Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre

Experience Engage Enable

Telephone02 9816 1298

Emailfieldofmar-e.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Bush studio visual arts enrichment program

Bush studio
students holding a 'yah' photo
painting a landscape using ochre
green leaves

Teacher checklist

One day workshop

Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 August 2025

Location

Field of Mars Reserve, Pittwater Road, East Ryde

Wallumedegal Country

Google maps - Apple maps
Transport

Schools are required to organise transport for students to and from the location. No vehicles are permitted into Field of Mars Reserve.

Parking is available in the car park on Pittwater Road.
Cost

$60 per student - GST free

This will be processed through the student's home school.

Bush studio is only available to NSW Department of Education school students.
Risk assessment Field of Mars Reserve risk management plan
Tracks

View the YouTube track overview videos.

Buffalo Creek Track

Doyle and Warada loop track
Welfare

Participants will be bushwalking during the day in rugged terrain.

Limited wheelchair accessibility.

This excursion may not be suitable for people who have recently been unwell.

Students will be making and creating artworks. It is recommended that studetns bring art smocks.
Bring

Backpack, medication, low-waste food, water bottle, sunblock, art smocks, raincoat, hat, sturdy shoes.

Students wear reusable name tag and sports uniform. 
View

Preparing for an excursion
Supporting resources Animal and plant fact sheets
Bin access

All student waste to be taken home by students.
Medical or special needs

Notify EEC staff prior to excursion. 

Students, staff and visitors must not attend if unwell, even with mild symptoms. 
Extreme or wet weather

Days predicted to be above 35ºC, high winds, extreme bush fire danger and dust storms may result in the excursion being modified, postponed or cancelled. 
Cancellations

Cancellations with less than four school weeks' notice will be charged the full fee. This does not apply to cancellations due to weather or fire danger.
How to book

Teachers are to complete the booking form for participating students.

Suggested timetable

Time

Students
9.30 - 10.00 Introduction and ice breaker activities
10.00 - 10.20 Recess
10.20 - 11.00

Inspired in nature

iPad photography
11.00 - 12.30 Art making
12.00 - 12.30 Lunch
12.30 - 1.45 Art making
1.45 - 2.00 Gallery walk
2.00 - 2.15 Pack up and depart

decorative image

Learning activities 

This is an immersive day, connecting students with nature, their creativity and visual art making. 

The day commences with students acknowledging Country and working together to build emphemeral artworks inspired by Andy Goldsworthy and Hannah Bullen-Ryner.  

Students will go on a bushwalk and spend time in nature's classrooms to explore the natural features of the reserve through art making. Photography, sketching, etching, frottage and painting using water colour and ochre will be sampled and explored.

Instruction on the elements and principles of design, mixed-media, printmaking and collage will enhance students abilities to create and appreciate artworks.

Maximum 8 students from one school per stage per day.

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Syllabus outcomes and content 

Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus (2024)

Visual Arts

Outcomes

  • makes artworks in intentional ways to represent ideas about their world, and explains ways artists are influenced by contexts and how artworks are interpreted by audiences CA3-VIS-01

Content

Making: Artists represent their world in intentional ways through their artmaking practice

  • Represent ideas or perspectives of their world and intentions in own artmaking practice
  • Use drawing materials and techniques to create artistic effects to represent subject matter or ideas in intentional ways
  • Create intentional effects with awareness of the relationships between colours and tones, to represent subject matter or ideas in realistic, imaginative or symbolic ways
  • Use painting materials, techniques and processes to explore ways to apply paint in combination with mixed media materials
  • Apply understandings of materials, digital technologies and processes to represent intended ideas in artworks
  • Explore artistic conventions and ways to represent subject matter and ideas in compositions
  • Demonstrate safe artmaking practices with respect for physical, social, digital and cultural safety

Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2024

Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus (2006)

Outcomes

VAS3.2 Makes artworks for different audiences, assembling materials in a variety of ways. 

VAS3.4 Communicates about the ways in which subject matter is represented in artworks.

Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2006

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Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre

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We’d like to acknowledge the Wallumedegal Peoples of the Darug Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we stand and pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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