Art – Fine Art

Art – Fine Art

Qualification

A Level

Welcome to the Art & Design department, an innovative and stimulating environment where you learn a broad and varied curriculum across four A Level Art & Design courses, including; Fine Art, Graphic Design, Textiles and Photography.

Visit Subject website

Fine Art may be defined as work which is produced as an outcome of your personal experience, rather than that which is created exclusively for a practical function or that which is the outcome of a tightly prescribed brief.

Course Content

Students will experience a series of initial workshops to broaden knowledge, engage with a variety of traditional media and to challenge the way it can be applied to communicate concepts and ideas. Students will use a variety of mediums including acrylics, coloured inks, pastels and charcoal. Three-dimensional work is produced using plaster, wood, plastics, latex, wire and found material. The work produced may derive from some of these initial starting points still life, portraiture, landscape, abstract, figurative compositions but work can also come from a personal response to an idea, concept or issue.

Component 1: Personal Investigation (60% of the A Level) Students present an individual project based on a personal idea or genre which can be presented in a sketchbook or online portfolio and includes written work of 1000 to 3000 words which supports practical work.

Component 2: Externally Set Assignment (40% of the A Level) Students respond to a stimulus issued by Eduqas and a body of work is produced on one of the visual or written briefs. The finished outcome or series of outcomes are created during a 15 hour period of supervised time.

(Exam board – WJEC Eduqas)
(Specification code: A651QS)

How it is Taught

The theme for your Personal Investigation is chosen by you. Throughout the Investigation you will produce a research sketchbook, which includes investigation of the work of artists that inform your own work. Studio sessions are complemented by lectures, study visits to galleries and museums. A programme of workshops teach a range of 2D and 3D skills during the initial stages of the course. Work is assessed on a continual tutorial basis with feedback so that you can develop your own personal skills and ideas.

Formal assessments and feedback take place on a regular basis throughout the course.

The processes you will learn as part of this course include:

  • painting & drawing (using ink, paint, pencil, pastel)
  • mixed media (using both 2D and 3D materials)
  • printmaking (including monoprinting and screenprinting)
  • sculpture (using plaster, wood, plastic, wire, clay and found objects)
  • photography
  • video making and editing

The development work and outcomes that you will produce on the course include:

  • paintings and drawings
  • sculpture
  • photography
  • installation
  • video and or/audio
Assessment Information

Entry Requirements

Minimum entry requirements are GCSE grade 4 in English as well as a genuine interest in Art. It is advisable to have studied a creative subject at GCSE in Art or Media; grade 4 or above is required.

Students wishing to study Fine Art who do not have an art based GCSE will still be considered. A GCSE grade 5 is a minimum requirement if you want to take two or more art and design subjects.

Anyone wishing to do this should speak to a member of the art department during enrolment.

Careers & HE Information

Fine Art is a good basis for development of skills before progression to the one year full-time post A-level course – BTEC Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art & Design. Students on this course have progressed to prestigious Higher Education Art & Design courses throughout the UK, including Goldsmiths College (University of London), Central St Martins (London College of Arts), Kingston University, Glasgow School of Art and Leeds Arts University.

Students from the Fine Art course go on to a range of careers within the creative industries including becoming artists. They also work as curators, in Gallery & Museum exhibition teams, in community arts, as archivists, architects and art educators, and a host of other creative settings.

Useful Subject Combinations

Fine art is a great subject to combine with other creative subjects including; Photography, Graphics, Textiles, Media and Film Studies. Also, in previous years students have studied a variety of subjects alongside photography such as; English Literature, History, Business studies, languages and sociology.

Privacy Policy

We regard your privacy as important and any personal information you give to us will be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulations.

We do not store personal information about individuals who visit this site except where they provide contact information via our contact us page and contact forms available on various pages throughout the website.

Any information you provide will only be used for the reasons specified and it will not be shared with any third party without your consent, unless required by law.

Your contact details are kept securely and are only accessed by authorised members of staff as part of the provision of school services. If you do not wish us to keep this contact information please tell us.

This website uses Google Analytics which provides statistical data about the usage of the site. This information is not used to identify individuals, but is collected to provide us with an understanding of the areas of interest on our site and how our site is being used.

If you are connected to the internet you will have an IP Address. This may take the form of a figure, such as 333.333.22.1. The address will be automatically collected and logged as part of the connection of your computer to our web server and may be used to determine the total number of visits to each part of the site. This data is not collected and used for other purposes.

This website contains links to other websites. The School is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites or organisations and recommends you consult the privacy information on those sites.

This policy will be reviewed and updated versions will be posted on the website.

If you have any questions about the use of your personal information, the Information Commissioner is the independent regulator for both Data Protection and Freedom of Information.