Art  

Students will study Art at Key stage 3 and can choose to study both Art and Photography at GCSE. Our Art curriculum fosters creativity, self-expression and personal growth. We create a challenging but supportive environment, which allows pupils to explore and create. Pupils will study a large variety of artists from the ancient art of Chinese ink drawing, Aboriginal dot paintings and Mexican folk art to the modern and contemporary art of the 19th,20th and 21st Centuries. We are currently working to achieve Artsmark and are working with Handmade Productions, Pendle LCEP and Building Bridges in Colne taking part in a range of exciting projects throughout the year. 

In Key Stage 3 we want all students to embed the basic skills of researching artists and relating these artists to their own artwork, they will also develop drawing and shading skills and learn to use a variety of Art media both in two and three dimensions to enable them to better understand and create their own Art. 

Year 7 

Students will learn about: 

• What is Art? Discussion and work on all different elements of Art and Craft from ancient to contemporary. 

• Still Life Project – Building up drawing and shading skills, referring to the artists Patrick Caulfield and Michael Craig Martin 

• Contemporary architecture and design - Developing abstract designs based on local architecture and referring to the artist Michael Craig Martin. 

• Mexican Art – Looking at the work and life of modern artist Frida Kahlo and traditional craft of Mexican Folk Art. Developing research skills, portrait drawing skills studying traditional Mexican folk art and learning to print. 

Year 8 

Students will learn about: 

• What is Art? How have opinions and understanding changed on different elements of Art. 

• Graffiti Art – Is it Art or vandalism? Developing colour blending, shading and graphic design skills learnt in year 7 and learning about the work of contemporary artists Banksy and Kelzo.  

• Pop Art and Food in Art– learning about the work of many of the Pop artists and focusing on Food in Art pupils will develop their skills in drawing from observation and the use of a variety of different art media. 

• Pop Art portraits – building on the portrait skills learnt in year 7 and the knowledge of Pop Art pupils will create a Pop Art portrait learning about the Contemporary artist Julien Opie and developing digital art skills. 

• Butterflies and Bugs- developing skills in different art media and learning about the ancient, traditional, modern and contemporary artists such as Aboriginal Art, Earnest Haeckel, Kate Osbourne, Chinese Gongbi style Art, Beatriz Mihazes and Andy Warhol who focus on butterflies and bugs in their artwork. 

Year 9 

Students will learn about:

• What is Art? How opinions and understanding have developed and changed on the different elements of Art over the last 2 years. 

• Portraits project – Looking at the impact of different events on a person’s life, and developing skills learnt in year 7 pupils will develop a portrait of their chosen subject. 

• Architecture – Studying a variety of artists and architects’ traditional and contemporary and building on skills learnt in year 7; pupils will design their own buildings and develop artwork based on Architecture. 

• Wall Art – Murals based on Architecture studying the work of the artist Lobo and developing skills learnt in the Graffiti project. 

Year 10 and 11

In year 10 students learn about the GCSE course and complete a series of projects to build knowledge and skills.

The first project is “Close ups” looking at a variety of artists who focus on Food in Art.

Secondly students’ study “Natural Forms” developing skills in analysis of both artist’s work and their own work and learning skills in a variety of different art media.

In the Summer term students begin their major coursework project. This is taken from a choice of 3 themes

• Identity
• Dreams and Surrealism
• Travel

This major project will run until Christmas of Year 11 and will incorporate a mock exam period of 5 hours to complete the final outcome for the project, this allows pupils to practice for the 10-hour exam in April of Year 11.

In January of Year 11 students will be given the exam paper with 7 starting points to choose from. They have until the second week after the Easter break to complete this project with the 10-hour exam period used to complete the final outcome.

Photography Years 10 and 11

In Year 10 students learn about the GCSE course and complete a series of projects to build knowledge and skills. 

Pupils look at - Texture, colour, manipulating photographs in a variety of different ways concluding with a final outcome informed by the techniques learned and artists and photographers studied. 

In the Summer term students begin their major coursework project. This is taken from a choice of 3 themes  

• My World 
• Fragmentation 
• Groups 

This major project will run until Christmas of Year 11 and will incorporate a mock exam period of 5 hours to complete the final outcome for the project, this allows pupils to practice for the 10-hour exam in April of Year 11. 

In January of Year 11 students will be given the exam paper with 7 starting points to choose from. They have until the second week after the Easter break to complete this project with the 10-hour exam period used to complete the final outcome.  

Clubs and revision sessions 

Year 11 revision sessions are on a Thursday where pupils can develop work and extend their studies. 

Art Club is on Friday 3.15pm -4 30pm– students are currently working on the Crafts Council Material world competition creating 3 dimensional sculptures of animals and a Mural in the Science department greenhouse. 

For further information about our Art and Photography curriculum, please contact Mrs H Whittle, Head of Creative and Vocational, by emailing h.whittle@westcraven.co.uk or phoning the main office to arrange a call back