WJEC Eduqas A level Art and Design (Fine Art) A651Q

Course Content

Component 1: Personal Investigation: 60% of the A Level

This is a Personal enquiry based on a theme that you choose to investigate. Some examples of themes that students have chosen before include: identity, how art can question politics, youth culture, landscape, and the boundaries between reality and fiction. What would you choose?

Component 2: Externally set assignment: 40% of the A Level

This is carried out over a period of 14 weeks and includes 15 hours of supervised time to produce a final outcome.

The processes you will learn as part of this course include:

• Painting and drawing (using ink, paint, pencil, pastel)
• Mixed media (using both 2D and 3D materials)
• Printmaking (including mono printing and screen printing)
• Sculpture (using plaster, wood, plastic, wire, clay and found objects)
• Photography, video making and editing

The development work and outcomes that you will produce on the course include:

• Paintings and drawings
• Sculpture
• Photography
• Installation
• Video and /or audio

How it is taught

The theme for your Personal Investigation is chosen by you. Throughout the Investigation you will produce a research sketchbook, this includes investigation of the work of artists that inform your own work. Studio sessions are complemented by lectures, study visits to galleries and museums, and homework. A programme of workshops deliver a range of 2D and 3D skills. Work is assessed on a continual tutorial basis so that you can develop your skills and ideas.

Continual assessment notes are made and agreements made between staff and students to progress work on a weekly basis. Formal assessments and feedback take place on a regular basis throughout the course.

Useful / common subject combinations

For students wishing to take two or more art subjects - Fine Art is a good combination with Graphics, Textiles or Photography. It is often combined with Media.

Careers / HE information

Fine Art is a good basis for development of skills before progression to the one year full-time post A-level course - BTEC Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art & Design. Students on this course have progressed to prestigious Higher Education Art & Design courses throughout the UK, including Goldsmiths College (University of London), Glasgow School of Art and Leeds Arts University.

Students from the Fine Art course go on to a range of careers within the creative industries including becoming artists. They also work as curators, in Gallery & Museum exhibition teams, in community arts, as archivists, architects and art educators, and a host of other creative settings.

We are looking to recruit students who have obtained a grade 4 in GCSE English Language or Literature as well as a genuine interest in Fine Art. It is advisable to have studied a creative subject at GCSE, i.e. Fine Art, Art & Design, Photography, DT or Media; if so grade 4 or above is required. Students wishing to study Fine Art who do not have an art based GCSE will still be considered on submission of a small portfolio artwork. GCSE grade 5 in an art based subject is a minimum requirement if you want to take two or more Art and Design subjects. Anyone wishing to study more than one art will need to speak to a member of the art department during the enrolment process.