Lesson video

Hello everyone.

I'm Miss Mia and I'm really excited to join you on your learning journey.

I can't wait to explore new ideas, create amazing projects, and have fun with you all as we discover and learn together.

In today's lesson, you'll be able to explain the harmful effects of plastic waste and respond to an artist's work on this theme.

Your keywords are on the screen now and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Waste.

Fragment.

Now let's have a look at the definitions for those words.

So anything that is unwanted or unused is usually called waste.

So anything that you might not need.

A fragment is a small part broken off or separated from something.

So imagine you have a big cookie and you break off a small piece of it, that part will be known as a fragment.

So this lesson is all about artists' responses to plastic pollution.

And this lesson is made of three lesson cycles.

Our first lesson cycle is to do with the harmful effect of plastic waste and how that might be impacting us and how we also might be contributing to it.

Our second lesson cycle is then moving on to looking at Mandy Barker's response to plastic waste.

And our third lesson cycle is to create a sketchbook response to an artist's work.

So by learning about the harmful effects of plastic waste and exploring Mandy Barker's work, I'm hoping we can better understand the importance of looking after our environment.

Let's get started.

Now, did you know, globally, 400 million metric tonnes of plastic is produced each year? That is a lot, an unimaginable amount.

Much of this goes into rivers and pollutes the ocean.

And out of this, only 9% of plastic is recycled.

That is a very small amount.

Now, how long does it take plastic waste to decompose and break down? Now we've got some items here.

A plastic bag, takeaway coffee cups, plastic straws, and plastic bottles.

A plastic bag would take 20 years to decompose.

A takeaway coffee cup takes about 30 years.

A plastic straw could take about 200 years.

And lastly, plastic bottles can take about 450 years.

So you see, different plastics can take different amounts of time to break down and then disappear into the earth.

That's why it's super important that we try do our bit to try and recycle these items. And this is why it's so important to use less plastic when possible.

Over to you, I'd like you to think about this question.

The plastic you use today will take between, is it A, 20 and 500 days to fully decompose, B, 20 and 500 months to fully decompose, or C, 20 and 500 years to fully decompose? You can pause the video here and have a think.

Click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So what did you get? If you got C, you are correct.

The plastic that you use today can take between 20 and 500 years to fully decompose.

For an item to fully decompose, it really does depend on the type of plastic that has been used to make the item.

Well done if you've got that correct.

Let's move on.

Ooh, what a lovely image.

So this is Henderson Island.

It's a beautiful uninhabited world heritage site in the Pacific ocean.

However, did you know it is now one of the most plastic-polluted places on earth? Even though no one lives there, plastic from all over the world washes up on its shore, which shows us how far pollution can travel.

In September, 2019, 72,000 volunteers from a group called Break Free From Plastic carried out a survey to find out what plastic had washed up on the beaches.

They found evidence that plastic waste had killed half a million crabs and found fragments of plastic containers that had been eaten by turtles, sharks, and fish.

So the impact of pollution can really affect the sea life as you can see here.

Over to you.

True or false? Plastics in the oceans do not affect animals.

Do you think it's true or do you think it's false? And why? You can pause the video here and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So what did you get? If you got false, you are correct.

Can you think why? Well, you've seen it in the photo.

In Henderson Island, plastic waste killed half a million crabs and volunteers found fragments of plastic containers that had been eaten by turtles, sharks, and fish.

So this often happens because animals can mistaken plastic for food and they'll eat them and they can get sick.

And then also the plastics can tangle the animals, which can eventually hurt them and potentially lead them to die.

So it's not really good.

We need to keep an eye on how much plastic we're either buying with foods or throwing away.

Onto the main task for this part of the lesson cycle.

What I'd like you to do is think about, write down or share three ways that plastic is harmful to the environment.

You can pause the video here and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So what did you get? Well, Lucas and Izzy shared these ways that plastic is harmful to the environment.

Lucas says, plastic waste can take hundreds of years to decompose and break down.

Izzy says, fragments of plastic are eaten by sea creatures such as turtles, sharks, and fish.

And we know that that's not good for them.

Fantastic.

Let's move on.

Now we're moving on to our second lesson cycle, and this is all about Mandy Barker's response to plastic waste.

Artist Mandy Barker travelled with the Break Free From Plastic group.

She collected plastic waste from beaches and oceans and arranged the collected items into compositions.

She created a series of photographs inspired by what she saw.

So here we have a picture of one of her creations.

And I love the way she's displayed some of the recycled items that she's seen.

Now, Mandy Barker's photographic series is called Shelf-Life.

Barker's work combines art with a strong environmental message.

Hmm, I wonder what that message might be.

Her work aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and to persuade people to act against plastic waste.

Now this is one of the images from the series Shelf-Life.

What can you see? How does this image make you feel? If I were you, I would start off by looking at the top left of the picture and scan my way across to the right, and then eventually move down to the middle.

Are there any familiar items that you can see? And how is this image making you feel? Well, for me, looking at this image, I felt two emotions really.

First, I felt a bit sad because looking at all of the plastic waste that has ended up on the shores of Henderson Island shows me that it's harming the environment.

It also shows how much plastic waste is in the ocean harming the environment.

But then on the flip side, I also felt quite inspired because I know I can do my part to help with reducing how much plastic we consume.

Let's move on.

Over to you.

Why does Mandy Barker make her art? Is it A, to encourage people to eat healthily, B, to encourage people to travel less, or C, to encourage people to act against plastic waste? You can pause the video here and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So how did you do? It's definitely not A or B.

C is the correct answer.

It's to encourage people to act against plastic waste.

She does this to raise their awareness about plastic pollution and its effects on the environment.

Onto your task for this lesson cycle.

