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Art

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have” – Maya Angelou.

Art enables creativity and offers challenge; it helps us to appreciate and interpret what we observe, communicate what we think and feel, and develop imagination and inventiveness. As a department, we aim to cultivate creativity, critical thinking, and visual literacy in our students, preparing them for a dynamic world where these skills are increasingly essential. We are committed to providing a comprehensive and inspiring art education ensuring our students receive a robust and well-rounded and diverse experience.

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity and we believe that art makes an important contribution to pupils’ overall education and is necessary for personal development. As a department, we envision a learning environment where every student can explore and develop their artistic abilities. In accordance with the Art and Design national curriculum, our program aims to ensure that all students:

Produce Creative Work: Our students will be encouraged to produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences. They will be guided to experiment and take creative risks, fostering a sense of innovation and originality.

Become Proficient in Art Techniques: We strive to develop students’ proficiency in drawing, painting, sculpture, printing, ceramics and other art, craft, and design techniques. This includes understanding and applying the formal elements of art such as line, shape, form, colour, texture, and space.

Evaluate and Analyse Creative Works: Students will learn to critically evaluate and analyse their own work and that of others. This includes studying a range of artists, craftspeople, and designers, and understanding the historical and cultural contexts of their work.

Understand Art’s Role in Society: Our curriculum emphasises the importance of understanding the role of art and design in society and culture. Students will explore how art influences and reflects our world, from ancient times to contemporary practices.

To develop the creative possibilities within each student, we provide a stimulating and exciting environment and believe that our curriculum provides a sound platform of knowledge and skills for pupils who wish to further their studies to GCSE level in either Art and Design or Photography. We hope pupils will acquire an appreciation and affection for the Arts which will continue to enrich their lives well beyond their time at Sharples.

Key Concepts

Explore Experiment Develop Refine Critical Analysis Evaluation Observe Context
Mark Making Drawing Paint Mixed media Ceramics Printmaking Collage Pastel
Line Shape Space Form Tone Texture Pattern Colour
Composition Balance Emphasis Pattern Movement Proportion Scale Grid method
Art history Periods in art Art Movements Architecture Expressive Abstract Contemporary Modern

Key Stage 3 Overview

Throughout Key Stage 3, pupils will receive a broad and balanced curriculum. We provide a supportive environment where students can develop their skills through hands-on practice and guided experimentation. We believe in the power of feedback and reflection, and we work closely with students to help them refine their work and articulate their artistic vision whilst developing their understanding of art through historical and contemporary contexts.

The curriculum is designed to give pupils the opportunity to:

  • Use a range of techniques to record their observations and explore ideas
  • Increase proficiency in working with different materials
  • Confidently analyse and evaluate their own work, and that of others
  • Discover the history of art, craft, design and architecture, understanding periods, styles and major artistic movements.

Year 7

Autumn Term:

This term begins with the Art Passport designed to introduce pupils to some of the fundamentals of studying and creating art. As the pupils arrive from various primary schools, their experiences vary and the Art Passport aims to align all pupils’ knowledge and understanding of various aspects of the subject. They will also consider, investigate and respond to the question, Is art a language? Through studying the artwork of the Ancient Egyptians.  

Spring Term:

Students will look to nature this term and take inspiration from ornithology. They will begin to understand how art can be viewed as a historical record and develop their understanding of the fundamentals of texture, pattern, and mark making as well as continuing to investigate colour theory and tonal value. They will focus on developing confidence with drawing, and mark making experimentation and be introduced to working in clay. They will also take inspiration from contemporary global artwork and understand how the accessibility of art equipment can influence the style of the art work and how artists work with inspiration.

Summer Term:

Students will be taking a creative look at architecture focusing again on colour theory as well as perspective, scale and proportion. They will work with print and mixed media within this project and discover how to compare and contrast the work of artists and understand how to take inspiration from their work. They will also observe how background and when an artist is active can affect the subject of artwork.

Year 8

Autumn Term:

Designed to introduce the pupils to the significance and meaning of artwork and its contextual relevance, this term, students will focus on an environmental issue – the destruction of the coral reef and ocean pollution, and learn about the contextual background of this issue and also about how artists are trying to represent this visually to make viewers more aware of these issues. They will begin to understand the purpose of art by looking at various artists from those who recorded natural history, to contemporary artists who focus on representing the human impact on the environment. They will look to develop their understanding of tonal value and develop pattern, texture and form using various media whilst also creating a 3D form in clay.

