Art & Photography

Art

Students take part in several topics designed specifically for their upskilling and understanding of artistic concepts and experimentation. Each year group will experience a variety of materials each year and within each topic. Most projects have both a 2d and a 3d outcome, medias covered include drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, assemblage, plaster work, printmaking, photography and digital media to name but a few.

Year 7 Topic Titles:

• The basics – essential skills
• Inspired by Nature
• Plastics in the Ocean
• Endangered Creatures
• Landscapes
• Architecture

Year 8 Topic Titles: 

• Shoes
• Portraiture
• Pop Art
• Metamorphosis

Year 9 Topic Titles: 

• Our City
• Sugar Rush
• Powerful Imagery

Options include:

• GCSE Fine Art (Art & Design)
• GCSE Photography

We have had excellent results in Art and Photography with a large proportion of students reaching the top grades. In dedicated classrooms, GCSE students at first follow a number of workshops and teacher-led themes to build skills and become aware of the examination assessment objectives. When students are confident they then begin their own personal themes and personalised coursework separate to each other. This is supported by 1-2-1 mentoring with the teacher. No Coursework or student work is ever the same and it brings a fantastic amount of variety, experimentation, media, themes and personalisation.

 GCSE Art – Subject Aim

Art gives our students a place to be playful, curious and experimental. It provides an ever-evolving visual language with which to communicate and express themselves creatively. Our students gain an appreciation for art – from many genres, through studying living and historical artists, designers, craftspeople and creative practitioners.  Students explore multiple techniques and processes used in traditional and contemporary art forms.  Students are encouraged to see the beauty and potential in creative risk taking and self-reflection to inform their own creative journey.

Art  provides an opportunity to explore and perfect many important transferable skills, such as:

• Resilience- seeing the value in things that didn’t go to plan is always encouraged.
• Problem-solving – things can and do go ‘wrong’, we encourage students to persevere as often mistakes can take them to a more interesting creative path.
• Independent thinking/thinking outside the box- students often work with a brief that prompts them to think creatively and unpredictably.
• Challenging perceptions and appreciating that of others – what we think about what we see/ study often requires students to be open-minded about their opinions and that of others.
• Self-motivation/time management – deadlines are set and should always be met. Creativity often takes time, but managing this time is essential.
• Empathy and awareness of society and cultural differences – creating masterpieces around others can be challenging and often the process can become more difficult for some. Peers are always encouraged to support each other’s process. We often look at Art from different cultures and backgrounds enabling students to gain awareness of the wider world.
• Refine motor skills – to create artwork in various forms can encourage fine motor skills and promote dexterity.

GCSE Photography – Subject Aim

Photography is unlike other visual arts as it begins with a world full of things rather than with a blank slate. Photography is an art of selection and translation rather than invention. However, photography is also an art of production, not just reflection. It does things to the subjects it represents. Photography makes use of critical thinking, imagination and expression. With the world becoming increasingly visual and virtual, Photography is an incredibly important subject. Taking photographs helps us live in the moment and pay attention to what is around us. They give us a sense of time and appreciation for light. New technologies.

Our approach is to be creative, learn multiple ways to look at and make photographs as well as make you look harder and better at the world so that students can create images which reveal those worlds in new ways. Photography will develop the students to be:

• Intellectual, imaginative, creative and intuitive.
• Investigative, analytical, practical, expressive skills, aesthetic understanding and critical judgement.
• Understanding of contexts and inter-relationships between art and design
• Knowledge of contemporary society and in other times and cultures.