Art and Design

Course summary

Students will have the opportunity to develop their individual work, knowledge and understanding through practical sessions, through the study of artists and through discussion and critical appraisal. This course is for students with an existing ability with artistic techniques and is not appropriate for beginners to the subject. The artistic sessions are a flexible series of lessons built to prepare and condition pupils to become independent practitioners who specialise in an artistic area of their choice. The Art, Craft and Design components are unendorsed and so offer students the opportunity to experiment and explore a large variety of interests including fine art, digital art, textiles, graphics, design, 3D, film, sound, animation and illustration. With the course designed to produce independent practitioners, conceptual ideas are decided by the individual. Students are then guided through a series of workshops and tutorials to help them build their skills and ability in their chosen area. The year starts with a series of brainstorming sessions and research of artists and concepts. These will be used to assist students not only in picking the appropriate media to begin with, but also an appropriate theme to study. Students will then work on a personal portfolio of work. After this introduction period, students will produce an essay of between 1000 – 3000 words (on a photographic/graphic/artistic issue of their choice). This essay will be used as a springboard for their main coursework project and will assist in providing the necessary research to produce a thoughtful and considered body of work.