Artist Investigation

Artist investigation.

Read around, take notes and think about the artist before you begin any writing. Read interviews, ask me for articles or related artists, styles, and movements that might be relevant. Ask pertinent questions related to the work. 

Tasks:

1

Complete the 'Artist investigation' sheet. It's HERE. This should focus your research. Please ask me for help if you are struggling to find information or you need assistance with how to word a feeling you have. 

It looks at your personal response, the artists' approach, method, intention, context, invites you to compare and contrast and gets you making by using their style or interpreting their ideas. 

2

Take an artefact belonging to the artist. 

• Describe the feeling that the artefact is communicating. What is its personality?
• What is the audience immediately getting?
• Which elements of the design relate to the band or music? 
• Is this Pragmatic or Poetic?

Discuss the choice of:

• Iconography (what is included and why?)
• Colour scheme
• Line, shape, texture, tone, space, and form.
• Rendering approach (what is it made from and why?)
• Typographic personality
• Composition (busy, sparse, ordered etc)
• Any other observations?

Mid Term Deadline

Hand in books for mid-term assessment.  Tuesday 5th of March

• Brainstorm
• Gather related imagery
• Drawings of subject matter
• Investigating using Photography
• Collect artworks, illustrations, artefacts, related to your theme.
• Write an outline of what you plan to investigate or make.
• Explore the form. (books covers, album covers etc)
• Artists research / visual response)
• Exploring and experimenting with different media
• Further Investigation with photography or drawing

If you are independent and wish to 'swap out' a task as there is a more relevant one for you, feel free... just alert me about it.

Any questions? deh@thomasadams.net

AL Art and Desigin Themes

Exploring using drawing

Exploring your starting point using drawing (or any other form of making).
Deadline: Monday 11th Jan

Task:
Fill pages with drawings relating to your brainstorm.
Thos that struggle with drawing, FEEL FREE TO USE A LIGHTBOX.
Use a variety of different media. Look at the presentation above for inspiration.

Title: 'Exploring using drawing.'
Annotation should include 1. Your intention. 2. Any observations about the images that spring to mind and 3. An evaluation of the task.

Helpful links:   

How to draw
Primary drawing  

Gather Related Imagery

Using your brainstorm as a reference, you should now gather together related imagery. This can be anything related to your theme. Be clever, obvious, playful and creative with your choices
Include your own drawingm marks, decoration.. 
Create a clear title.

Remember! The more you can introduce your own drawing and creative making into your pages, the better result you will obtain!

Don't forget to annotate as you go along. What is your intention and what have you achieved at the end of the exercise. What interesting observations have you made along the way?

Deadline: Mon 11th of Feb

Brainstorming

 
Over a page or two of your sketchbook or presentation, brainstorm the starting point that you have chosen. Be creative with your ideas and DON"T refuse anything that you think of. 
Feel free to consider 'forms at this point if you like.
Fill up your pages and annotate. What are you attempting to do and what are the outcomes.

Deadline: Tuesday 5th of Feb

Exam Start! Component 2.

Your Graphics exam will take place all day on Wed 10, Thurs 11 and Friday 12th April. That's 15 hours. 
Your exam sketchbook preparation starts today, Friday the 1st of Feb. That's 8 weeks of college with a half term in the middle.
This is Comp 2 and the final 40% of your grade.
After the exam, there will be 2 college weeks of 'snagging' time for you to tidy up comp 1 and 2. 
And then you leave!.

Spend 1/2 an hour to choose a starting point that provides some interest. 
Then get started!

Final word count for AO1 should be 2000-3000wrds.
Deadline: Thursday 6th December.

• Read back through your personal investigation. 
• The practitioners that you have chosen will suggest a theme that is reflected in your practical work. 
• Come up with a good two-part title. The first part should grab attention. The title will be answered or explored in your writing.
• Write until you have concluded your investigation. 
• Make sure that you have evaluated the approaches of artists, compared and contrasted, asked suitable questions and searched for relevant answers, and present your own, considered points of view
• A. B and C grade students will revise their essay. Going back in and editing, taking bits out that are irrelevant and tightening it up. 
• Give it to a friend or relative. Ask them to feedback- does it make sense? Does it explore? Is there a clear introduction and a satisfying conclusion?
• Correct spelling and punctuation.
• Include a bibliography.

Stundet Assessment Objective Checklist.

The exam board issue students with an Assessment Objective Checklist. Here's their version. I have made a simplified version HERE.
We can use the separate elements from the assessment objective to shine a light on where you need to focus your efforts. It can also help to put your mind at rest, to show you that there is a finite amount of work.
We are going to go through your work and add colour coded post-it labels for each of the assessment objective elements. 
Pink for AO1. Blue for AO2. Orange for AO3.
Make sure you write the AO and the number element on the post-it.
Please note, you could have all of these elements and still gain a low grade. Quality of work is still needed. 

