Art Creative Practice 

SCOPE

Art is an integral part of life and contributes to a progressive society. Artworks and visual language are a potent and dynamic means to communicate personal experiences and ideas, and cultural values, beliefs and viewpoints on experiences and issues in contemporary society.

In the study of VCE Art Creative Practice, research and investigation inform art making. Through the study of artworks, the practices of artists and their role in society, students develop their individual art practice, and communicate ideas and meaning using a range of materials, techniques and processes.

In the practice of Making and Responding, students develop their skills in critical and creative thinking, innovation, problem-solving and risk-taking. By combining a focused study of artworks, art practice and practical art making, students recognise the interplay between research, art practice and the analysis and interpretation of art works.

This study provides students with an informed context to support an awareness of art as a tool for cultural, social and personal communication, and the stimulus and inspiration to develop their art practice.

AIMS

This study enables students to:

  • understand how the practices of artists and artworks reflect the values, beliefs and traditions of their own and other cultures
  • analyse, interpret and respond to artworks and ideas, both in their own work and in the work of others, using the support of the Interpretive Lenses
  • critically evaluate ideas and issues explored by historical and contemporary artists from different cultures and societies
  • develop personal ideas and expression through Making and Responding in art practice
  • employ practical skills in art making and develop conceptual understanding to inform aesthetic awareness and art practice
  • develop creative and critical thinking skills in individual responses to artworks and art practice.

The study helps students to develop transferable 21st-century skills that are highly valued in many areas of employment. Organisations increasingly seek employees who demonstrate work-related creativity and innovative thinking and who understand diversity. Students are challenged to articulate their understanding of the meanings and messages contained within artworks and to examine the effects of artworks upon the viewers or audiences who experience them.

Students learn visual literacy and creative and critical thinking, pose and solve problems, and work independently and collaboratively, to create and convey meaning through art making. Students will create personal responses and meaning by applying diverse, manual and digital, materials, techniques and art processes.  

For the purposes of VCE Art Creative Practice, art forms can include but are not limited to painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, film, video, ceramics, sound, photography, performance, textiles, fashion, digital artworks, interdisciplinary practices, installations and street art. 
Students are equipped with practical and theoretical skills that enable them to follow pathways into tertiary art education, further training in art-related careers, as well as roles that require highly developed critical and conceptual engagement with ideas and issues.

Unit 1: Interpreting artworks and exploring the Creative Practice

In Unit 1 students use Experiential learning in Making and Responding to explore ideas using the Creative Practice. As the artist and audience, students consider their connection to artworks, and how their communication of ideas and presentation of artworks challenge, shape and influence viewer or audience perspectives.

Unit 2: Interpreting artworks and developing the Creative Practice

In Unit 2 students use Inquiry learning to investigate the artistic and collaborative practices of artists. They use the Cultural Lens, and the other Interpretive Lenses as appropriate, to examine artworks from different periods of time and cultures, and to explore the different ways that artists interpret and communicate social and personal ideas in artworks.

Unit 3: Investigation, ideas, artworks and the Creative Practice

In this unit students use Inquiry and Project-based learning as starting points to develop a Body of Work. They explore ideas and experiment with materials, techniques and processes using the Creative Practice. The research of historical and contemporary artists is integral to students’ use of the Creative Practice and informs the basis of their investigation. Students also investigate the issues that may arise from the artworks they view and discuss, or those evolving from the practice of the artist. Unit 3 commences with students researching the practice of a selected artist as the starting point to develop a finished artwork. The finished artwork will contribute to the Body of Work developed over Units 3 and 4.

Unit 4: Interpreting, resolving and presenting artworks and the Creative Practice

In Unit 4 students continue to develop their art practice through Project-based and Inquiry learning as their research and exploration continues to support the development of their Body of Work. Throughout their research students study the practices of selected historical and contemporary artists to inform their own art practice. They use the Interpretive Lenses to analyse, compare and interpret the meanings and messages of artworks produced by the artists they study. 

Students continue to build upon the ideas begun in Unit 3 and present a critique of their use of the Creative Practice. They reflect on the feedback from their critique to further refine and resolve a Body of Work that demonstrates their use of the Creative Practice and the realisation of their personal ideas. 

ASSESSMENT

Units 1 and 2

School-assessed coursework

Units 3 and 4

Units 3 and 4 School-assessed Task: 60 per cent

Units 3 and 4 School-assessed Coursework: 10 per cent

End-of-year examination: 30 per cent.

THE VISUAL DIARY

A visual diary is used to record and document making and responding in VCE Art Creative Practice. The diary can be created using different forms of presentation. Students should be encouraged to use formats that suit their working method and the Body of Work that they are producing. Any of the following – individually or in combination – could be used: document boxes, sketchbooks, bound or clipped together sheets, or portfolios.
Students can also consider using digital formats for their visual diary by creating an online repository of their art practice.

Some approaches to presenting information and evidence of students’ creative practice in the visual arts diary include:

  • annotations
  • visual material
  • audio recordings
  • documentation that is numbered and dated.

The Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) provides information about student wellbeing and duty of care, including:

Further information about occupational health and safety and codes of practice for the Visual Arts industry can be found on the website of the National Association for the Visual Arts.