ART Course Overview

Visual Arts Subject Aims

The aims of the arts subjects are to enable students to:

• enjoy lifelong engagement with arts

• become informed, reflective and critical art practitioners

• understand the dynamic and changing nature of the arts

• explore and value the diversity of the arts across time, place and cultures

• express ideas with confidence and competence

• develop perceptual and analytical skills.

• create art that is influenced by personal and cultural contexts

• develop skills, techniques and processes in order to communicate concepts and ideas

Visual Arts

Art Theory

In this course, students will have experience of examining and comparing the work of artists from different times, places and cultures, using a range of critical methodologies, considering the cultural contexts influencing their own work and the work of others.

Students should develop the ability to research and analyse art-making practices from a variety of cultural contexts and to make informed comparisons between them. Students should be guided through the process of critical analysis, identifying and critiquing the formal qualities of a range of artworks, objects and artifacts from a range of origins. They should interpret the function and purpose of works, evaluate their significance within the cultural contexts in which they were created, and compare and contrast different pieces, demonstrating that they are able to articulate their understanding in both visual and written forms. 

Within the “cultural context”, students should be encouraged to consider the historical, political, social, aesthetic and intellectual contexts from which art can evolve and to which it can contribute.

Taught activities for this area might include:

• an introduction to the use of the visual arts journal as a record of individual inquiry and investigation, with particular emphasis on how to appropriately cite sources

• demonstrations, discussions, oral and written presentations about how to begin critiquing artworks, with reference to various cultural contexts, differing art forms and artists

• lessons in art history—these might include an overview of developments and movements from earliest times to the present day, the provision of timelines for reference, with accompanying contextual background (such as historical and sociopolitical influences, cultural and technological achievements and events)

• identifying and engaging with available secondary sources (such as books and audio-visual materials) through the use of the art department library, school resource centre or appropriate art-specific internet sites

• identifying and discussing the formal qualities of particular works as a whole class

• providing an introduction to a range of models for analysing, critiquing, interpreting and deconstructing artworks, offering opportunities for students to engage with these and become familiar with them

• identifying and engaging with primary and secondary sources such as galleries, libraries and working artists

• learning specialist art vocabulary and terms through the use of a glossary.

In this course, students will have experience of looking at different techniques for making art, investigating and comparing how and why different techniques have evolved and the processes involved. Students should look at different practices for making art from a variety of cultural contexts. They should investigate how different techniques and practices have evolved and through this be able to articulate an understanding of the range of possible approaches to creating original artwork.

Taught activities for this area might include:

• investigating how processes in art have changed and how media or techniques have developed or technologically evolved over time

• familiarization with various art genres, styles, regional schools and associations

• presentation of the range of media, techniques and equipment available to students within the art department and elsewhere within the school

• identification of expertise available to students, within the school and locally (such as local practising artists, the areas of special interest of art department staff and other relevant staff expertise in ICT, design technology and so on)

• demonstrations of available practices and techniques as used by a range of artists and provision of practical guides (such as books, audio-visual material and so on) which deal with specific techniques.

In this course students must have experience of exploring ways of communicating through visual and written means, making artistic choices about how to most effectively communicate knowledge and understanding.

Students are encouraged to identify how their own work or that of others fulfills stated intentions and what meanings are communicated and how. They will understand that the concept of an exhibition is broad and encompasses many variables. They will investigate where and why finished pieces are selected for public display, explore the role of the curator and curatorial practices, and begin to understand and appreciate the decision-making process involved in communicating with audiences and presenting work. This syllabus area also examines the impact that diverse modes of presentation can have on an audience or viewers.

Taught activities for this area might include: 

• guided investigations into the role of the curator and curatorial practices through visits to galleries and artists’ studios, reviewing catalogues for local exhibitions, presentations by visiting artists and exploration of alternative display spaces—this is supported by individual research with entries in the visual arts journal and shared oral feedback

• the study of artist statements and accepted conventions for titling and annotating exhibited works 

• practice in applying the knowledge gained to their own work and that of others through the creation of mini-exhibitions of students’ own work supported by appropriate artist statements, with attention to display and labeling

• curating an imaginary exhibition, identifying an appropriate exhibition context, selecting a particular artist’s work or using artwork from a selected movement, culture or tradition and producing appropriate accompanying documentation.

