Art – Fine Art

Students will experience a series of initial workshops to broaden knowledge, engage with a variety of traditional media and to challenge the way it can be applied to communicate concepts and ideas. Students will use a variety of mediums including acrylics, coloured inks, pastels and charcoal. Three-dimensional work is produced using plaster, wood, plastics, latex, wire and found material. The work produced may derive from some of these initial starting points still life, portraiture, landscape, abstract, figurative compositions but work can also come from a personal response to an idea, concept or issue.

Component 1: Personal Investigation (60% of the A Level) Students present an individual project based on a personal idea or genre which can be presented in a sketchbook or online portfolio and includes written work of 1000 to 3000 words which supports practical work.

Component 2: Externally Set Assignment (40% of the A Level) Students respond to a stimulus issued by Eduqas and a body of work is produced on one of the visual or written briefs. The finished outcome or series of outcomes are created during a 15 hour period of supervised time.

The theme for your Personal Investigation is chosen by you. Throughout the Investigation you will produce a research sketchbook, which includes investigation of the work of artists that inform your own work. Studio sessions are complemented by lectures, study visits to galleries and museums. A programme of workshops teach a range of 2D and 3D skills during the initial stages of the course. Work is assessed on a continual tutorial basis with feedback so that you can develop your own personal skills and ideas.

Formal assessments and feedback take place on a regular basis throughout the course.

The processes you will learn as part of this course include:

• painting & drawing (using ink, paint, pencil, pastel)
• mixed media (using both 2D and 3D materials)
• printmaking (including monoprinting and screenprinting)
• sculpture (using plaster, wood, plastic, wire, clay and found objects)
• photography
• video making and editing

The development work and outcomes that you will produce on the course include:

• paintings and drawings
• sculpture
• photography
• installation
• video and or/audio

(Exam board – WJEC Eduqas)
(Specification code: A651QS)

Entry requirements

Minimum entry requirements are GCSE grade 4 in English as well as a genuine interest in Art. It is advisable to have studied a creative subject at GCSE in Art or Media; grade 4 or above is required.

Students wishing to study Fine Art who do not have an art based GCSE will still be considered. A GCSE grade 5 is a minimum requirement if you want to take two or more art and design subjects.

Anyone wishing to do this should speak to a member of the art department during enrolment.

Fine Art is a good basis for development of skills before progression to the one year full-time post A-level course – BTEC Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art & Design. Students on this course have progressed to prestigious Higher Education Art & Design courses throughout the UK, including Goldsmiths College (University of London), Central St Martins (London College of Arts), Kingston University, Glasgow School of Art and Leeds Arts University.

Students from the Fine Art course go on to a range of careers within the creative industries including becoming artists. They also work as curators, in Gallery & Museum exhibition teams, in community arts, as archivists, architects and art educators, and a host of other creative settings.

Fine art is a great subject to combine with other creative subjects including; Photography, Graphics, Textiles, Media and Film Studies. Also, in previous years students have studied a variety of subjects alongside photography such as; English Literature, History, Business studies, languages and sociology.