Art
Introduction to the Art Department
Our aim is to allow each individual’s imagination and creativity to flourish through their own visual expression. The basic skills of drawing and painting are central to our courses coupled to a fostering of each student’s personal response to their environment and inner worlds.
Our department has:
- Three highly experienced and successful teachers, supported by a technician.
- Four well-equipped studios with individual workspace for sixth form students - open after school for those in exam classes to continue with their work.
- Regular trips to art galleries in Cambridge, London and Europe.
- Excellent results at all levels with many students continuing with this subject when they leave Friends’ School.
- Pottery, sculpture, textiles and photography offered as subsidiaries to all the main fine art areas.
- Photography A level offered as a separate endorsement
- An ‘Artist in Residence’ each year, whose good practice is inspirational throughout the school.
- Regular exhibitions in our gallery which is also open to the public.
- Art clubs, life drawing classes and art and craft weekends.
Albert Einstein “Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited, while imagination embraces the entire world”.
Art deals with the sense of vision in a way that no other subject can, particularly with the processes of perception and its expression in a visible form.
Art and Design are essential elements in a sound general education and are necessary tools for every other subject, from the aesthetic look of a piece of written work to a scientific diagram. It is the Art Department's aim to ensure that your child has the necessary skills to help them in all areas of the curriculum.
Art is also capable of giving shape and form to the ineffable and there are strong links here with the sensual, mental and emotional life of the individual. Our world is affected by our visual culture and your child will be exposed to both historical and contemporary links to further their social development. It is the Department's aim to cover these areas across the age range.
Years 7 and 8
At this stage of your child's development, image making is dominated by their need to use drawing, painting and 3-D modelling as the means to comprehend better how the world works, how it is put together, what it looks like, how different things compare. Through their work they can gain better understanding and control of complex factors that make up the natural and man-made world.
The teacher's role here is to support this need to make "real" images. The teacher will provide source materials and resources to help the student communicate their ideas and responses in a personal and imaginative way. The student will be taught the basic skills required to develop self-expression.
Listed below are some of the topics that we have used in Year 7.
These will change or be added to by individual teachers, but the different skills will all be covered.
Painted portraits of each other
Observational drawing skills
Mixing colours
Social co-operation
Learning how our art room functions
Imaginative Composition - Autumn Painting
Drawing and painting skills
Control of paint
Colour mixing
Development of imagination
Pottery Animals - developing 3-D skills
Craft skills
Learning to follow through a process
Pottery Boxes
Re-enforcing skills learned above
Learning slab making
Making wire insects
Outside observational drawing and painting
Collage making with found material
Learning about colour wheels
Studying artists such as Albers, Seurat, Kandinsky
Re-enforcing colour mixing and control
Imaginative work based on the above
Year 9
Students in Year 9 are encouraged to develop their own individual style. Drawing skills are reinforced and more complex processes are introduced. The students will continue working with a variety of different media, including 2 – dimensional and 3-dimensional work. An in depth artist study is required as part of their critical studies. Finally the year is rounded off with an independent study of the student’s own choice in their own preferred medium.
Perspective-Landscape painting
Atmospheric perspective
Aerial perspective
Colour mixing
Drawing and painting skills
Perspective – Theatre set
Linear, vanishing point perspective
Designing faux space
Developing three dimensional design
Pottery gargoyles
Craft skills
Hollow build techniques
Modelling
Lino-printing
Reductive three colour techniques
Learning to follow through a proscriptive process
Colour
Artist study
In depth research from books/internet/gallery visits
Investigation of technique
Evaluation/critical judgements
Independent study
Composition
Drawing and painting skills
Control of medium
Power of the image
Art and Design GCSE is a course aimed at developing your visual perception and understanding. You will be encouraged in your creative, imaginative and practical skills and you will work in a wide variety of different media including drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, printing, photography video and many others. You will also study the work of other artists who are important in their fields of work.
Assessment is in two parts:
Unit 1: Portfolio of work
This is a controlled assessment – set and marked by centre and moderated by AQA. It is worth 60% of your GCSE. Your portfolio is selected from work undertaken during the course and must include more than one project.
Students will be required to offer work relating to two or more areas of study (Drawing and Painting, Graphics, Photography, Textiles and Three-dimensional Studies). The units of work may be independent of one another or inter-related.
The purpose of coursework is to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to investigate, explore, modify, develop, and realise their ideas in a variety of different media.
Students will complete a number of projects during the course, from which the selection will be made for assessment.
A project is anything produced from the conception to the submission of the final item. They must produce studies in support the final outcome and they can be presented in any form such as sketchbooks, study sheets, experiments or maquettes.
Unit 2: Externally set task
This externally set task is marked by centre and moderated by AQA. It counts for 40% of your GCSE.
Towards the end of the course the students will sit an examination. There is unlimited preparation time followed by a ten hour period of sustained focused study in which they are expected to develop their own unaided work informed by their preparatory studies.
If you are considering a career in any area that involves creative visual thinking, such as architecture, designing, theatre, TV, computer software, or you just love drawing and painting, then a GCSE in Art and Design is for you.
Specification: AQA Art and Design 4201
Click here to download the current specification for this GCSE course.
AS and A Level Art and Design (Fine Art)
The main purpose of any course in art, craft and design is to develop your ability to appreciate the visual world, respond in a personal and creative way and perhaps even contribute for the benefit of everyone.
The skills you will develop will be varied. Among them, you will develop a working knowledge of materials, practices and technology within art. You will develop the skills to interpret and convey your ideas and feelings using art, craft and design. You will develop your imaginative and creative powers and your experimental, analytical and documenting skills. You will also develop a specialist vocabulary and the knowledge and understanding of the place of art, craft and design in history and in contemporary society.
The A level is designed to enable you to investigate personal responses to ideas, observations, experiences, environments and cultures in practical ways.
Specification: AQA Art and Design (Fine Art) AS 1202B A 2202B
Click here to download the current specification for this A level course.
The A level is made up of four units:
At AS level
Unit 1: AS Portfolio Unit
You will explore the expressive force of art and design. There is an emphasis on the process of art making and you will submit one or two extended projects. Additional work will be aimed at developing particular technical skills or knowledge of the work of other artists, designers, crafts people or photographers. There will also be increased opportunities for experimentation, the development of skills and critical and contextual awareness.
Assessment
50% of AS, 25% of A Level - No time limit - 80 marks - Portfolio of work set and marked by the centre and moderated by AQA - Available in June only
Unit 2: AS Externally Set Assignment
This work takes place from the beginning of February until May. You will be given 5 broad starting points and can produce finished work or work of an experimental nature. During this period of time you will be given 5 hours of supervised time which follows an initial period of research.
Assessment
50% of AS, 25% of A Level - Supervised time 5 hours - 80 marks - Work produced will be marked by the centre and moderated by AQA - Available in June only
At A2 level
Unit 3: A2 Personal Investigation
This will include written work alongside practical elements. The written materials should be between 1000 – 3000 words, but the written materials can take on a variety of creative forms.
Assessment
25% of A Level - No time limit - 80 marks - Personal investigation supported by written element of 1000-3000 words, set and marked by the centre and moderated by AQA - Available in June only
Unit 4: A2 Externally-set Assignment
You will be able to select from 8 starting points. Suggestions of artists, designers and relevant craftspeople will be included on the exam paper to help and guide you in every question. The exam lasts for 15 hours and is usually spread over 3 school days. This extended amount of time will allow you the opportunity to produce work in greater depth.
Assessment
25% of A Level - Supervised time 15 hours - 80 marks - Work produced will be marked by the centre and moderated by AQA - Available in June only
