Visual Arts Faculty Review

Curriculum Review
VISUAL ARTS FACULTY

1. Why should Visual Arts be included in the curriculum P – 12?

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
Albert Einstein

The Visual Arts hold a unique position in the school curriculum in that the processes engaged in by the student of Art come closest to the processes they engage with in living a life.

It is a creative process, with an extensive body of knowledge associated with its learning and doing. The making, reflection on, and resolution of artworks require the student to engage in Experimentation, Development of ideas and various approaches to a range of media, Reflection, Analysis and Synthesis, in ever more complex forms. The process leads the student into richer and more personal adventures and calls upon them to engage in sensory, emotional, intellectual and spiritual investigations.

All Visual Art Programmes are designed to be sequential, are process and concept driven, they encourage a love of learning because students are asked to investigate a personal purpose and fine individual responses, they instill an awareness of the importance of individual endeavour and encourage individual responsibility for learning, as well as allowing for a range of outcomes.

Students Research, Develop, Reflect upon and Resolve images and written work, maintaining a balance between theoretical components and the seeing and doing of art making and appreciation. The learning experiences they are offered are age appropriate but allow for a range of emotional and intellectual maturity levels.


“….personal development is based on what happens to us in the two worlds in which we live. One is the external physical world of things and events; the other is the inner world of senses, feelings and meanings. Art activities are important because they form a bridge of communication and interaction between these two worlds. (Czurles 1977, p.5)

The Visual Art Curriculum
- truly embraces a Holistic approach to education
- aims to extend all students to their fullest potential
- has a significant Spiritual component; facilitating the search for Self as well as helping students to form connection with Other in ever widening circles of connection. The curriculum also assists the student in finding and appreciating their unique gifts
- gives all students opportunities for success at their own level (problem solving, applying skills, developing conceptual depth etc) while endeavouring to extend, challenge and invigorate their search for meaning
- is not just about the study of art and artists, but about being a visual artist, a person who makes meaning using visual language *
- honours Multiple Intelligences and Multi Literacies
- encourages holistic approaches to education and life long learning.
- respects other ways of knowing that extend beyond verbal/linguistic skills
- is not purely skills based but engages the creative thinking process in ever more sophisticated ways
- Provides opportunities for self reflection and communication by beginning a dialogue between Self and Other and providing opportunities for the enrichment of this dialogue over time.
- activities are sequential, not only in skills acquisition but in ‘unfolding a sense of self’
- offers rich tasks that encourage depth in individual and group learning over time
- encourages independent learning – from investigation and research, to development and resolution of ideas.
- links the ‘doing’ with meaning; meaning-making, and it contextualises these meanings across cultures and time.
- encourages respect for other cultures and ways of knowing
- The Visual Arts encourage awareness/heightened awareness of the environment
- encourage the development of a personal aesthetic
- develops critical awareness



