Art and DesignYear 8 options for study in Year 9 |
"The arts are integral to our understanding of the world, as important as reading, writing, Geography and arithmetic." (Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate 2012).
Art, Craft and Design encourages creative thinking skills and develops visual literacy. Industry’s demands for an increasingly innovative and globally competitive workforce make learning in the subject ever more relevant to young people. The discipline of drawing is at the foundation of other skills in Art. It is used as a tool, by which students can analyse, record and translate the world around them. Critical studies enhance and underpin practical teaching, where students engage with artists, designers and architects of contemporary and historically significant, as well as culturally diverse contexts. Analysing wider issues and concepts, developing critical thinking and imitating the processes, methods and media used by artists, inspire students to embrace their own creativity and individual self-expression.
This course aims to: |
- Widen student’s knowledge and understanding of media and techniques.
- Improve skill-base by developing students use of techniques.
- Introduce students to a wide variety of artists from the timeline of art history.
- Guide students on how best to use inspiration from different sources.
- Provide students with opportunities to express their creativity through visual language. Developing students’ abilities to record, refine, experiment, develop, research and present.
We will be studying: |
Portraiture
An exciting and creative self-portrait project in which students will explore various forms to create a self-portrait. They will learn about what makes an effective portrait photograph, collage portraits and learn to draw with wire.
They will, as part of this, explore the various technical skills involved in drawing a self-portrait, such as rules of proportion, accuracy of observation and directional and tonal shading. They will learn how mark making can be applied to add texture, detail and refinement. They also learn collage and painting techniques.
Students will be introduced to oil painting techniques to create an accurate self-portrait. They will experiment with mixing skin tones and develop an understanding of scale and proportion whilst observing what they are painting through light and shade. Students will look at a diverse range of artists that reflects them and who they can see as ambitious career role models. There will be a Year 9 trip to The National Portrait Gallery in Central London, which has an interesting collection of portraits dating as far back as the 15th Century up to the current day.
Agent of Change - Ceramics
Leading on from the previous project, students will then learn sculpture techniques and how to create a portrait in three-dimensions. Firstly, students will design and create their own self-portrait ceramic pot. They will combine their portrait design with an issue / theme that they care about most. Students research their issue and address RSHE themes within their issue and how it impacts them and others in the world. Students will learn a variety of different ceramic techniques, firstly building their own coil pot and then incorporating their faces onto these in relief, adding imaginative elements.
Hybrid Characters
This project enables students to learn about the Surrealist Movement and its key concepts. They will be inspired by artists such as Salvador Dali and Max Ernst, as well as contemporary Surrealist artists, The Chapman Brothers. Students will learn how Paula Rego looks at literature and social constructs to inform her nightmare style work where hybrid creatures are created and come alive. They will experiment with collage techniques to create strange juxtapositions of natural elements and machinery.
Students will explore an element of chance and collaboration in their artwork, typical of the Surrealists and play a game of Consequences as a response to the Chapman brothers Exquisite Corpse Series. Students will experiment with print making media, exploring the interesting and surprising possibilities and limitations of this.
Why study? |
The creative industries earned £76.9 billion last year for the UK economy. There are currently 1.7 million people employed in the creative sector. With such a thriving industry, it is vital that children are aware of the many exciting opportunities available to them through following this educational pathway.
Art and Design is a broad subject that encompasses so many of the exciting and varied skills associated with employment in the creative industries. Through studying this in Year 9, developing creative thought processes and improving technical skills and art critical knowledge, students then open the door to studying the subject further at both GCSE and A Level.
For those wishing for the opportunity to study Art and Design at GCSE, they will need to take this subject in Year 9.
Art work by Bob and Roberta Smith (2012)
What career options are opened up by the course? |
Careers in Art and Design are many and varied and here are just some of them:
Interior designer; architect; set designer; fashion designer; gallery curator; ceramicist; restoration painter; fine artist; illustrator; tattoo artist; animator; graphic designer; web designer; games designer; digital designer; police composite artist; court room artist; photographer; costume designer; toy designer; mural artist; art director; make-up artist; landscape architect; art therapist; textile designer; jewellery designer; art editor; prop maker; artist teacher; picture framer; medical illustrator; glass designer; arts administrator; shoe designer; car designer.
Industry’s demands for an increasingly innovative and globally competitive workforce make learning in the subject ever more relevant to young people.
Even if you do not peruse an Art and Design job career, by taking the subject for GCSE can be to your advantage, e.g. Artists are required in the police force (composite artist), archaeologists, engineering (drawing and designs), nutritionists, scientists, journalists.
Key Contact |
Niki Neocleous - Head of Art and Design
email: niki.neocleous@wrenacademy.org
Find out more about this subject |