Year 11 Unit 1 Area of Study 2 User Guide
This is a learning sequence that specifically addresses unit 1, area of study 2 for VCE Studio Arts. It is intended for use by studio arts teachers or Year 11 studio arts students. It comprises of this Statement of Intention which explains how the rest of the sequence works, what it is about and how it can be used. Suggestions are made in the ICT Analysis of the Website as a Pedagogical Tool for how resources could be used to support and prepare students for learning between classes. The Learning Sequence includes lessons that contain art work and information about reputable artists that relate to the topic for that week. Photographed visual diary pages of my response to the lesson are included to provide one example to students of the work to be undertaken. Differentiation suggestions have been made to support the learning of students that require extending or streamlining. Links to You Tube tutorials and other digital resources have been included to enhance student learning.
The VCE Studio Arts Study Guide informs us ‘In this area of study students learn about studio practice and focus on the use of materials and techniques in the production of at least one artwork’ (Studio Arts Study Guide, 2017, pg.13). In this area of study student’s record their experiments and findings about the application of art mediums and materials and creative techniques in a visual diary. They develop individual ideas and accumulate subject matter reference material to support the creation of their final art work. Student’s discern the presence of specific art elements and principles in the aesthetic qualities of their experimental art works and determine which best support the communication of the message of their final artwork.
Participation in VCE Studio Arts, Unit 1, takes place in Term 1 and 2 of Year 11. In the 20 week time frame, Areas of Study 1, 2 and 3 are addressed. To err on the side of caution, 4 weeks have been allocated to address Unit 1 Area of Study 2. If however, you find in your Yearly planner, you can allow extra week(s), you could allocate more time for exploration in the first 4 lessons of the following learning sequence, or an extra week to produce the final artwork. This Learning sequence has been designed within the parameters of 8 lessons (2 lessons per week) for Year 11 studio Arts students, each lesson lasting for 75 minutes.
The 6 key skills for Unit 1, Outcome 2 will be addressed throughout the 8 lessons in making and responding tasks in each lesson. ‘Making’ and ‘responding’ are terms Year 11 students will be familiar with from engaging with art activities grounded in the Victorian Curriculum from Foundation to Year 10.
In the first four lessons, students explore the following art techniques: mark making and automatic drawing, bilateral drawing, bimanual drawing and blind contour drawing. Each technique is supported with visual examples of reputable art works and information about artists that incorporate the particular art technique in their practice.
These tasks were planned with the intention of commencing the lesson with a ‘making’ task to activate and trigger the imagination of the students, setting them on their way into a creative exploration. This could take as little as 15 minutes and serve as a warming up/loosening up exercise or could be expanded out for the bulk of the lesson across an hour. For each making activity in lesson 1 – 4, a link to a You Tube music clip is provided. These have been carefully selected to enhance engagement with the drawing activity.
These making task could incorporate creative collaboration, short group discussions or pair and share, an analysis of the feature artist, examination of art elements and principles and/or aesthetic qualities, or ideally could spill over into the individual student’s studio practice investigation of materials, techniques and art forms. Finishing a lesson with a ‘responding’ task across a 15 minute time block could be achieved through individual work, groups or pairs. The responding tasks are designed to ease year 11 students into the process of writing about art, a significant requirement of studying VCE Studio Arts. This includes, recording and annotating their own exploration and development, proposal writing, school assessed course work and analysis, and evaluation of their own final art work. Lesson 5 entails reflection on techniques learnt, collection of subject matter and design of final art work. Lesson 6 and 7 are allocated to the production of the final artwork and lesson 8 provides students with an opportunity to present to peers and receive feedback about insights from fellow students that can be used to provoke thought for the construction of final art work evaluation.
The sequence of lessons that include making and responding tasks have been designed so that if all 8 lessons are engaged with thoroughly, the 6 key skills of unit 1, area of study 2, will have been effectively addressed by the students at the end of the 8th lesson.
The specific key skills are:
- investigate, and experiment with, materials and techniques appropriate to art making in a range of art forms
- explore the aesthetic qualities of materials and techniques to convey individual ideas
- explore materials and techniques and investigate a range of art elements and art principles to produce a range of effects
- develop individual subject matter from sources of inspiration, observations, experiences and artistic influences
- progressively evaluate and record in a visual diary the exploration and development of subject matter, art elements, art principles and use of materials and techniques to present aesthetic qualities
- Produce and evaluate at least one finished artwork.
They are also listed in the lessons to make it easy for the teacher or student user to know what part of the area of study they are working on.
Ideally, this sequence of lessons, particularly the drawing activities, would sharpen students’ observation and artistic ability to coordinate their eye with their hand, and be used as a jumping off point for individual creative trajectories.
Analysis of ICT and Website as a Pedagogical Tool
In each lesson of the learning sequence, digital images of reputable artists’ work and examples of my own creative response to the tasks have been provided. These are supported by online tutorials explaining and demonstrating different artistic techniques students may not have been exposed to previously. People learn in individual ways so providing different learning formats helps to engage all learners.
ICT is a very useful tool for students requiring differentiation. Streamlined responding tasks make use of typing and printing responses to enable students to communicate clearly. Streamlining students are also directed to collect digital images for use as subject matter reference material to support ease of lesson participation.
Teachers have the option to direct students to watch specific tutorials as homework in preparation for upcoming lessons to increase art making time allowance. The tutorials and other information can also assist with bringing absent students up to speed in their own time so they can proceed with their learning with the rest of the class.
For further insight into my response to Unit 1, Area of Study 1, that precedes the focus of this learning sequence, go to ECA734 Annotated Creative Process in the menu bar at the top of the page. This details one of my interest areas, Prehistoric Art and investigates the work of cave artists from around the world, particularly focusing on the artwork found in the Chauvet Caves in the south of France. Students can also be directed to information, art works or tasks found on other pages within this website to extend or support their learning.
At the same page is a sequence of lessons designed for Year 10 students to prepare them for VCE Studio Arts. With the theme of sustainability, this learning would ideally take place at the end of term four.
© Copyright Ingrid Schmidt