Art and Design GCSE
Edexcel 1AF0 Fine Art (9-1)
OR
Edexcel 1TE0 Textile Design (9-1)
We offer two Art and Design GCSE options. The Fine Art option OR the Textile Design option. Both come under the broad Art and Design umbrella but enable students to follow different pathways from the start of Year 10. The GCSE in Art and Design is a broad and flexible course that requires you to develop an appreciation of the creative process through a practical response, using a variety of two-dimensional and three-dimensional media, materials, techniques and processes. You will explore critically how artists, craftspeople and designers from diverse cultures, times and societies have arrived at solutions and communicated meaning using the formal elements and will use this knowledge when developing new ideas, recording observations and creating outcomes which fully realise your personal intentions.
Course content
You will have four 40 minute periods of Art per week with an expected minimum of one hour of homework to accompany this. On this course you will follow either the Fine Art or Textile Design Edexcel (2016) Specification for which you will produce a Personal Portfolio (worth 60%) in response to given themes.
Year 10
For Fine Art you will study painting and printmaking. For Textile Design you will focus on Art Textiles and Fashion, (screen printing, silk painting, felt making, machine embroidery and applique and construction). Each project brief is designed to develop your skills, knowledge and understanding when using different techniques, enabling you to experiment and explore the work of other artists in relation to your own. Most work will take the form of practical workshops in lessons and research, drawing and note making using a sketchbook. Recording using drawing and photography is a foundation for all the projects and you will learn how this informs and helps develop and visually communicate your own ideas. Technology will also inform the development of ideas. Photoshop and the Procreate App are taught.
Year 11
During your second year, you will be encouraged to build upon skills and techniques learnt in order to produce a more considered body of coursework with supporting work. The emphasis is more on personal independent creative work, supported by regular tutorials and guidance.
The final assessment consists of an Externally Set Assignment (external examination worth 40%). This will be set in the Spring Term. The exam theme is launched by the exam board and released to students in January. You are given a set starting point or theme and then asked to produce preparatory work that will be taken into the examination. Preparation time is at least eight weeks and following this, there will be a 10-hour examination to produce a piece of work.
Exhibition
At the end of the summer term, all students will be expected to present a professional exhibition of their work for public viewing at the Visual Arts Centre. The external moderator will visit this in the year of the student's graduation to moderate the marks awarded by their teacher.
Assessment
All students must create a portfolio of work which consists of:
- Component 1: Personal Portfolio worth 60%
- Component 2: Externally Set Assignment worth 40%
Further Opportunities
By selecting an enjoyable course designed to promote high levels of visual literacy, you will gain excellent transferable skills in investigation and research, presentation of ideas and complex concepts to an audience, and immense pride in the sense of having created your own unique pieces of work. You will gain invaluable skills in time management, working to deadlines and collaboration with your peers. Careers related to Britain’s creative industries are numerous but some might include: Advertising and Marketing Communications, Animation, Fashion and Textiles, Film, Games, Photo Imaging, Publishing, Radio, Television, and Visual FX.