7–10Visual Arts 7–10 Syllabus

In Art making, students create their own artworks to represent ideas and meaning. They use the roles and relationships in Artworld concepts to generate ideas and make choices for their art making. Using Viewpoints, students explore the ways they can represent ideas and adopt different approaches to art making. Students shape their art making through an understanding of artists’ practices and approaches and develop the skills to make intentional artworks. For some students, art making may include the use of assistive technology.

In Stage 4, students acquire knowledge and understanding of the Artworld concepts, learning to apply Viewpoints to support their intentions, choices and actions as artists. They use the Visual Arts diary to experiment with techniques and materials to develop ideas. Students produce individual or collaborative artworks in a range of art forms and develop skills with increasing autonomy.

In Stage 5, students continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of the Artworld concepts, applying Viewpoints to support their intentions, choices and actions as artists. Students research bodies of work created by a range of artworld practitioners to inform their art making and use the Visual Arts diary to refine their ideas. Students develop a body of work as a collection of artworks over the course of Stage 5, demonstrating their understanding of Practice in increasingly complex and independent ways.

In Art critical and historical studies, students examine and develop explanations of artworks and the artworld in a variety of written, oral and multimodal forms. The relationships set out in Artworld concepts are used to interpret the meaning and significance of artworks and the artworld. Using Viewpoints, students can construct different interpretations of artworks and the artworld. Through Art critical and historical studies they develop their understanding of the practices of artworld practitioners to enable them to represent their point of view about artworks. Some students may require the use of assistive technology to access art critical and historical studies.

In Stage 4, students acquire knowledge and understanding of the Artworld concepts, learning to apply Viewpoints to support their intentions, choices and actions as art critics and art historians. They explore artworks across different places, times, cultures and contexts and develop skills that enable them to interpret the artworld. Students produce written, oral and multimodal texts to demonstrate their understanding of the value and meaning of artworks and artworld.

In Stage 5, students continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of the Artworld concepts, applying Viewpoints to support their intentions, choices and actions as art critics and art historians. They interpret artworks across different places, times, cultures and contexts and investigate the practices of a range of artworld practitioners to inform and justify their positions as art critics and art historians. Students can develop sustained arguments, explanations, reviews, curatorial statements or expositions in written, oral and multimodal texts to demonstrate their understanding of the value and meaning of artworks and artworld.

The Artworld concepts of artist, artwork, world and audience identify the function and intention of the relationships within the artworld. These concepts are distinct and interrelated ways of understanding the visual arts. Students develop knowledge, understanding and skills by engaging with and applying these Artworld concepts in both Art making and Art critical and historical studies.

Each of these concepts exists within a network of intentional relationships and functions which are performed relative to each other.

In Art making, these concepts provide ways for students to:

• develop their own practice
• understand their role as an artist
• develop intentions and meanings.

In Art critical and historical studies, these concepts provide ways for students to:

• interpret and explain the significance of particular artists, artworks, audience responses and representations of the world during specific periods and over time
• explain the interrelationships between the Artworld concepts.

Making connections between the Artworld concepts and the Viewpoints supports students to shape and interpret material and conceptual practice.

Artist

The concept of the artist includes:

• a person making artworks individually, collaboratively as a group, school, movement, or enlisting others to produce their work
• artworld practitioners, such as fine artists, craftspeople, designers, architects, filmmakers, photographers, animators, performance artists and multimodal practitioners.

The role of the artist is flexible as it is dependent on the different value systems and/or Viewpoints that are used in the interpretation of artworks.

Artists can adopt different roles in which they:

• communicate their representation of ideas using systems of formal elements, signs or symbols
• express individual feelings, emotions, imagination and experiences
• reflect or critique ideologies and beliefs of social groups and cultures
• challenge, reimagine and question mainstream ideas.

The intentions and characteristics artists develop within these complex networks of relationships contribute to and shape their material and conceptual practice.

Artwork

The concept of the artwork includes:

• artworks, artefacts, events and ideas intentionally conceived by artists
• physical, material, virtual, temporal artworks and bodies of work
• 2D, 3D and 4D forms (or combinations of these)
• multimodal and interactive media
• hybrid, new and emergent technologies and forms.

Artworks function as representations of ideas that reflect symbolic interpretations, personal responses, cultural perspectives and critical reinterpretations of other ideas. Artworks are representations of meaning when viewed interpretatively by audiences. The choices made in the production or reproduction of a work, including materials, techniques, forms and context, affect how audiences view and infer meaning about the work.

