Advanced/Advanced Subsidiary GCE Art & Design

Advanced/Advanced Subsidiary GCE Art & Design

Entry Requirements
A grade C or above in GCSE Art or Textiles is a normal entry requirement.

About the Course
You can specialise in Fine Art (painting and drawing; printmaking; sculpture; alternative media), Graphic Communication (advertising; illustration; packaging; typography; interactive media) or Textile Design (fashion textiles; fine art textiles; printed textiles; dyed textiles; constructed textiles).

The course has been designed to ensure that not only will your practical artistic skills and abilities be developed, but also your ability to reflect on your own work and the work of others. You will produce supporting studies throughout the course, including a journal that is part sketchbook and part diary. You will be encouraged to experiment broadly and generate lots of ideas for each unit.

In the first AS unit you will explore and develop your understanding of the visual language that all artists and designers use to express their experiences and ideas. You will be given instruction in the wide range of media available within the faculty, and in the resources and skills that you can use to undertake research into related artists and designers. You will learn how to develop a personal response to a chosen starting point. You will record and collect relevant visual material, and explore the work of others for inspiration, before selecting and experimenting with appropriate materials. You will then work through a series of ideas towards a well-considered outcome.

Work for the second unit is in response to an externally set assignment in the form of a broad theme. You will have approximately ten weeks for preparatory work and eight hours to produce a final piece, following the same process as in Unit 1.

At A2 level, in the third unit you will set your own project in the form of a visual problem to be investigated. You will initially research a range of artists for inspiration, and from this research you will produce a written and illustrated personal study. You will then return to your practical work, acquiring appropriate source material before testing and experimenting with a range of media and ideas. Your final outcome will then be based on the best of this development.

In the fourth and final unit you will again have a preparatory period leading this time to a twelve hour final exam piece that should demonstrate all that you have learnt and achieved on the two year course.

All your work will be assessed by your tutors and moderated externally. It may be possible to do two Art A levels, but this is only if you know you exclusively want to pursue a career in art and design.