Art Making 

Teachers must ensure that students at SL and HL have experience of making art through a process of investigation, thinking critically and experimenting with techniques, applying identified techniques to their own developing work.

Students should be given the opportunity to experiment with art-making practices they have identified in their research and their analysis of art-making practices from a variety of cultural contexts. They should engage with artists and artworks that particularly inspire them and experiment with the skills, media, materials, techniques and processes involved. These can take the form of simple transcriptions, through which the students seek to find out how particular elements of artworks have been created or how specific effects have been achieved, or more in-depth studies through which students follow a process through to creating a larger body of work inspired by the artist, artwork or artifact. To enable students to develop proficiency in their own preferred areas of expertise as they progress through the course it is expected that they will have been exposed to a breadth of contrasting skills, techniques, media, production processes, materials and practices and incorporate these into their own repertoire of art-making strategies.

Taught activities for this area might include:

• technical instruction and demonstrations in the use of particular media (such as oil painting, ink drawing, clay modeling, digital techniques and so on) with reference to particular artists

• investigating the historical and technological changes and developments of particular media and techniques

• hands-on, guided workshop sessions for students in the use of media and techniques, supported by visiting specialists where appropriate

• guided projects influenced by particular artists, with particular reference to the media and technique used and the methods involved

• associated relevant class theory lessons (such as colour theory, history of pigments and so on).

In this course, students will have experience of experimenting with diverse media, exploring techniques for making art and developing concepts through processes that are informed by skills, techniques and media. Students should experiment with a variety of different media, techniques and processes that are appropriate to their own contexts, conceptual development and intentions.

Taught activities for this area might include:

• group or whole-class workshops and demonstrations as well as individual studio practice to facilitate individual experiences in media and techniques (including two-dimensional forms, three-dimensional forms and lens-based, electronic and screen-based forms) with particular reference to the historical development of processes and techniques and different cultural and traditional uses of these

• guiding students to consider and record the potential of these experiences in the visual arts journal, reflecting on students’ individual intentions and ideas

• visual recordings of individual student practical processes

• exploring digital means of capturing art-making practice as it occurs and creating a record of experimentation and exploration with acquired skills.

In this course, students will have experience of producing a body of artwork through a process of reflection and evaluation, showing a synthesis of skill, media and concept. Students will develop their own work for presentation, consider what messages they want to communicate about it to an audience and begin selecting a sample for exhibition. Students will produce a body of their own resolved and unresolved artworks that demonstrate both technical proficiency and conceptual strengths.

Taught activities for this area might include:

• reviewing resolved and unresolved works, individual reflection and guided decision-making

• regular individual drafting and redrafting of artist statements of intention

• ongoing individual guided studio work, in the light of student’s own developing artist statements

• workshops in presentation techniques which include refining personal statements, matting, mounts, layout and producing exhibition text.

Art Curatorial

Teachers must ensure that students at SL and HL have experience of developing an informed response to work, with students beginning to formulate personal intentions for creating and displaying their own artworks. Students must be encouraged to develop their own informed individual responses to work and exhibitions they have seen and experienced. They should begin to formulate their own intentions for making original artworks and identify inspirations from a variety of different sources. Students should be capable of clearly expressing their own unique voice through their art-making.

Taught activities for this area might include:

• guided visits to local galleries and community arts initiatives, with particular attention to the curatorial aspects and to identifying individual artists’ purposes, influences and inspirations through their artist statements

• sharing feedback after such visits in a variety of forms (teacher-led, pair and group discussions and presentations, written reflections in the visual arts journal and occasionally more formal assignments)

• consideration of how students’ own work will be affected by that of other artists. Discussions might include the use of transcription as a valid learning tool and the role of appropriation in visual arts work

• creating Mind Maps of individual ideas for artwork as inspired by work seen elsewhere.

In this course, students will have experience of evaluating how their ongoing work communicates meaning and purpose, considering the nature of “exhibition” and thinking about the process of selection and the potential impact of their work on different audiences.

Students will be encouraged to reflect upon their developing work with particular focus on how the intended meaning and purpose are communicated. Students need to identify opportunities for further development in the work being undertaken. Students should be encouraged to consider the nature of “exhibition” and consider the role and functions of galleries and museums. They should critique their successes and failures in relation to their intentions and consider how their developing work might impact on an audience if presented for public display.

