What is the Course?

What is the Course?

All art and design A Level courses, regardless of exam board or school, are offered through pathway options. Whether you opt for fine art, photography, graphics etc. you will be taking the same umbrella qualification. We therefore offer you the chance to follow a general, foundation course before opting for a specialist pathway in either fine art, photography, graphics or critical and contextual studies. This way you get to ‘try before you specialise’ and build a general portfolio which will help you if you later decide to apply for a course beyond A level which requires a variety of work – but for A Level, you will only be assessed on the work done for your specialist area.

In Year 12 you will follow a course from September to January where you are learning and building skills free of assessment. You will get a taste of working through the range of specialisms we offer before selecting the area you want to focus on. You will be taught how to draw, photograph, explore through printmaking, painting, sculpture, graphic media (ink, pencil etc.) and digital processes. In addition, you will learn how to research, analyse and respond to artworks, artefacts and design. We have four taught modules:

THE ENVIRONMENT

THE HUMAN FORM

OBJECTS

CRITICAL AND CONTEXTUAL STUDIES

In each module you learn about approaches to subject matter, core concepts and skills and key artistic/design movements. This provides you with a strong grounding/overview in order to make decisions in January of Year 12 as to what specialist area, subject matter, media and approaches you wish to pursue in your work. In addition, you will learn skills needed to write an art essay and how to approach work in a more abstract manner should you wish. The sections below tell you about the specialist areas.

FINE ART

Fine means pure. It means making art for art sake – rather than for a use or function. This is a good grounding for the widest range of possible future study and could involve making paintings, sculptures, prints or mixed media pieces. It is widely regarded as preferred option for most academic and all art and design pathways.

PHOTOGRAPHY

This is the pathway to choose if you want to specialise in camera work. This would enable you to do ALL of your creative work via a camera and digital software. A great option if you want to move into a photographic career or carry out further study in photography or film. Students following this pathway can explore still or moving imagery and work either entirely digitally, or blend printed photography with other media.

GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION

This involves taking your creativity into a design setting. It could involve working with either traditional or digital media. You would create and work to design briefs. Examples might include designing a poster, set of stamps, magazine layout etc. This will involve working with text as well as imagery and an element of computer design when finishing artwork.

CRITICAL AND CONTEXTUAL STUDIES

All art and design students have to complete a written element for ten percent of their marks. If you decide you want to make all of your work more theoretical/analytical you can opt for this pathway. Examples of projects might include creating leaflets and planning layouts for an exhibition or producing extended written and visual essays on an aspect of art, craft or design.

Course Timeline:

September to January Year 12 – Taught Course

January Year 12 to January Year 13 – Work on Personal Investigation

February Year 13 to May Year 13 – Work on the Externally Set Task.

After the initial teacher led course, you will focus your work on your strengths and interests. Art and design is probably the most flexible subject you can study at A Level in terms of personalising work – however, you are following a qualification and will need to complete set tasks and evidence the assessment objectives.