Visual Arts
In the Visual Arts we encourage and develop the students' creative thinking and problem solving skills through artmaking and art interpretation activities in a variety of studio areas. Students will develop their drawing, painting, printing, sculpture and claywork skills, experimenting and exploring with a variety of techniques using, and breaking, conventions. While the courses students do are primarily full of 'doing' rather than 'talking about', the development of key art language and understandings is central to each activity.
The visual arts develop students' sense of personal and cultural identity and equip them for lifelong involvement in the appreciation of the visual arts. Development of skills and understanding of 21st Century technologies in making art expressions will be developed over several years of working in our visual arts classrooms.
VISUAL ARTS
You will have the opportunity to experiment with all of the studio areas available in Visual Arts. You will get to make a clay creature, experiment with a range of drawing techniques, try out some of the graphics programmes on your lap tops, create your own series of prints and learn about colour in a painting project.
VISUAL ARTS – Semester One
You might make a painting, print on a t-shirt, make a pot and glaze it, design a fashion garment or wearable art, use recyclable materials or participate in a community arts project. You will negotiate what you want to make with your teacher but you will also get better at drawing, think creatively and express yourself!
VISUAL ARTS – Semester One
While this is a course that will extend and develop your ideas and skills from Semester 1, it is also a course that you can begin with. We will be working in a similar way as the previous course but at a slightly more challenging level. You will begin to develop your sense of beauty and personal style.
ART/CRAFT – Semester One
Here is your chance to develop as an artist with high quality skills, extending and developing artworks that express your beliefs and values. You will be looking at the work of others and finding out how other artists work. What you make during this course will be negotiated with your teacher. You do not have to have done any art courses before this one
ART/CRAFT – Semester Two
Here is your chance to develop yourself further as an artist. You will be making high quality artworks that express your beliefs and cultural perspective. You will start to explore more contemporary mediums and ways of working. This will be a good course to prepare you to work in the WACE courses.
DESIGN – Semester One
Graphic design is all around us. Students will develop and broaden their understanding of design skills in order to develop commercial art. They will respond to design briefs and follow a design process to guide their development of creative and effective final solutions. Students will refine their understanding of the design elements and principles in order to produce art that successfully communicates ideas and beliefs to a specific audience for a specific purpose. Students will explore a variety of processes, materials and techniques and will be provided with the opportunity to enhance their art through the incorporation of digital media/programs.
DESIGN – Semester Two
Students will respond to design briefs and follow a design process to guide their development of creative and effective final solutions. Students will develop a brand image and logo and illustrate a story. Students will refine their understanding of the design elements and principles in order to produce art that successfully communicates ideas and beliefs to a specific audience for a specific purpose. Students will explore a variety of processes, materials and techniques and will be provided with the opportunity to enhance their art through the incorporation of digital media/programs. Students will learn the processes and tricks that graphic artists use in their everyday work practice to make excellent graphic projects.
GRAPHICS – Semester One
Graphic design is all around us. You might illustrate a story or a song, design a package or a postage stamp, design a t-shirt or use a computer program to design your own “manga” character. Learn the processes and tricks that graphic artists use in their everyday work practice to make excellent graphic projects.
GRAPHICS – Semester Two
Here is your chance to develop your skills even more. You might make a pop-up or design a poster campaign, make a letterhead and business card or an animation, design the look of a website or the scenery for a game. While this course will be extending your graphic skills you do not have to have done any graphics before.
VISUAL ARTS ATAR
In the Visual Arts ATAR course, students will engage in traditional, modern and contemporary media and techniques within the broad areas of art forms. This course promotes innovative practice. You are encouraged to explore and represent your ideas and gain an awareness of the role that artists and designers play in reflecting, challenging and shaping societal values. The Visual Arts ATAR course allows you to develop aesthetic understandings and a critical awareness to appreciate and make informed evaluations of art through your engagement of your own art practice and the work of others. Unit 1 uses a focus on differences: in materials, techniques or processes, or concepts, conventions or ideas. Unit 2 focuses on identities: personal, social, cultural or gender identities.
VISUAL ARTS GENERAL
In the General course you will be engaging with a range of areas in art, craft and design. You will have the opportunity to make work exploring your imagination and your own personal experiences. The opportunity will be there to take part in exhibitions of your artworks at the school and in the community. Unit 1 focuses on Experiences exploring students’ lives and their own experiences and observations. Unit 2 focuses on Explorations where you will explore ways to generate and develop ideas using a variety of stimulus materials and explorations from your local environment. You have the chance to participate in workshops and gallery excursions throughout the course.
VISUAL ARTS GENERAL
You will be making art as your main focus but some of what you do will include consideration of other people’s work as well as how what you do fits in with activities within the art world. You will be expected to complete good image analysis and well-researched case studies. Unit 3A focuses on commentaries. You will engage with social, political and cultural purposes of art making and interpretation. You will create a unique and cohesive body of work. You will research issues, events, and ideologies and examine your own beliefs, considering how the visual arts have reflected and shaped society and values. Unit 3B focuses on considering points of view. You will identify and explore concepts or issues of personal significance in the presentation of a sustained, articulate and authentic body of work. In the critical analysis and interpretation of your own work and the work of others, you will reflect on the relationships between artworks, audiences and contextual factors, considering how these contribute to the development of different perspectives.