World

The concept of the world includes:

• a source of interests, ideas, conditions and events represented by artists in artworks
• the array of subject matter used as inspiration when creating artworks
• the interests, ideas, conditions and events which shape an audience's interpretation of art.

The world is investigated, interpreted and represented as a material, conceptual, social and personal experience, and a source for imagination and intuition.

World in the Artworld concepts is distinct from the Cultural viewpoint which relates to identity influenced by economic, social and political factors.

Audience

The concept of the audience includes:

• viewers, members of the public, students and teachers
• artworld practitioners, such as art critics, art historians, art curators, writers and theorists
• patrons, entrepreneurs, art and public institutions, dealers and auction houses
• individuals and groups who interpret, interact with, shape, discuss, influence the reception of and ascribe meaning to artworks and art practices.

Audiences for artworks change over time and bring different intentions, beliefs and values to artworks, artists and interpretations of the world. Audiences play a role in constructing meaning, shaping artistic discussion and influencing the reception of artworks in relation to the Viewpoints.

Viewpoints represents the different perspectives, values and beliefs about the visual arts. Viewpoints are Structural, Subjective, Cultural and Contemporary, and function as the means for generating alternative interpretations of the artworld.

In Art making, students use different Viewpoints to help shape their intentions and representations in their artworks. Viewpoints can orient choices and strategies with art forms, materials, techniques and contexts in artistic practice.

In Art critical and historical studies, students use Viewpoints to orient their investigations of the Artworld concepts and their relationships. They enable students to consider different meanings in artworks and provide ways of framing their own points of view in their written, oral and multimodal explanations.

Structural

The Structural viewpoint is a creative and interpretative tool that guides students when art making or interpreting artworks as forms of visual and multimodal language.

Through the Structural viewpoint, art may be thought of as:

• systematic representations by artists using a system of coded relationships between signs and symbols
• symbolic objects within the conventions of a visual and multimodal language, material forms and motifs that represent ideas and communicate meaning
• the representation of lived experiences and ideas through established and evolving conventions that use visual and/or multimodal language
• the ways meaning is communicated between artists and audiences.

In Art making, students learn to construct artworks that communicate their ideas and interests about the world through the organisation of codes, symbols, signs and visual and/or multisensory languages. This may involve students exploring conventions within art making practice, such as colour and compositional devices in painting, film making, spatial relationships in sculpture and the use of significant cultural symbols to represent meaning.

In Art critical and historical studies, students learn about the formal organisation and visual qualities of artworks. They learn to interpret artworks as forms of communication and explain the symbolic meaning represented in their material qualities and physical or virtual properties. They learn about the formal organisation and visual qualities of artworks and how to decode symbol systems used by artists from a variety of cultures to communicate meaning to audiences. They learn how the symbolic language of artworks can be read and understood during specific periods and over time, or in different cultures.

Subjective

The Subjective viewpoint is a creative and interpretative tool that guides students when art making or interpreting artworks as expressions of deeply personal and emotive perspectives, experiences and associations.

Through the Subjective viewpoint, art may be thought of as:

• being expressed by artists whose intentions are shaped by their imagination or personal experiences
• emotional, intuitive or evocative expressions of personal memories, experiences and the subconscious
• representations of aspects of the world through individual feeling, emotion, imagination and experience
• interpretations in relation to personal associations of sensory, imaginative, expressive, felt or perceived experience.

In Art making, students learn to explore their own experiences and responses to the world around them. This may lead to imaginative investigations of their identity and relations with family and friends, or their responses to their physical or social environment.

In Art critical and historical studies, students learn about artists’ interpretations, and the deep and varied meanings of artworks, and how artworks may be regarded as expressive and unique objects.

Cultural

The Cultural viewpoint is a creative and interpretative tool that guides students when art making or interpreting how artworks reflect social ideologies, beliefs, values, conditions and shared understandings within specific communities or societies.

Through the Cultural viewpoint, art may be thought of as:

• created by artists who are influenced by and contribute to social, economic and political conditions
• reflections and representations of implicit and/or explicit social, community and cultural interests
• interpreted and valued in relation to the social perspective of the community.

In Art making, students learn to investigate different ideas that are of social and cultural significance to them. This may involve making artworks that represent ideas related to identity, ethnicity, cultural heritage and diversity, and social or ecological concerns.

In Art critical and historical studies, students learn how notions of cultural identity inform artistic practice and the production of artworks. Students may study differing cultural attitudes about the visual arts and the effects of scientific and technological innovation, politics and economics in particular places during specific periods and over time.

Contemporary

The Contemporary viewpoint is a creative and interpretative tool that encompasses current and emerging art theories and innovative practices that shape artistic practice in both art making and interpreting.

