Edexcel GCE AS Art and Design Unit 2: Externally set assignment May 2012 EXAM DATES: 11 th and 12 th of May (8 Hours in total) From now until the exam.

Edexcel GCE

AS Art and Design

Unit 2: Externally set assignment May 2012

EXAM DATES: 11th and 12th of May (8 Hours in total)

From now until the exam date you will make preparatory work that will lead to a personal, informed and meaningful response. The final outcome will be completed in the 8 hour exam. If you have an idea but are unsure how to achieve it, ask your teachers for help. We can assist you in the preparatory period. Only in the exam will you work unaided.

Your exam work will be marked to the same 4 assessment objectives as your coursework. Always have them in mind when you are working to help you to focus.

To ensure that your work is personal, informed and meaningful, you should use your own personal experience as a starting point. You might consider drawing from knowledge you have gained or ideas you have explored in other subjects or in extra-curricular activities.

All your ideas should be thoroughly researched both visually and conceptually to give you the richest possibilities to develop your own unique visual language.

DRAW FROM OBSERVATION- and take your own photos!!

Your prep work has no limit in terms of size or quantity and it may include anything that fully shows your progress towards your outcome(s).

It should ‘form vital evidence of the breadth and depth of (your) visual thinking in the progress of (your) work. (pg. 27, unit 2 section 4 of the syllabus)

Your prep work should also read as the story of your journey to your final outcome(s). Make it exiting, imaginative and interesting!

READ ALL SECTIONS OF THE EXAM PAPER

You can use ideas from any section of the exam paper as starting points.

Read and refer to page three of the exam to help focus your work- especially the part: Preparatory studies

should show: …

Also make use of the website links at the back of the exam paper for research.

TOP TIPS:

Make your sketchbook pages busy and energetic- think about presentation and make it relevant to the theme.

To begin, explore the theme from more than one perspective so you will have a range of visual ideas (at least 3-4) to make a synthesis as you develop your work. Make mind maps to help you identify different aspects of the theme to explore.

Draw from direct observation where possible and take your own photographs. Other photographs are acceptable if they support your ideas but they cannot be relied upon fully.

Once you have done several pieces of work, begin to focus your visual ideas- choose 1 or 2 of the subjects you have drawn and photographed and continue to use them consistently to develop your ideas with media experiments and work in the style of other artists.

TOP TIPS CONTINUED:

Find two or three other artists that have approached the theme in a way that interests you. Ideally these artists will be from different periods of history and (For example 19th C, 20th C and contemporary) they will have had several exhibitions. Comment on their historical context and its impact upon their art. Show that you are aware of your own context and how this affects your visual perception (the way you see things because of who you are, where you are).

Make small pieces in your chosen artists style, or copy sections of their work and analyse them. To do this write about how aspects of their technique are useful to help you to develop your own visual ideas about the theme. Compare and contrast your chosen artist’s styles. Limit biographical information to 2-3 sentences.

TOP TIPS CONTINUED:

Be creative with mixing media- experiment, try to find visually interesting ways of communicating your ideas.

Do small scale experiments where you combine 2-3 or more media together.

Chop up photos and rearrange elements to make compositional decisions- combine this with sketches and mixed media.

Take photos of your work in progress and use these to help you review and modify your work. Write annotations about your technical experiences and also record your developing ideas about the theme.

The Theme: Encounters, Experiences and Meetings

FINE ART: Optional starting points

Meeting places, for example the large public space that is the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London. What other meeting places can you think of that have personal significance or interest to you?

(Above) The Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, in between projects.

Anish Kapoor’s huge ‘Marsyas’ sculpture (2002)

(Left) Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Weather project’ (2003)

A re-interpretation of a well known painting The painting on the left is Gustave Courbet’s ‘Bonjour Monsieur Courbet’ (1854) it shows the artist meeting his patron and his servant in France. 130 years later Peter Blake makes a parody of the painting showing Himself and another painter Howard Hodgkin meeting the painter David Hockney. Do you know any paintings of people meeting or having a special encounter? How would you change them to reflect your own ideas? What can pictures of meetings between people tell us about the people themselves and their relationship with the environment? Are they true or ficticious? What was the artist trying to say?

FINE ART: Optional starting points

Claude Monet’s Painting of John Sargent, 1885

Berthe Morisot, Lilac Trees, 1895

Painting En Plein Air- a direct meeting between the artist and their environment. Impressionist painters are known for working this way. If you like this idea, you’ll have to get out and about! Where could you do painting en plein air?

A plein air watercolour, 2007, by contemporary artist Ken Howard.

FINE ART: Optional starting points

Crowds. Here are some examples of painters who have painted large groups of people… there are plenty more. Where might you see crowds or larger groups of people?

FINE ART: Optional starting points

Edgar Degas, Race Horses at Longchamps, 1871

Toulouse Lautrec, Dance at the Moulin Rouge, 18??

TEXTILE DESIGN: Optional starting points

Oppenheim: Object/ Fur Breakfast

TEXTILE DESIGN: Optional starting points

Formal dress for special occasions, eg Kimonos

PFFAF Embroidery Challenge

TEXTILE DESIGN: Optional starting points

TEXTILE DESIGN: Optional starting points

Shibori Tie DieTechnique