Fine Art (A Level)

Creativity with Enthusiasm

All art and design courses provide a stimulating and exciting exploration into the varied art specialisms. You will develop ideas by researching into other artists and be encouraged to examine the world around you visually. You will work through a variety of techniques and learn to work with appropriate media, materials and processes.  As an art and design student, you will need to write about your work, to express personal, creative ideas and produce final outcomes using a range of approaches and methods.

Art is relevant to a range of careers including design, animation, film, production, fashion design, web design, photography and product design. It will prove a valuable skill in our highly visual, multimedia world. Typically, students go onto Foundation Studies in Art and Design at the highly sought after University for the Arts, London (Wimbledon, Camberwell and Central St. Martins), Kingston University and University for the Creative Arts.

CURRICULUM INFORMATION (FINE ART)

WHAT WILL I BE STUDYING ON THE COURSE?

Fine Art is about expressing yourself personally, creatively and practically to the highest level. The course is about developing skills, becoming more creative, having fun, learning and achieving success.  You will explore new techniques of drawing and painting, explore varied media and materials, develop work from your own expressive photographs, produce work from a range of varied subjects of your choice.  Usually you will work from broad themes and produce sequences of related works, which lead towards large-scale and ambitious final pieces. 

Contemporary art is often used as a stimulus to develop new and challenging approaches to art, and we encourage students to participate in the creation of installations in the College, murals, competitions and other extension activities.

Students have access to acrylic, watercolour and oil paints, printmaking facilities including a printing press, large scale display boards, and support for digital art, including MacBook Pros which can be borrowed from the department. 

WHAT WILL I BE DOING IN LESSONS?

Fine Art involves a wide variety of approaches and ways of creating art, often targeted to your individual skills and interests.  You will be producing practical artwork in lessons, presenting the outcomes on boards. You will discuss your art with your subject tutor on a regular basis, exchanging ideas and sharing thoughts about ways forward, looking at the work of fellow students, developing your own practical and decision making skills, producing annotations and notes and developing your work in a range of materials and approaches.

You will have the opportunity to visit galleries and exhibitions to help you engage with artist's work and understand how professional artists work, as well as gaining an understanding and appreciation of a professional context. In the course of your projects, you will research artists, find out about their success within the subject and discover what they have achieved.

HOW WILL THE COURSE BE ASSESSED?

The A Level course is very open and flexible and the department at Gumley House has a long standing and excellent relationship with the board.  We actively teach the attitudes of creativity and how to develop original ideas as we firmly believe that creativity is central to our future prosperity. You will build a portfolio of work in Year 12 which is thematic but individual to you. The second year is about maturation and quality.

Component 1: Personal Investigation and a Personal Study of minimum 1,000 words. Component 1 concludes in January of Year 13. This extended period allows you to develop your interests and skills more deeply and to make meaning full connections with the work of others.

Component 2: ESA (Externally Set Assignment) commences in February with sketchbook-based enquiry into the externally set theme culminating in the 15 hour Sustained Focus Examination.

WHICH OTHER SUBJECTS GO WELL WITH FINE ART?

You can choose to do fine art with a wide range of other subjects.  It fits well with other creative subjects and with the humanities.  It also works well with maths and physics for students interested in architecture.

AND AFTER THE COURSE?

The Fine Art course can lead down a variety of pathways, such as architecture, art journalism, illustration, interior design, set design, concept design, working in galleries/museums, computer game design, jewellery design, fashion and textile design, media industry and art education.  Those who complete the course are equipped with transferable skills and attitudes that are applicable to other industries such as business, advertising, marketing and IT.

Many students progress onto prestigious foundation and degree courses locally and nationally.  A major requirement of any advanced art course is a good portfolio of practical work.

Which Employability Skills will I learn?

• An ability to critique own and other's work
• Self confidence and awareness
• Exhibition and portfolio preparation skills
• Problem solving and time management skills
• Creative thinking
• Independent working and working under time limits
• Self motivation and decisiveness
• The ability to communicate ideas

 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT Fine Art

Careers and Labour Market Information:

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