Yr 8 SHARED VIEW homework

Australian Aboriginal art has a wealth of ancient meanings, symbolism and views. The SHARED VIEW project requires that you recognise and explore the amazing qualities of this culture, and locate similarities between it and your own cultural heritage. 

1. Write a paragraph about 'The Dreaming' or 'Dreamtime', a process used by Aboriginal people to communicate about history, origins, spirituality and relationships. You will find some good information here, and here. 

2. VIsit DUST ECHOES - this website contains a series of twelve beautifully animated dreamtime stories, telling tales of love, loyalty, duty to country and Aboriginal custom and law. Summarise one of the dreamtime stories in your sketchbook. You can either write, sketch, or create a comic book. 

R Davies

Yr 9 SELF IMAGE homework

WHO ARE YOU?! 

Well, this self image project is all about YOU expressing who you are, using your imagination, memory and imagination. 

It always helps to look at the work of other artists when exploring a new theme. These homework tasks are designed to get you thinking a bit more in-depth about some of the artists you have studied in your lessons. 

1. Visit the excellent website of the late NYC graffiti artist Keith Haring. Drop, drag and colour your own Haring-style image. Print out what you create and place in your art folder. 

2. David Shillinglaw is a contemporary British artists who has recently had an exhibition in Bristol. 

Shillinglaw states that "my work deals with an ongoing quest to control and define the human condition. The work depicts all the devices we use to conceal and reveal our true identities as we struggle both to fit in and stand out. I make work that illustrates the shifts between the multitude of fictions we labour under and the reality of who we are." 

He has placed many of his intricate and thought-provoking works on his website. Print out two of your favourites and write one paragraph explaining what it is about the images that you like. 

R Davies 

EXAM SEASON

Exam season is upon us again, for all Year 11, 12 & 13 students it's time to get busy! You all have between 4 - 6 weeks of school to prepare for the actual exam, so it's important to work in a very concentrated and specific fashion. 

TOP TIPS for EXAM SUCCESS

1. Communicate with your teacher/s! We are here to guide you towards success. 

2. Plan your time. You will need to, at very least, fill a sketchbook full of preparation work BEFORE the exam. 

3. Follow this basic working structure: 

- select a question / starting point

- record and observe

- analyse the theme 

- research artist references 

- experiment with materials and processes 

- develop and review your ideas 

- personalise your work 

- complete and present your final piece 

- evaluate

4. Your work has to fit into the ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES. No matter how interesting and creative your work is, and no matter how many compliments you get for it, you won't get the marks if it doesn't fit within the 4 objectives. Each of these objectives is worth 25%, and so you need to spend approximately 25% of your time on each one. 

5. Attend the after-school lessons. Wednesdays 3 - 4pm for GCSE; Thursdays 3 - 4.30pm for AS/A2 Level. Also, use your "free" time to do some extra work. GCSE students should be using some of their lunch times to complete extra work; AS/A2 students should be setting aside a minimum of two "free" periods a week to work in the art rooms. 

6. Use the following websites to help you get inspired: 

- the William de Ferrers School in Essex has kept an excellent online gallery of all exam classes work over the last six years. As the work is categorised by grades, and includes the candidates prep' work at the bottom of the page, it is an excellent facility for you to understand the scope and ambition needed in order to reach a particular grade in a specific examination. I can't recommend this site enough - GCSE Fine Art ; AS Fine Art ; A2 Fine Art.

- GCSE bitesize has really good information regarding the assessment objectives, together with visual examples of student's work and suggested artist references. 

- The Tate Gallery has an extensive 'search' function, and will give you much relevant contextual information on just about every established artist you can think of. 

- The Young Tate section of the website has an exam help feature, which will guide you towards relevant IDEAS and ARTIST REFERENCES. 

- The American equivalents of the Tate, MOMA in New York, and the NGA in Washington are also excellent resources when researching artists and developing ideas. 

Art exam season can be overwhelming, but remember that it can be a really rewarding time too. This is when YOU SHOW US your ideas, your artistic skills and your creative flair. This is your time to shine, and to raise your grade as high as possible. 

Best of luck to you all.

R Davies

Year 7 Landscape

Make your own Henri Rousseau style landscape by using Jungle a brilliant interactive website. When you are finished print out and put in your art folder.

Extension work (year 7)

Artists use their imaginations to create scenes and places that are not real and that might never exist

Visit the Tate Kids webpage, and play the
 'My Imaginary City' game You will be able to create your own imaginary city. What would it be like? When you are finished print out your city and describe what it is like to live there.

C Ball

'still life' extension work (year 9)

TASK 1: Create your own traditional-style still life painting by using the NGA interactive painting webpage. Add, move, and re-size objects, change tables and fabrics, use digital paintbrushes, and much more! print out your concluding image and put in your art folder. 

TASK 2: Visit the excellent Tate Kids webpage, and play the 'Memento Mori' game. It will teach you about the symbols and meanings behind 'still life' artworks. When you've played the game, write a short description about the ideas explored in still life art. 

R Davies

'changing style' extension work (year 8)

TASK 1: visit this blog about EXPERIMENTAL ALPHABETS where you will see a huge variety of hand-drawn lettering and experimental typography. Now, using the influence of what you see there, design your own alphabet!

TASK 2: Alter a page of text from a magazine or newspaper, in the style of artist TOM PHILLIPS. Experiment with making a totally new meaning as you cover and alter the words on the page. 

TASK 3: Select one of the abstract close-up images from the animation sets from the online GALLERY (don't worry if it's not your own photograph). Print out and, cover with big lettering from your poem (you could use your own alphabet from Task 1).  

R Davies