Year 11

YEAR 11 ARTMAKING

 

Year 11 Sculptures, the Intellectual Stream of Modernism

The Preliminary course in Year 11 is designed to further develop our students artmaking so that what is produced is substantial, skilled and conceptually sound. Because our students are success-oriented, they are sometimes not naturally risk-takers and this can lead to some conservative attitudes towards artmaking. To counteract this in Yr. 11 we begin the course with a protracted look at the Subjective Frame producing many drawings, collographs and paintings; this is the frame our students often have the most problems with so that initially this course is based on experimentation, expressive mark-making and the use of materials in a gestural, seemingly spontaneous manner and a corresponding study of those artists who use similar artmaking practices. We study the artworks of some of the artists who belong to the emotional stream of Modernism, such as the Fauves, the German Expressionists, Kandinsky, Dubuffet, Tucker, Bacon, Rothko, looking at their world as well, and the role of the audience, This is a terms' worth.

Yr 11 Collage based on a study of the Absurd and irrational in Art (Subjective Frame) Painting referencing Modernism

In Term 2 we begin a series of drawings and paintings where we concentrate on the Structural and Cultural Frames and use the artmaking practices, both conceptual and material of those artists who work in the more intellectual stream of Modernism. This encompasses the study of the artworks, world and audiences of such artists as Picasso, Malevich, Mondrian through to Field Painting and the Minimalists.

Yr 11 VA Sculpture, referencing Modernism, Structural and Postmodern Frames

The final term is devoted to the Postmodern frame and Postmodern artmaking practices. The students devise, produce and document a full-scale site-specific Installation. These can be static, can have a performance aspect or can be documented using a time-based form e.g. film or video. Students are given an overriding theme, in this case, Enigma, which they interpret individually.

 

Yr 11 VA Sculpture, referencing Modernism, Structural and Postmodern Frames

The works must satisfy the requirements of postmodern artmaking practice (they can be eclectic, ironic, use pastiche or parody, appropriation and recontextualisation, use non-traditional, easily-found materials, refer to the site) Students research artists whose work has influenced their own artmaking practice and the artists we study in class include Bill Viola, Simone Mangos, Navin Rawanchaikul, and many others. We also look at the history of site-specificity beginning with the caves at Lascaux, through Bernini's "The Ecstasy of St. Therese" to Smithson's "Spiral Jetty".

 

Yr 11 VA Sculpture and Painting, referencing Modernism, Structural and Postmodern Frames

 

YEAR 11 STUDY OF ART

The Preliminary Year is when students expand their knowledge bases in relation not only to the study of artmaking but of the practices of art criticism and art history. They are taught to use the Conceptual Framework (Artist, Artwork, Audience, World) in conjunction with the Frames as tools of analysis and interpretation and structuring devices for their art writing and understanding. Students are taught to write using different techniques so that they become familiar with Preliminary and HSC assessment formats. They are taught the skills of responding in a short, concise and economical manner suitable for the types of questions they will have in Section I of their exams, as well as the skills associated with interpreting the bases of these questions in relation to whether they require knowledge of the Frames, the Conceptual Framework or Practice. Students are also taught the different writing techniques associated with Section II. This requires they write an essay-type response which has a more formal and conventional format and requires knowledge and analytical skills expressed in more depth with supporting evidence.

Year 11 VA Paintings referencing Modernism, Structural and Postmodern Frames

We find that this continuum from Year 7 to Year 11 sets the groundwork for the type of artmaking practices the students of HGHS use in their HSC Bodies of Work.