Art & design (textiles), gce a level

2. Course description This subject will help you develop a working knowledge of materials, practices and technology. You will use these to interpret and express your ideas and feelings using textiles, craft and design. You will also develop a knowledge and understanding of the place of textiles, craft and design in history and in contemporary society. Practical work will include printing, machine embroidery, hand stitching, felt making, paper making and weaving. As part of the course, you will visit galleries and exhibitions - locally and in London. These have included the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Textile Museum in Norwich, the Sainsbury Centre, the Louvre Textile Museum and the Hub Museum at Sleaford. Each year, there is also a visual arts trip abroad, to a city renowned for its artistic heritage. Recent destinations have included Paris and New York. In Paris, students experienced an outstanding exhibition of women artists at the Pompidou Centre and also a magnificent collection of postimpressionist art at the musee D'orsay. The trip to New York included the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, the International Museum of Photography, the Rockefeller Center as well as visits to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and Grand Central Station. Each year there is an annual Visual Arts show, where Art, Photography and Textiles students show their best work in a gallery-type environment, which is open to the public. To be successful you will need an interest in and understanding of the basic elements of design and the position of art, craft and design in the world. Above all, you should have an interest in creating and understanding textiles and the determination to develop that interest. Assessment is through: A range of practical work including experiments contained in a work journal, finished pieces of coursework and a response to a theme set by the exam b...