Students studying a visual arts subject at year 13 ( photography, painting or design ) have the option of entering into an art scholarship. To be eligible to enter for the scholarship students must be consistently working at a high merit - excellence level in their internal assessments. Once entered into the scholarship it is expected students will participate fully - students may not enter for the scholarship and then withdraw at a later date therefore it is important scholarship entry is carefully considered before a commitment is made...
Students considering entering scholarship must display the following :
-An ability to manage time efficiently and meet all formative and summative deadlines with full task & assignment requirements.
-Consistent high merit - excellence grades in the internal assessments
-Commitment to following through with the workbook requirements for the scholarship.
Art scholarship is presented as an 8 page workbook with the following specifications :
-presented in an A3 clearfile
-limited to the equivalent of 8 single sided A3 pages ( additional pages will not be assessed )
-displayed as either portrait or landscape as orientation
-must be visible and in the order to be assessed by the marking panel ( pages will not be removed from the sleeves by markers )
-do not exceed the size of the A3 clearfile folder.
-High resolution photographs of the finished folio board must accompany the workbook and feature at the front of the workbook - this is the 9th page.
This Outstanding Scholarship Design submission presented a rigorous and thorough body of design outcomes, developed through innovative methods and thinking and well informed design research and historical contexts. The brief was to design a museum-oriented exhibition to be situated at Auckland Museum due to its significance as a War Memorial Museum, with the topic being a survey of “nuclear technology throughout the last 60 years and the effect that it has had on humanity”.
The candidate quickly identifies their selected audience, conceptual interest and emphasis for the exhibition, and thus is immediately able to get some traction with their briefs, i.e. they state they want to create a special focus on the diminishment of humanity. This provides a visual and theoretical parameter to then work within. Aspects such as colour and its significance in terms of historical, social and political resonance is discussed, tested and trialled in the workbook, as is the selection of appropriate methods and processes (photography and Photoshop). This is matched by the early decision to name the exhibition project “Children of the Atom”. The candidate also spends time analysing the potential for the title to associate and link with established visual language and ideas existent within related contexts, such as science and particular design studios that have worked with similar briefs (Neue Design Studio).
Invention is used strategically to develop material for the museum exhibition wall. The candidate stages their own photo shoots (of nuclear clouds) that introduce an interesting sense of scale and ambition and add narrative into the equation. This kind of conceptualisation brings a more humanistic element into the conversation, which offers the audience a way to consider the historical within a context cognisant of the conventions of contemporary museum display.
Overall, the folio presents a sophisticated and deeply insightful approach to the design process and final outcomes: book cover, page layouts, museum exhibition wall layout display, promotional poster. The consistent attention to detail and the branding that runs across all aspects of the briefs creates a connecting force that matches the severity of the topic. Visual language and design conventions such as the digitised date type and block treatment remind us of another time and decade and of time ticking over, but also locates the durational and lasting effects for those who have experienced the impact of nuclear warfare.
NZQA Scholarship Exemplars
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/awards/new-zealand-scholarship/scholarship-subjects/visual-arts/