Art and Design

Art Curriculum Intent

Art is one of the earliest forms of recording information and communication – think cave paintings. Through art we learn about our ancestors, history, and explore our social, moral, cultural and spiritual awareness. Evidence of art, craft and design, and the study of these areas, is all around us, from the buildings that we live and learn in, the television programmes we watch, the clothes we wear, the vehicles that we travel in.

At Colmers, we believe Art should be, and can be, accessible to all, breaking through barriers of ability, culture and economic background, and we have designed an Art curriculum that is relevant and tailored to the diversity of our students interests and needs. Art stimulates the excellent transferable skills of creativity and imagination, and through the studying of it, students at Colmers have the opportunity to develop a wide range of practical skills, exploring new materials, as well as learning about the diverse roles and functions of art, craft and design in contemporary life, and in different times and cultures.

Understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts has the power to enrich our personal and public lives, by developing a wide range of qualities: independence, enthusiasm, pride, inspiration, tenacity and ambition, which in turn builds self-esteem.

Key End Points:

Year 7: Students develop an understanding of Art through time, and that there are different periods, styles and cultures of Art and knowledge of a range of Artists across these; they gain a strong grounding in fundamental drawing techniques in dry media and (painting) colour theory. We study, in depth, Op Art, including the work of Bridget Riley, Pointillism with links to Impressionism, and contemporary Japanese Artist Yayoi Kusama. They begin to develop informed opinions on art, and evaluate the work of themselves and others.

Year 8: widens the lexicon of knowledge and understanding of Art and artists across periods, styles and artists; it builds upon the techniques learnt in year 7, with the introduction of a wider range of materials and processes, such as print making, and more complex ways of creating art, such as the use of symbolism in portraiture.

We study the Arts and Crafts movement, looking at key artists, and connect this to Islamic Art. The final project of the year sees students developing knowledge and understanding of facial proportion, and build upon their rendering skills from year 7. They create a realistic portrait, which has symbolic meaning through use of colour and imagery, influenced by key artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo. Students become more thoughtful and reflective art critics, through studying the work of others and being guided on effective evaluation of the work of others and themselves.

Year 9: sees students study the work of a wide range of artists across the themes of Insects and Sweet Treats. Students strengthen their skills in a wet and dry media, building upon those learnt and developed in year 7 and 8, as well as learning new; they also start to develop an understanding of 3D art through the study of ceramics and creating outcomes from clay. Greater emphasis is placed on the developing of personal opinions on the artwork of others, and relating these to student’s own art work, as well as using evaluation to improve knowledge, techniques and outcomes.

Year 11: sees the culmination of a two year GCSE Art, Craft and Design course. Students leave as reflective confident, independent, artists with a wide range of technical skills across dry, wet, and 3D media. They are experienced in researching and selecting artists and artworks to study that appeal to their own interests within a broad teacher-set theme, as well as the Exam Board themes for the Externally Set Assignment.

Year 13: sees the culmination of a two year A Level Fine Art course. After studying a teacher set theme, to equip students with a more in-depth knowledge of practical skills, and greater written skills of analysis and evaluation, the students embark on a Personal Investigation Project, where they select their own themes. They are experienced in researching and selecting artists and artworks to study that appeal to their own interests within a broad teacher-set theme, as well as the Exam Board themes for the Externally Set Assignment.

Each year, the students know more about ways to create art themselves and have a wider range of technical skills to equip them to do this; their art is enriched by an expanding knowledge of art styles, periods and artists; they can be more confident artists and art critics because of this.