So what I'd like you to do is to study the image closely and discuss at least two things that you notice in this piece of work.

You can pause the video here and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So what did you discuss? What are some of the points that you and your partner may have agreed with or even disagreed with? Let's have a look.

Lucas and Izzy are discussing what they noticed in Mandy Barker's Shelf-Life image.

Lucas says, Mandy's art shows a serious problem.

It features fragments of everyday plastic items that we all use regularly.

And that's true.

I'm thinking about some of the items that I have in my fridge, such as plastic water bottles and how I sometimes maybe forget to put it into the recycling box, and then save those fragments ending up in the ocean, which could impact the sea life that lives there.

Izzy says, the collected plastic items are carefully arranged and the dark background contrasts with the colourful plastic items so they really stand out.

So Izzy's really thought about the decisions that Mandy Barker has made in creating her composition to then photograph.

I wonder if you noticed that as well.

Her images really stand out not only because of the amount of recycled items she's photographed, but also because of her colour choice.

The background's dark and the colourful plastic items really do then stand out.

Well done for taking part in that discussion or writing those points down.

Task C, we are going to be producing a sketchbook response to an artist's work.

Mandy collected the litter she found on the beach, then sorted it into groups to photograph.

And we can see that she's done that here.

She's not chosen just a few items, she's chosen so many items. And then in between those items that are of varying size, she's got little pieces of that.

Maybe she was trying to show that those are the fragments or it could be that she's decided to place them there to further show how much waste there was.

Now these groups were carefully chosen to make us think about the effects of human waste in the ocean.

Plastics might turn into types of fossils in the far future.

As plastic waste builds up in the environment, it could get buried in the ground or oceans.

Over millions of years, this plastic could change and leave behind a fossil.

Future geologists might find these plastic fossils mixed with natural materials like sand and rock.

This could show how humans have impacted the planet.

Over to you.

Which of these might be a material found in Mandy Barker's artwork? Can you explain why? Is it A, water bottles, B, pieces of Lego, or C, clay or clay work? What do you think? You can pause the video here and click clay when you're ready to rejoin us.

If you got A and B, you got it correct.

Mandy Barker uses items like water bottles and Lego pieces in her artworks to show how much plastic is in the ocean.

Water bottles are often found in the ocean and Lego pieces are small plastic toys that can end up there too.

Clay and paper aren't usually used in her work because they don't last long in the water.

Well done if you got those correct.

Let's move on.

Now we can record sketches, facts, thoughts, and opinions about artists' work in a sketchbook.

A sketchbook is like a special notebook where you can draw and write down your ideas.

It's a great way to keep track of things you see or think about, like fun drawings or cool shapes or interesting stuff that you find.

By using a sketchbook, you can look back and remember your creative ideas whenever you want.

Onto the main task for this lesson cycle.

So what you are going to do is select a part of the image to make a sketch of.

Then you're going to write in your sketchbook the artist's name, what the drawing is of or the photograph, why selected that part of the image.

Now I've decided to go for this part of the image here.

It looks like a robot.

I've chosen this part of the image because it reminds me of a toy that my younger brother used to have.

So I'd really like to focus in on this part.

Part two, you're going to make a copy or a tracing of the part of the image you have chosen.

You're going to do this in your sketchbook.

You can use whatever medium you wish.

For example, you can use pencil, watercolour, coloured pencils, felt-tip pens.

It's up to you.

Now, I want you to remember that your sketchbook work can look different to the sketchbook work made by others.

Remember, you are the artist, you are in charge of the decisions that you make.

And say, you had an image in your mind and it didn't quite come out how you wanted it to in the sketchbook, just keep going, have another go.

You can pause the video here and remember to think very carefully about the part of the image that you choose to either trace or sketch.

Think about why you've chosen that part of the image.

Is it because it was easy to draw or is it because it's an item that you also have at home? When you're ready to rejoin us, click play.

But you can pause the video here now.

So what part did you pick and how did it go? Well, you might have selected a few items to sketch.

You may have used colour or pencil.

You may have also chosen to add a black background or not.

Now it's really up to you how you sketched your piece.

I want you to look at your piece now.

How does this feel? How does your drawing or sketch make you feel? What do you think about it? How do you think the plastic in your image ended up in the ocean? Lucas, Sofia, Aisha, and Izzy are discussing how they feel about their drawings of Mandy Barker's Shelf-Life photographs.

Lucas says, I don't feel very confident at drawing the photo.

It looks very hard.

Sofia then rightly points out that by breaking it down and just drawing a small part of it may actually help Lucas.

Now, Sofia's advice is very helpful.

When she suggests to break it down and focus on drawing just a small part, she's showing how to make a tricky task easier.

So by drawing one part at a time, the picture will feel less difficult.

This teaches us that when something seems hard, we can take small steps to complete it.

This advice also helps Lucas to not give up and feel more confident in his drawing.

Aisha says, mine doesn't look the same as the photo.

And Izzy says, it doesn't have to look the same as the photo.

It's your version of it.

Izzy's response is a good reminder that art is about creativity.

Now by saying it doesn't have to look the same, it's your version, Izzy's telling Aisha that everyone's drawing can be different and that's okay.

This helps us understand that art is not about copying exactly, but about making something special in our own way.

It shows Aisha that their own ideas and style are important in art.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

Let's summarise our learning.

So in today's lesson, you were looking at the artist's responses to plastic pollution.

You now understand that human beings produce huge amounts of waste, and we do not always dispose of it safely and correctly.

You now understand that fragments of waste are floating around in the oceans and damaging the environment.

And lastly, you know that many people, including artists and volunteers, are trying to raise awareness of this so that governments will act to make positive changes.

In this way, art can be used as a force for good.

Again, thank you for joining me and I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson.

Bye.