Visual arts and art-making practice

Visual arts and art-making practice

	Visual arts and art-making practice
Core area	Course content	Possible learning activities
Visual arts in the context Artists and why they make art	Make art through a process of investigation, thinking critically and experimenting with techniques.	Students are provided with technical instruction and demonstrations in the use of particular media (such as oil painting, ink drawing, clay modelling, digital techniques and so on) with reference to particular artists.
		Students participate in hands-on, guided workshop sessions in the use of media and techniques, supported by visiting specialists where appropriate.
	Apply identified techniques to their own developing work.	Students undertake guided projects influenced by particular artists, with particular reference to the media and techniques used and the methods involved.
Visual arts methods Ways of making artwork	Experiment with diverse media and explore techniques for making art.	Students participate in group or whole-class workshops and demonstrations, as well as individual studio practice to facilitate individual experiences in media and techniques (including two-dimensional, three-dimensional 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.
	Develop concepts through processes that are informed by skills, techniques and media.	Students consider and record the potential of these experiences in their visual arts journal, reflecting on their individual intentions and ideas.
		Students record ideas and concepts and then develop and experiment with imagery to convey these ideas and concepts.
Communicating visual arts Ways of presenting art	Produce a body of artwork through a process of reflection and evaluation, showing a synthesis of skill, media and concept.	Students review their resolved and unresolved works and participate in reflective activities and guided decision-making.
		Students regularly draft and redraft individual artist statements of intention to hone the clarity of their written communication.
		Students participate in ongoing individual guided studio work, in the light of their own developing artist statements.

The Visual arts guide (March 2014) states that “[l]earning about visual arts relies on action and the course must be experienced practically” (in the “Approaches to teaching and learning in visual arts” section). The art-making practise encompasses all of the processes and activities that students will engage in the development, production, refinement and resolution of their works of art. Through engaging in the art-making practice, students will make artworks through a process of investigation, thinking critically and experimenting with techniques. They will be able to apply the techniques identified through their investigation to their own developing work while experimenting with diverse media and exploring different techniques for making art. They will develop concepts through processes that are informed by skills, techniques and media and ultimately produce a body of artwork through a process of reflection and evaluation, showing a synthesis of skill, media and concept.

There is likely to be as many approaches to art-making practice as there are artists. The medium, style of representation and genre pursued will each necessarily affect the shape and direction of the art-making practice and an individual’s practice is likely to change as they work across a range of forms.

While no two students’ art-making practices will be identical in the formative stages of the course, it will be necessary to structure art-making practice course content through planned learning experiences and activities through each of the core areas of the course.