The Arts fulfil an important role in society. This becomes very obvious if we try to imagine a world without drawing, painting, music, literature, sculpture, architecture, design and decoration. A well developed visual awareness, understanding of skills and sensitivity to materials, will enhance the quality of a person’s life. The fulfilment, joy and satisfaction that can be gained from creative work cannot be undervalued.
Society appears to be changing at a faster rate than ever before so there is a need for personal comment and the expression of feelings about how an individual relates to the world. Art in the past has always embodied attitudes about society, morality and political issues as well as industrial, technical and scientific development. Many topics throughout history have been documented and recorded for posterity in painting and drawing.
In the relationship between environment, culture, and one’s own experience the individual finds a personal identity. It is at the interface between the individual, culture and environment that art has its function. Children should not be faced with a steady constriction of a means of expressing their opinions and feelings. Fortunately art education can help to counter-balance this trend and it is hoped that the educational world will be aware of the real need for creative work in the school curriculum.
The value of the expression of emotions and the embodiment of perceptions and feelings in the making of art cannot be overlooked or undervalued. Beyond anything else art can liberate the human mind and imagination and achieve personal fulfilment.
Aims
- Intellectual, imaginative, creative and intuitive powers.
- Investigative, analytical, experimental, practical, technical and expressive skills, aesthetic understanding and critical judgment.
- An understanding of the interrelationships between art, craft and design and an awareness of the contexts in which they operate.
- Knowledge and understanding of art, craft and design in contemporary society and in other times and cultures.
Candidates will have opportunities to explore the variety of formal elements (the use of line, tone, colour, pattern, texture, etc.), processes and practices which underpin art as experienced through a new six unit assessment structure.
Through processes such as thematic enquiry, sequential development of ideas, focused observation, critical appraisal problem solving, historical and contextual study and critical analysis, students will develop skills of comparing, describing, expressing ideas and opinions, identifying preferences, discussing, analyzing, recording and communicating. These processes help the student become aware of how their own learning takes place, within a framework of exploration and discovery. The practices are the vehicles through which the formal elements are used. In many instances, the choice of practice will exert major influences on the form that the work takes and the ways in which candidates communicate their intentions.
The assessment objectives as defined below are the means by which the formal elements, processes and practices can be defined and assessed to ensure that a coherent and meaningful course has been followed.