Taught activities for this area might include:

• talks given by visiting artists about how they put together exhibitions of their own work, with particular emphasis on deciding what to include, what to leave out and why

• looking at and critiquing exhibition reviews in journals

• TOK-linked discussions about the ethics of museums and curatorial artifacts

• exemplar sessions led by the teacher or visiting artist which detail art projects from inquiry and ideas, action and development, application of techniques to concepts, through to evaluation and reflection upon work in progress and/or final product—students are taught to critique in terms of meaning, purpose and success in communication of the idea(s) and development of technique

• student presentations in the same vein, with group discussions and feedback

• renewed approaches and application to individual studio work following these review sessions

• use of the visual arts journal to identify not only successes, but also reflecting on “finest failures” within the art-making process and considering how these might drive further experimentation and inquiry.

In this course, students will have experience of selecting and presenting resolved works for exhibition, explaining the ways in which the works are connected and discussing how artistic judgments impact the overall presentation.

Students will select a sample of resolved work and reflect on what makes these effective pieces for exhibition, particularly in response to their own clearly stated intentions and the messages they wanted to communicate about their artwork. The taught syllabus should be flexible enough to ensure that students can create and display a range of artworks. An integral part of this experience is the process of self-reflection and an awareness of how viewers can engage with artwork in different kinds of exhibition contexts and venues.

Taught activities for this area might include:

• practice in compiling reflective commentaries on individual artworks

• individual presentations supported by group and class discussions which consider work for exhibition—this process involves identifying projects and pieces which communicate and interest the viewer as well as critiquing work from a technical point of view; discussions focus on improving and developing work in progress

• modeling and monitoring student compilation of exhibition text and other accompanying written material; students identify, contextualize and justify their selections for exhibition.

Art Subject course information was found at https://goo.gl/U2cfmD

Your Visual Arts Journal

Throughout the course, you are required to maintain a visual arts journal that documents:

• the development of art-making skills and techniques

• experiments with media and technologies

• personal reflections

• their responses to first-hand observations

• creative ideas for exploration and development

• their evaluations of art practices and art-making experiences

• their responses to diverse stimuli and to artists and their works

• detailed evaluations and critical analysis

• records of valued feedback received

• challenges they have faced and their achievements.

Students should be encouraged to find the most appropriate ways of recording their development and have free choice in deciding what form the visual arts journal should take. The aim of the visual arts journal is to support and nurture the acquisition of skills and ideas, to record developments, and to critique challenges and successes. It is expected that much of the written work submitted for the assessment tasks at the end of the course will have evolved and been drawn from the contents of the visual arts journal. Although sections of the journal will be selected, adapted and presented for assessment, the journal itself is not directly assessed or moderated. It is, however, regarded as a fundamental activity of the course.

Art Making Output

Throughout the course students are expected to experience working with a variety of different art-making and conceptual forms. SL students should, as a minimum, experience working with at least two art-making forms, each selected from separate columns of the table below. HL students should, as a minimum, experience working with at least three art-making forms, selected from a minimum of two columns of the table below. The examples given are for guidance only and are not intended to represent a definitive list. 

Interaction and engagement with local artists or collections as well as visits to museums, galleries, exhibitions and other kinds of presentations provide valuable first-hand opportunities for investigation and should be used to inform student work wherever possible. Personal responses to these experiences should be documented in the visual arts journal.

Two-dimensional forms:

• Drawing: such as charcoal, pencil, ink

• Painting: such as acrylic, oil, watercolour

• Printmaking: such as relief, intaglio, planographic, chine collé

• Graphics: such as illustration and design

Three-dimensional forms:

• Sculpture: such as ceramics, found objects, wood, assemblage

• Designed objects: such as fashion, architectural, vessels

• Site specific/ephemeral: such as land art, installation, mural

• Textiles: such as fibre, weaving, printed fabric 

Lens-based, electronic and screen based forms:

• Time-based and sequential art: such as animation, graphic novel, storyboard

• Lens media: such as still, moving, montage

• Digital/screen based: such as vector graphics, software generated

Research

When carrying out research, students should be encouraged to consult a suitable range of primary and secondary sources. As well as the more obvious sources (books, websites, videos, DVDs, articles) research may also include art-making experiences and encounters such as workshops, lectures, correspondence with experts and visits to exhibitions. All sources consulted during the course must be cited following the protocol of the referencing style chosen by the school and be presented in a bibliography or as footnotes.