Athens to Aotearoa

In developing this activity, I wanted to give my Year 11 Classical Studies students the opportunity to apply their learning in a creative way, building on our first two units of work (comparative mythology, and Greek art and architecture). I collaborated with colleagues in the Art Department to come up with a task for the final week of term: Athens to Aotearoa. This required them to take a form of Greek art/architecture (vase or temple) and use it to retell a myth, or honour a deity, from another culture.

This was something I had never done myself, so worked through the process to provide the students with an example. I used the Māori story of Tāne’s separation of his parents and retold it with a digital vase painting. I really enjoyed the process of combining both Greek and Māori elements to apply my learning — and also learned how to use Procreate!

This is my “vase” created on Procreate, showing the different layers I used to create my design.

For me, the thinking and learning was more important than how “good” the final product was, so I imported my completed image into Freeform then annotated it to show how I created my design:

I used Freeform to collate and communicate my inspirations, to show the students how I put together my vase and the thinking behind each element of the design.

This was a really fun process, but I did find it challenging to be an Art teacher (I’m not very confident with using Procreate, and also helping students to demonstrate their learning in a creative way. However, I was really blown away by some of the students’ creations. Many chose a deity from their Term One research project and designed a temple for them, with really creative and thoughtful designs. I am keen to repeat this project in future years, but would like to structure the project a bit more so that all the students can deliver a more meaningful final product.