in your artwork, then you've done really well.

That's great.

So we're going to go on to our second learning cycle now, number two, what beliefs can we show in our own artwork? Now, here's a painting, and you can see underneath it's called "Jesus on the Tube." This artwork was painted by Antonia Rolls, a British artist, who says, "I created this image to show my belief that Jesus is always alongside us.

Many people ignore Jesus or even look away as he demands 100% to follow him." This artwork uses a realistic style and colour choice, but it puts someone from 2,000 years ago next to modern-day people.

And this is done to challenge and surprise people, to make them think about the beliefs that Antonia is saying.

And it uses the medium of painting in oil paints.

Now, here is another piece of artwork, but this time it's a sculpture.

And this is the Chi Rho, and it's an ancient Christian symbol.

It uses letters as symbols to explain beliefs about Jesus being the Son of God and the value of power and authority.

So, Jesus is the start and the end of life is the belief that this is expressing.

So, it uses a symbolic style, and it uses sculpture as its medium.

So, is this true or false? Symbols and colour can never express a belief.

You might like to pause this video so you can think about your answer or maybe even discuss it with your partner.

Welcome back.

So, was this true or false? Symbols and colours never express a belief.

It was false.

Well done if you got the correct answer.

And why? Because symbols and colours are important elements through which an artist can express their beliefs and values through or within their artwork.

This is a piece of artwork created by Ruh Al-Alam called "Falaq." It's the first line of Surah Al-Falaq from the Qur'an in a calligraphy style.

It says, "I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak." The colour choices by the artist are trying to make the meaning of this verse from the Quran really memorable.

The artist wants to express through using the style of calligraphy to show his belief that life is better when you live it with God, Allah, from the start of your day.

And Ruh, the artist, has used acrylic paints on canvas as his medium.

He chose strong colours that express his strong belief in God, Allah.

Now, we have another piece of artwork.

Here's is a Greek Orthodox icon of Jesus's resurrection.

It's been painted on wood with special vivid oil paints.

It uses many colours and objects to show the beliefs of the person who painted it.

As you look at this art piece, what do you think the artist wants you to feel? Let's think some more about the symbols in this art piece and the colours that the artist has chosen to use.

Jesus has a halo above him, and it's a Greek shorthand for Jesus Christ, the Chi Rho.

And actually, you can see the letters either side of his halo, and that's the Chi Rho written in Greek.

And here, Jesus is holding on to Adam and Eve, he's brought them back from death, showing that God and humankind are no longer separated.

So, what went wrong in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve disobeyed God, has been put right through the death and now the resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God.

And can you see, in the middle of that black pit, the pit of death, there's some keys? And that's because death has been broken.

Jesus has, through his death, has broken death.

Jesus also holds a staff, and this is a sign of power, the power that he now has over life and death.

And also, you can see the colour that the artist has chosen.

Jesus is sort of golden, a shimmering golden, again showing that he's the Christ, the Saviour, the Son of God.

It shows his divinity.

And finally, Jesus is standing on the gates of death.

So not only has he got a staff on them, but he's standing on them, showing that he has power over everything.

It's amazing how many ideas and thoughts this artist has portrayed in this art piece, showing their beliefs in Jesus.

So, I have a question for you.

Artists use.

Can you find the right sentence ender? Is it A, colours and symbols within art pieces to show their beliefs and values? Is it B, artists use words mainly to express their beliefs and values? Or is it, C, artists use poetry to express their beliefs and values? You might like to pause this video to give you a chance to think about your answer and maybe to talk with somebody next to you.

Welcome back.

Shall we see what the correct answer is? Artists use A, colours and symbols within art pieces to show their beliefs and values.

Very well done if you got that.

Now, in learning cycle 1, you planned your potential piece of artwork, expressing maybe a belief, a number of beliefs, or maybe some values, or maybe both.

Now we want you to have a go at actually creating it, painting it, making it, using IT, whatever you decided to create this art piece.

And then, when you've created it, we'd like you to write a piece to go with it.

And after you've created your art piece, we'd like you to write a piece of writing to go with it that explains the belief or the value, or the beliefs and values, that you are expressing in your art piece, your worldview.

And this is what you want others to think and consider when they look at it.

A bit like Ruh or the Greek Orthodox icon artist, how he understood their beliefs from studying and looking at their artwork.

You might like to pause this video to give you time to create your piece, on your own, maybe in a group, or maybe with a partner.

Welcome back.

Your artwork and written piece could look like this.

"I chose to use watercolours to make my artwork," says this pupil.

"I wanted colours to melt into one another to capture the fun and the brightness of this festival.

I chose to create the artwork around an important festival to me and my family, the Festival of Eid Ul Fitr.

At this festival, we're grateful for all that we have, and we think about people less fortunate than us." I love this piece of artwork by this pupil.

I love the colours, I love how bright it is.

Your piece of artwork might not look like this, but if you've produced something and you've written about it, explaining your beliefs or values, well done! That's excellent work! I'm really proud of all your hard work today, and especially your thinking that's gone into it.

So, what have we learned in our lesson today? Well, we've learned that all people have beliefs and values, and they may be religious or non-religious.

A worldview is a particular philosophy or conception of the world, and it affects how we understand the world around us.

Artwork can express people's beliefs and values in many different ways.

And artwork uses different styles and mediums in order to express beliefs and values.

Thank you very much for being with me for this lesson today.

I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.

I will say goodbye now, and I hope to see you again another time.

Goodbye.