2. What do we see as the 5 strongest areas of the Visual Arts Programme? Why are these areas of excellence and strength
All programmes in the Visual Arts are designed to encourage personal growth, develop skills with the aim of deepening the student’s engagement with the making of meaning, and to encourage commitment to a process. In this light all assessment items are layered. They aim to address the acquisition of skills in vocabulary and terminology, familiarity with techniques (often the same techniques and process are repeated and made more complex over the course of P-12)
The following 5 examples are in no particular order of merit but exemplify the depth and richness of tasks offered across the Visual Art Curriculum.
1. Compulsory Middle School Programme eg
Visual Art Programmes are designed to be sequential, process and concept based, encourage a love of learning with a personal purposeful, to instill the individual endeavour and individual responsibility for learning,
Year 7 – Musical Landscapes. This unit explores the phenomenon of Synaesthesia. Students gain an understanding of the use and application of visual language through a process of finding forms for expressing sensory information through colour, shape, line, movement etc.
2. Year 9 Elective, Semester - 1 Handbag Unit, based on the exploration of personal symbols for Self related to gut feelings, the values and ideals
Semester 2 - Out of Time and Space, based on an exploration of societal issues using collage and etching as the medium of expression
3. Year 10, Semester 2, Wearable Art Unit
4. Year 11 and 12 Semesters 1 – 4, based on the concept of the Labyrinth as a journey to the centre of self and the return. Units such as: Alchemy and Emerging from the Labyrinth with essay topics such as ‘The Spiritual in Art’, ‘Art as Process’.
5. One of the major tools in this process is the use of the Visual Diary in all year levels. The Visual Diary is far more than a ‘sketchbook’, it is a site for developing a personal philosophy. It is used to record nformation and develop ideas from all areas of the course using any form – images, writing, video tape, audio tape, found objects etc. The Visual Diary is both a resource for information and a means for recording research, accumulating developmental ideas that lead to resolved pieces of work. It is the beginning point for appraising the student’s own work and that of other artists. Students are encouraged to collect information and images about:
areas of interest that may lead to ideas for works, research concepts, reflect on song lyrics / poems or ideas from literature as stimulus, collect notes, phrases, paragraphs, ideas from art books that stimulate thought, record insights gleaned from class discussions, videos or handouts, collect examples of artworks by a range of artists across a range of media and times, experiment with exercises conducted in class, collect examples showing the development and extension of ideas, do analysis and evaluation of visual art forms, include media experiments and process information, show a progression of ideas including: influences - other artist’s work etc. "think in images", make preliminary drawings, collages etc. document alternative ideas for work in progress, evaluate your work and its progress, demonstrate the unfolding of your resolving works in: media experiments, visual design exercises to resolve compositions, photographs of works in progress, digitally manipulated 'possible alternative composition solutions'. The diary is a communication point between teacher and student and it does not require words – it communicates visually. The diary is dense and alive with ideas, thoughts, possibilities, its value comes from the depth of insights and searching engaged with by the student. IT SHOULD DEMONSTRATE THE ESSENCE OF THE STUDENTS SEARCH FOR MEANING AND THE UNFOLDING OF THEIR PHILOSOPHY
6. Introduction of Multimedia Course and facilities for use by Art Students in general will better facilitate the development of new approaches to artmaking in the school. It is our aim to make St Hilda’s the bench mark for excellence in new media in the Visual Arts on the Gold Coast if not in Queensland. The writing of a new syllabus for Visual Art will begin in a year or two and it is our aim to incorporate a ‘4D Installation’ unit into the work programme. This will involve the use of 2, 3 and 4 dimensional (time based) art work.

3. What areas do we identify for development?

- continue the process of creating a seamless curriculum in Visual Art across the 3 schools with an individual, age relevant focus in each school:

Junior School P – 4 Focus– Learning through the senses, Sensory, Perceptual development, experiential, learning by seeing and doing with the aim of raising awareness
Visual symbol: the Spiral
Middle School– Focus on emotional growth, self awareness and problem solving
Visual symbol: the Mandala

Senior School – Focus on Spiritual and Intellectual development.
Visual symbol: the Labyrinth

- continue development of a new work programme for P – 4 Art
- continue development of Multimedia course and the use of multimedia in the Middle and Senior Art programme. Adapt the Photography Darkroom to a fully working animation studio and theatrette with a lighting rig, data projector and screen – this could be used by all year levels to screen own works and those of artists, and as an installation space. We would also require the expansion of computer facilities within the new space to keep pace with industry standards.
- When the Multimedia programme is running effectively (ie after teething problems have been solved) I would like to initiate a Film Festival – perhaps a competition between schools on the coast. Ben Andrews has some ideas on this.
- Interstate Art Visit to Galleries – leave Friday evening back Tuesday evening.
- Art Students-in-residence at Shoalhaven in NSW – Arthur Boyd’s old residence an acreage now set aside for art residencies
- Development of Special Programme Days – utilise artist-in-residence possibilities, masterclasses, exhibitions etc
- Need for a gallery – for both student work and ‘borrowed’ pieces from the local gallery.
- Enhance liason with local galleries. Virginia Rigby at the GCCAG. Virginia is eager to initiate programmes with the school – P – 12. Lorraine Pilgrim, Schubert Gallery Marina Mirage is also eager to visit the school and have students visit the gallery.
- continuous evaluation, assessment and updating of present of programmes – always ongoing.
- Utilisation of Flying Arts Group to visit the school and conduct masterclasses across P – 12 groups

