Unit 2: Through the Artist’s Eyes

Creating a Body of Work through Ceramics and Painting

AIMS:
Students will develop a body of work including ceramic and painting artforms in response to a broad selection of sources of inspiration and subject matter. They will explore the creative practices of Contemporary Australian and First Nation artists, looking for inspiration and influences from the way these artists convey and portray their own stories.

In these personally directed tasks, students will follow the Creative Practice framework to explore their own theme and subject matter. The Creative Practice encompasses experiments with materials, techniques and processes, and the development and documentation of ideas in the lead up to a final artwork. Students will produce a comparative reflection on their creative processes, comparing and evaluating which of the approaches used for the different media served their creative goals the best.

Ceramics – Experiential Learning

Students will begin the ceramic component of this unit through the Development and Experimentation quadrant, rather than the Research and Exploration.

Over a three week period they will construct and embellish a ceramic sculpture, responding to immediate stimuli and the practical experience of working with clay. Students will document their experience, brainstorming and sketching of ideas for their sculpture in their visual diary, along with their growing knowledge of technical information. They may choose to investigate other visual and artistic sources of inspiration as they go, responding to the evolution of their work and furthering their understanding of technical requirements and effects that can be achieved.

Students will reflect and evaluate their practice throughout the development of their visual diary documentation using the PMI model.

  • Plus – what have you done that worked well in regard to your aims and practice
  • Minus – what didn’t go as planned or caused a problem with your aims and practice
  • Interesting/Improvement – what have you learnt through this process that surprised you and what decisions will you make now with this new knowledge and experience.

Oil Painting – Project-based Learning

For the second artwork for this unit, students will start work through the Research and Exploration quadrant. They will compile originally sourced photographs to develop ideas, subject matter and a composition for an oil painting. This may be result in a single canvas or a work developed from multiple smaller canvases. Students will be working expressively in response to their chosen subject matter; portraiture or still life.

In their visual diary, students will prioritise the recording and annotation of their original photographs. They will also record the subsequent brainstorming and development of their refined composition design. As students investigate the creative processes of the prescribed artists they will seek connections and approaches to contribute to the refinement of their own work. Finally they must document the process of producing their painting using traditional and contemporary techniques with oil paint through photographs and annotations including PMIs.

Artists of our time, our world.

Students will research and compare the practice of a selection of contemporary English, Australian and First Nation Artists for this unit. They will discuss their intended messages, sources of inspiration and visual language through the Arts Creative Practice Interpretive Lenses – Personal, Cultural and Structural Lenses.