Art

Students appreciate the diverse opportunities provided by Art, and the freedom of access outside of class including Studio 56 Art club which give pupils the chance to develop drawing painting and 3d skills.

Studio 56 is currently working on set designs for the school show in collaboration with Y11 Performing Artists.

We have great links in the community and in the past five years we have worked with artists in residence and Newcastle Borough Council to create two murals on a local underpass which has proved to be a great success.

The popularity of the Art and Design courses in Key Stage 4 has lead to a huge increase in numbers over the last 3 years we now work with 100 pupils in years 10 and 11.

GCSE students that took applied Art in 2009 achieved 92% A* - C. In 2010 we are offering a Btec course in Art and Design which has proved to be very popular with students and we are aiming for the same levels of success in this new venture.

The Art department has seen an investment in new technology with the introduction of 16 Apple computers, 12 digital cameras, 4 Mini DV cameras which we use to develop ICT skills in an artistic sense creating digital photographs and manipulating images to compliment more tradition art works.

We have great links in the community and in the past five years we have worked with artists in residence to create two murals on a local underpass.

Cultural Patterns

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Key Stage 3

In Key Stage 3 pupils develop a range of creative skills including drawing, painting, ICT, researching artists and visual analysis.

In each year there are two units each unit lasts six weeks.

The first is always a skills unit which focuses on the development and understanding of proportion, perspective and observation. This involves a series of tasks including drawing, investigation of materials and developing their own art works.

Each unit has been tailored to give each pupil the opportunity to provide evidence of a range of skills.

All pupils are given an overview of the project they are doing and this gives them information on the tasks they will be doing, what they are expected to learn and the assessment criteria for each level.

Year 7

The first unit aims to encourage pupils to explore the basic elements in Art in preparation for all future work.

We focus on the visual elements line, colour, texture, pattern, shape and form.

Pupils will use creative thinking skills to develop new methods using a range of techniques and working in a range of materials.

http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/index.html

The second unit is based on India and looks at the visual elements of a culture including fashion and textiles, ceramics, festivals, architecture, Bollywood films and religious icons.

We encourage pupils to develop independent enquiry skills using different research methods including the internet, visiting the school library for books and looking for ideas in travel agents or in the home.

The contemporary artists we use during this unit are two British artists Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh.

Using the knowledge and skills developed during the first unit pupils are ask to creatively use their research to create work based on Indian culture.

http://www.singhtwins.co.uk/WELCOME.html

Year 8

We encourage pupils to further develop their drawing skills and awareness of shape and form.

This unit will give them the foundation skills of measuring, observation and techniques which will allow them to develop a better understanding of drawing from life.

We look at simple 3d shapes like cube, cuboids and cylinders in the form of packaging.

During the project we further develop their research skills by looking at a range of artists including Roy Lichtenstein, Henri Matisse and Hundertwasser. Pupils explore the work of each artist to create a piece of work inspired by their use of colour, shape and pattern.

In the second unit we develop creative skills by looking at Comic Art focussing on the method and style of drawings used in a range of contemporary and historical comics. We start to develop the pupil’s ability to analyse artwork and film by looking at a range of visual imagery and asking pupils to develop an opinion on the style, content and structure.

We allow pupils more freedom to select and develop ideas in year 8 which creates more personal and imaginative responses to the task set.

We use all the information explored to develop a set design which could then used to develop ideas for music or drama lessons.

Year 9

In Year 9 we encourage pupils to follow the same structure as the GCSE courses we offer to give them some experience of the processes of Key Stage 4 courses. This includes developing work from personal research, exploring a range of materials and developing an individual final piece.

We continue to develop drawing skills looking at the face. Pupils are taught the principles of proportion based around the rules discovered by Leonardo Da Vinci to develop their understanding of the structure of the face as well as trying to create a realistic drawing focussing on features, texture of hair and tone of the skin.

In the second unit we research and create work based on a current art form Graffiti or Urban Art. We analyse the use of shape colour tone and texture for the design as well as looking at the historical context watching the 1982 documentary Style Wars and looking at artists that have become mainstream but started their careers as graffiti artists like Pop Artist Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat.  Both projects encourage pupils to use a range of skills that are essential for pupils considering the Key Stage 4 courses.

Graffiti Art

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