4. How can we undertake this development?
Streamlined Curriculum
- the implementation of this would be facilitated by common criteria across schools
- time for discussion re needs, particularly in Junior School
Multimedia
- Industry visits and excursions for students
- Work experience opportunities for students
- Inservice opportunities
- Continual upgrade of facilities to keep pace with industry standards
- Setup of Theatrette (easy installation of data projector, screen, carpet squares for seating)
- Setup of lighting rig for animation table.
Special Programme Days
- Need for blocks of time to facilitate
Need for a gallery space for student and other artists work
- find a suitable space and availability
Interstate Art Visit to Galleries/Shoalhaven
- this could be another offering as an alternative to a camp or could be run in the holidays
- it could be part of Foundational Studies for Year 10

5. What additional resources are needed to initiate this development?
TIME The majority of undertakings re curriculum development, require time. They are ongoing projects and at present, holidays are the only time I have to work on them. However, the P – 4 programme needs liaison time with Junior School Teachers and Middle and Senior School projects require more regular and formal Faculty Meeting time for discussion.

Planning time with teachers, P – 11

Specialist Art Teacher P – 4 has long been identified as a priority. This would more easily facilitate the development and implementation of curriculum by steamlining communications between myself and those teaching the programme. At present there is little understanding of content, skills, techniques, pedagogy etc in the Junior School and this impacts on the Middle and Senior School.

Multimedia
– need for continuous access to professional development opportunities, industry experience (Kim has already undertaken one session in the first week of her Dec. holidays)
- access to Ben Andrews as support person. At time of writing the new computers for the multimedia course, the imaging of the hard drives, decisions about software etc are not finalised. Kim has not had the opportunity to work with the software and hardware she will be using.
- I would like Ben Andrews to undertake a post grad course in Education to allow him to teach aspects of this course in the future.


6. To teach the ideal Visual Arts Programme we identify the following needs.
This is covered above
The major requirement is Time:
Time for development, meetings, discussions and planning.
PARTICULARLY RELEVANT TO SENIOR ART is time for excursions to galleries, attendance at Masterclasses, visiting lecturers, exhibitions etc. Class time cannot be used for such things as we are not meeting the 55 hours contact required by the QSA each semester.


7. Time allocation
- Combine Year 5 and 6 Art with Year 5 and 6 D&T to allow 2 hours / week of combined projects taught by the art teacher as successfully tried in previous years.
- Year 11 and 12 – 8 periods / cycle PLUS time for special programme days, excursions, masterclasses etc


8. Other matters for concern in the Visual Arts as part of the curriculum review.

We would like initiate an Art Fair(by another name) – whole day or whole week of activities for whole school focused around the Visual Arts or The Arts. It could be a revisiting of the format of the old Festival of Arts but with invited workshop opportunities etc. Susan Sanburg is planning one for Years 5 and 6 this year.



*Of interest:
Both art and physics are unique forms of language. Each has a specialized lexicon of symbols that is used in a distinctive syntax. Their very different and specific contexts obscure their connection to everyday language as well as to each other. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy just how often the terms of one can be applied to the concepts of the other. “Volume,” “space,” “mass,” “force,” “light,” “color,” “tension,” “relationship,” and “density” are descriptive words that are heard repeatedly if you trail along with a museum docent. They also appear on the blackboards of freshman college physics lectures. The proponents of these two diverse endeavors wax poetic about elegance, symmetry, beauty, and aesthetics. While physicists demonstrate that A equals B or that X is the same as Y, artists often choose signs, symbols, and allegories to equate a painterly image with a feature of experience. Both of these techniques reveal previously hidden relationships.
Leonard Shlain, U.S. surgeon, author. Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, & Light, ch. 1, Morrow (1991).
Receptors of the human senses
Type: number of receptors:
Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . 126.000.000
Smell . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.000.000
Taste . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.000.000
Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . 500.000
Pain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.000
Cold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.000
Hearing. . . . . . . . . . . . 35.000
Warmth . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.000