Spring Term:

This term students will look at the unlikely inspiration of Toys and how artists have been inspired by toys and what they represent. The students will look at various artistic genres and develop a series of observations. Students will learn about the styles and techniques used by artists who take inspiration from toys, and create their own responses in a variety of mediums.

Summer Term:

Looking at the history of artistic movements, this term will look at the development of expressionism and abstract art. They will respond to stimulus and develop ideas based on modern and contemporary influences.  In particular, the architect Zaha Hadid, her influences and design process will be a main source of inspiration for developing an abstract final outcome.

Year 9

Autumn Term:

This year, the students begin to develop their artwork focusing on portraiture. They will look at the history of portraiture going back to the 17th century developing an understanding of the importance of a portrait. They will investigate how to draw facial features and the proportions of the face and develop their use of tonal value to show form, experimenting with different media.

Spring term:

This term, the focus is on art as expression, symbolism and individuality. Students will look at a variety of artists and how they use art to express personal or societal issues, understanding composition and narrative within art. They will investigate working with mixed media to explore and raise awareness of issues in society, by researching the work of other artists  and creating outcomes in response to this.

Summer term:

Based on nature, students will develop ideas for a final clay piece. They will work responsively and intuitively using creative mark making and a limited colour palette. They will look at various artists to inspire and develop creative surface details and texture to apply to their clay pieces.

GCSE Art and Design

Our Key Stage 4 Art and Design curriculum provides students with opportunities to build on their learning experiences gained during Key Stage 3 and to explore a variety of media, themes, images and artefacts in a personal and meaningful way for individuals. It builds on the pupils’ ability to view and critique artworks whilst making connections to their social, historical and cultural context. Pupils are required to develop their work independently and refine their ideas towards a final outcome.

Throughout the course, pupils create a portfolio of coursework (60%) and complete an examination (40% of the award grade) in order to gain GCSE certification. The portfolio of coursework should include artworks created in at least two of the following areas: drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, printmaking, mixed media, computer-aided design, illustration, advertising, digital imaging, textiles, fashion, ceramics, sculpture and photography. The examination is a separate portfolio developed from a title provided by the exam board which is also explored and refined to a personal conclusion.

Art and Design lessons offer a unique learning environment where risk taking and experimentation is encouraged along with developing judgments of one’s own work and that of others to develop a portfolio in line with intentions, as well as developing a greater understanding of the purpose of art and design.

GCSE Photography

Our Photography curriculum is designed to allow our students to combine their artistic and creative side with the technical expertise and techniques associated with professional photography. We believe that examining past and current photography practitioners supports students’ understanding of core photographic elements, and allows them to use their knowledge to experiment with concepts such as shadow, lighting, movement and composition. Our curriculum aims to offer our students a thorough insight into the broad scope of photography, presenting them with the opportunity to develop in-depth technical and practical expertise. The themes chosen enable students to successfully develop analytical skills, image manipulation techniques, practical competence and explore a range of strategies to present imagery.

Photography lessons provide a dynamic learning environment where students will be given the flexibility to be imaginative and experimental with their own photographic intentions, whilst applying their knowledge of visual language. Through the use of portfolios, students are taught to be independent practitioners who have the capacity to develop, refine, record and showcase several photographic ideas.

Career Prospects

Choosing an Art & Design subject creates possibilities for lots of exciting careers in the Creative Industries – one of the most rapidly growing industries in the UK. In fact, over one in eight UK businesses (11.8%) in 2019 were part of the Creative Industries (DCMS 2022). Below are some of the sectors that are accessible with a qualification in an Art and Design subject:

  • Advertising and marketing
  • Architecture
  • Crafts
  • Design
  • Fashion and textiles
  • Film, TV, video, radio and photography
  • IT, software, games design, and computer services
  • Publishing
  • Museums, Galleries and Libraries
  • Music, performing and visual arts

Home Learning

Learning beyond the classroom will involve homework activities which link to current lessons. At KS4, students will continue to explore their coursework beyond the limits of the classroom.

Enrichment and other extracurricular activities

Beyond the classroom, we offer a variety of extracurricular activities to further enrich our students’ learning experiences. These opportunities allow students to extend their learning, gain new perspectives, and connect with the broader art community. Opportunities include:

  • Lunchtime clubs
  • After school clubs
  • Trips and gallery visits relevant to the discipline
  • Community projects where work is put on display for the local community.
  • Local and national competitions

Contact

Head of Art & Design
Mrs S Sweeney
s.sweeney@sharplesschool.co.uk