Course Outline – Art and Design
The Art department consists of two purpose built classrooms with a range of facilities including a kiln, 3 printing presses and a wide set of materials and resources.
Each art studio is open all day every day including lunch times, to provide the necessary opportunities for practical work for all our students, especially for examination groups.
Displays are a regular feature and paramount to celebrating the success and creativity of our students. Work can be viewed all around the school and offices. Students here have a long tradition of exhibiting their work outside of the school, including venues such as Firstsite, The Mall Galleries London and Essex Showcase for the Arts. Competitions are a regular feature of the department in order to encourage students to extend and explore their creative skills beyond the curriculum. Public recognition helps to support and enthuse them on their personal journey to becoming confident young artists.
The department run regular visits to Art Galleries, including The Tate Britain, Tate Modern, The Victoria & Albert Museum and National Gallery. Visits are run for students in all Key Stages and are run to enhance and support the theme’s being covered in the lessons. In addition, residential visits, to see an artist at work and field work is also an important part of both G.C.S.E. and G.C.E. with the local environment being fully explored.
A residential visit at KS5 to support A level Students. BAWDSEY MANOR is one such venue, this is a very large Victorian Manor House set in extensive grounds. This residential gives the students an opportunity to work with unusual stimuli and consider as wide a range of problems as possible. During the time available, the girls develop ideas and research into areas not tackled before. The girls work independently to record as much as they can through drawing, painting and taking photographs to use a reference material back in school. As a result of this residential the girls produce very high quality pieces to enhance AS and A2 Level Art coursework portfolios.
Art and Design offers a creative way of a student expressing and explaining ideas in a range of both dimensions and materials allowing students to develop a personal approach to a subject. A style of work which is developing all creative thinking skills which can be implemented into all future studies and careers.
Artist Workshop by Nabil Ali.
Year 8 Aboriginal Art – paper dying lesson.