What do I need to know before taking this course?

The Art Department are the best people to help you decide whether this is the right course for you. They will be as passionate as you to find the best subject to develop your talents. It’s really important that you have passion and a desire to know more about historical and contemporary art. GCSE Fine Art, Photography and Textile Design will give you the skills to enjoy, engage with, and produce visual art throughout your life.

Component 1: Personal Portfolio

This component is worth 60% of your GCSE and is a broad and flexible course. You will produce a portfolio of work based on tasks agreed with your teacher. The proportion of the 120 guided learning hours spent on this component should reflect its 60% weighting.

Changing the Paradigm (course within a course)

Projects either side of the Fourth Form year call for authentic connection where students gain an openness to new methodologies, creative thinking and outcomes that reflect a deep connection with different perspectives. A new trust in materials enables students to develop opportunities with practical skills. Working together on projects with no defined outcome will create spaces to learn through experience, discovering the possibilities as we go, and the expectation is that students are encouraged to develop practical and conceptual curiosity. This short course will facilitate new culture building encounters, develop opportunities to make pupils think, take initiative, and have authentic connections with a wider cross section of artists. Broad themes and concepts will allow for connections to be made between the artwork and students’ personal experiences. Concepts will provoke deep thought and a universal lens through which to view artwork and develop critical tools to appreciate and contextualise. Museum and gallery visits will offer variety and scope for new challenges and experiences, adding layers of sophistication and finesse to perceptive critical awareness.

Component 2: Externally Set Exam

This component is worth 40% of your GCSE. You will produce preparatory studies and personal outcome(s) based on a theme set by Edexcel

What does the course involve?

The emphasis is learning by doing, so you’ll be able to create imaginative personal work. In the first year you will produce a portfolio of work creating ideas and outcomes in response to a given theme/s for the year. Throughout the course you will:

• Develop and explore ideas with creativity, independent thought, visual expression and imagination
• Select and experiment with media, materials, techniques and processes
• Record your ideas, observations and insights
• Present personal and meaningful responses

Textile Design

Textile design is a versatile practice that involves the creation, selection, manipulation, and application of a range of materials, fabrics, and processes such as weaving, knitting, stitching and printing to create and design products. Textile designers work in multi-disciplinary ways to create ideas, materials, and techniques for different applications. Textile designers also play an important role in the world of fashion, theatre, performance, and retail.

Students will develop a practical knowledge and understanding of:

• The use of formal elements and visual communication through a variety of approaches
• The use of observation skill to record from sources and communicate ideas
• Characteristics of materials such as natural and synthetic, functionality, recyclability and sustainability
• The effects and creative potential of combining and manipulating different two dimensional and three-dimensional materials and media
• The use of digital and or non-digital applications

Areas of study:

Work must demonstrate integrated knowledge, understanding and skills, work is not limited to one area of study and students could develop work in at least one of the following areas:

• Constructed
• Dyed
• Printed
• Fashion Design
• Stitched and/or embellished

Fine Art

Fine Art may be defined as work developed primarily to communicate aesthetic, intellectual or purely conceptual ideas and meaning, rather than to serve a practical or commercial function. For example, work could be the outcome of personal experiences, thoughts and feelings, or simply to observe and record people, places and things in new and unique ways. Fine-artwork will demonstrate an understanding and application of formal elements and creative skills, including mark-making. Students will use visual communication sensitively and thoughtfully to document their artistic journey and fully support their intentions.

Students will develop a practical knowledge and understanding of:           

• The use of formal elements and visual communication through a variety of approaches
• The use of observational skills to record from sources and communicate ideas
• Characteristics of media and materials such as wet and dry, malleable, resistant and digital
• Properties of colour and light such as hue, tint, saturation and tone
• The effects and creative potential of combining and manipulating different two- dimensional
  and three-dimensional materials and media
• The use of digital and/or non-digital applications

Areas of Study

• Drawing
• Installation
• Lens-/light-based media
• Land Art
• Printing
• Painting
• Sculpture

Photography

Photography may be defined as the creative journey through the process of lens- and light-based media. This could include work created using film, video, digital imaging or light sensitive materials. With the developments of new affordable lens- based technologies, students should attempt to use photographic mediums to explore and create a body of work, which develops and refines both the process and the concept.

Students will develop a practical knowledge and understanding of:

• The use of formal elements to communicate a variety of approaches.
• The camera and its functions, including depth of field, shutter speed, focal points and viewpoints.
• The application of observational skills to record from sources and communicate ideas.
• The effects and creative potential of combining and manipulating different two- dimensional
  and three-dimensional materials and media.
• The use of digital and/or non-digital applications.

Areas of Study

• Documentary photography
• Photojournalism
• Studio photography
• Location photography
• Experimental imagery
• Installation
• Moving image: film, video and animation