Personal Investigation Extended Writing 750-1500 words

Deadline: Monday 29th October

Read back through your personal investigation. Link another designer to continue where you left off. Use the Contextual Investigation and Looking at Artefacts sheets.
Within this section, please ensure that you are comparing and contrasting the two designers. Use this sheet to help.

Investigating your Form

Choose your ‘form’ - book cover, poster etc List of artefacts HERE

1 Write an outline of what you plan to make

2 Explore the form and evidence your research using the ‘Contextual Investigation - Form’ sheet.

Deadline start of the lesson: Weds 19th

Learner Statement

Learner statement link is HERE
Example and help HERE

Thumbnailing

Exploring and experimenting with imagery in different media 1

12 Graphic Communication Mock Exam - 9 May

There is an all-day, year 12 Graphics Mock exam on the 9th of May. You will be required to produce a further 'visual response' to the practitioner you have chosen for your written element. It is advisable that you practice the process you are to use prior to the exam.

When planning a response, it is necessary for you to really understand the intentions and ideas that the practitioner was attempting to communicate. This will then inform your response in a more fulfilling way. You should be able to talk about the ideas and meanings in your work, rather than superficially copying the style of the work. 

You have from today to plan your work in readiness for the exam in 10 days. Thumbnail and Draft your ideas and come to the exam with all of the materials, processes and plans worked out in advance. 

Books will be collected in on Monday the 14th for assessment, Please ensure that all previous feedback has been addressed and self-monitoring comments are clearly written on the feedback sheet.

You will hand in:

• Planning for mock (relevant drafting, photography, plans, written notes)
• Final visual response
• 500+ Written investigation (on Google doc.)

The assessment rubric is HERE

Extended Writing for Personal Investigation

What is the extended writing element of the Personal Investigation?
The Comp 1 Personal Investigation must include a ‘written element’ taking the ‘form of 1000-3000 words of extended response’. This Ofqual requirement effectively means that continuous prose must be submitted in addition to any short tracts of written annotation in sketchbooks or other formats.

I have created a help sheet that is linked at the top right of the blog. It's called 'Extended Writing'. Print it off and stick it in the back of your sketchbook for future reference.

Over the next few weeks, we will begin the process of researching and writing. Luckily, you don't have to complete all of the sections in one go. It is better if you write in short bursts of well-written prose and allow that to inform your work.

Let's focus on A01 first.

Task 1
Read through the help sheet thoroughly and ask questions of any parts that don't make sense.

Task 2
Create a Google Doc, name it 'Your name_Written Element_Personal Investigation' and share it with danhaycocks@me.com.

Task 3
Choose an artefact that is relevant to your investigation. Look at the Artists Linked By Theme sheet.
Work through points 1-7 on the Contextual Investigation sheet.
Include images within the document to illustrate your writing.
When you come to draw or work in the same style, complete this on separate paper and keep safe.

Deadline Start of lesson, Friday 11th of May

Exploring your theme / Exciting sketchbook

Objective

To draw, invent, draw, experiment, draw, enjoy and draw
To attempt new ways of exploring, recording your ideas and starting points
To liven up a drab sketchbook
To build up AO2 Creative Making and AO3 Reflective Recording

Task

Cover the next few pages in your sketchbook with drawings of your theme. You shoukd just look at your chosen brainstorm and draw all the elements of that. Be inventive as well as skilful. Use the visual research that you have already gathered.
Look at the slides above for ideas.
To get the best results, you will possibly make some drawing that you don't like... push on a fill you page, paint on them, collage and work on top... there is only one rule... don't give up and rip ages out. Just keep going

You will be graded on

Your pages should be brimming with interesting drawings, marks, mediums and ideas.

Deadline

TBC

Further research through Google Lifetags

Try searching through Google Lifetags HERE

Practitioners that have worked with the same theme

Aim
Attempt to broaden your understanding of other approaches.

Task 

1
Find practitioners that have worked with the same theme.
Examples to look at: art, music, film, pop culture, fashion, advertising… 

Find at least 10. Approx 7 artists/illustrators and 3 from other forms.

Artists listed by Theme or Subject links are HERE. I didn't make the list, it's one I pinched from the web... so it might be awful. But it can be used to start you off. I would much rather if you fond you own. Search the Tate of MOMA.
2

Choose one and comment on: Personal response, Method, Approach, Intention and Context. 

Use this helpsheet that includes an example to structure your response.

Investigating using Photography

Investigate using Photography

Task:

Using your camera, go out and take pictures related to your theme. Don’t hold back! Variety and a creative/inventive/playful mind will produce the best results.

Remember, you have no idea what your final will be yet. That's 25 weeks away.

Example

30+ images. These can be presented in lesson time.

Deadline - bring to the start of lesson Monday 20th March.