Through the Contemporary viewpoint, art may be thought of as:

• created by artists, art critics or facilitators who interrogate existing conventions, explore ambiguities and reassess assumptions about art
• an evaluation and reconstruction of traditional assumptions about art and its relationships to artists, audiences, forms of practice and subject matter, including emerging technologies, new or contextual art forms
• using artworks as texts that recontextualise references to existing texts to critique ideas and conventions, or as hybrid artworks that redefine and reconstruct the traditional roles of artists, art curators and audiences
• a way to reimagine accepted ideas and assumptions and to consider the impact that future technologies, social relationships, humanity, patterns of authority, and cultural or ecological changes have on art and society
• interpreted through active participation in physical or virtual environments.

In a world constantly redefined by shifts in culture, technology and ideology, artists use current or emerging theories to challenge established norms and stimulate critical discussions that resonate with diverse audiences.

In Art making, students may learn to modify or reinterpret images from a variety of sources including popular culture. They may collaborate to create artworks in which the audience is an active participant to create meaning or they may use new technologies, art forms and contexts to question or reimagine ideas in the contemporary world.

In Art critical and historical studies, students learn about the ways in which traditional conventions, canons and histories of art can be challenged to question authority, contradictions and hidden assumptions. Using theories from the Contemporary viewpoint, students can consider, reimagine and question traditional roles, forms, materials and contexts in art and how artists are creating works in response to the challenges and changes in the contemporary world.

Practice describes the artistic activity, agency and role of artworld practitioners to produce works. Practice is about what artworld practitioners know and do. Practice involves well-informed and strategic intentions, choices and actions to represent ideas in Art making and Art critical and historical studies.

In Artmaking, students investigate and use various art forms, such as drawing, painting, sculpture and contemporary media, using a Visual Arts diary to document and reflect on their art making practice.

In Art critical and historical studies, students investigate and interpret the work of a diverse range of artworld practitioners, including artists, art curators, art critics and art historians.

The content area of Practice refers to:

• artworld practitioners, including artists, art curators, art critics and art historians, film reviewers, as well as their roles, intentions, choices and actions
• social structures, sequences and strategies that affect choices, procedures, judgements and actions
• the different ways artworld practitioners work, including individually, collectively, collaboratively and in multidisciplinary and multimodal forms
• the views, value systems and beliefs of those involved in the visual arts and how these affect intentions, choices, judgements, actions and meaning.

The nature of Practice involves:

• artworld practitioners and their intentional, informed activities and choices
• the representation of beliefs, motives, ideas and actions over time
• recognition that the field of visual arts has a history and that artistic practice can be understood through cultural or historical conventions in different times and places, and is continuously transformed by innovations, new knowledge, technologies and roles
• recognition that concepts of practice are fluid and transform with changes in the field of visual arts and design, and that notions of practice are not only informed by the new and emergent but also by the re-emergence of existing or traditional conventions of practice.

Art forms

Students engage in making artworks in 2D, 3D and 4D art forms. In Stage 4, drawing is mandatory. Drawing may include the use of digital software or assistive technology, including eye gaze technology.

When making choices, teachers should consider students’ interests, needs and abilities, teachers’ expertise and available resources in schools. While these art forms are grouped into 2D, 3D and 4D forms, students might work across art forms and combine them. The suggested list below is not exhaustive.

2D

• drawing
• painting
• printmaking
• photography
• visual design, graphics and illustration
• collage, frottage, montage
• documented forms
• digital design

3D

• ceramics
• sculpture
• installation
• textiles and fibre
• site-specific works
• designed objects and environments
• 3D digital modelling and printing

4D

• performance works
• storytelling or narrative forms
• time-based installation and documented forms
• media arts, video, film and soundscapes
• digital animation and motion design
• digital technologies, hybrid and emerging art forms

Stage 5 Body of work – Art making

In Stage 5, students are provided with opportunities to make artworks in a range of forms in a sustained way and work towards the development of a body of work.

The body of work provides opportunities for students to establish their intentions as artists and to develop their art making practice. Teachers may conceive of the body of work in a variety of ways. Through structured learning opportunities, students are introduced to the body of work in art making over time and are encouraged to use a range of art forms, techniques and various investigations of the world.

The body of work is developed and monitored as a combination of a student’s evolving practice, rather than an end-product. Some artworks may be more provisional and experimental, while others are more refined or resolved.

Visual Arts diary

The Visual Arts diary is used as a tool in teaching and learning and for the exchange of ideas between the teacher and the student.

Key points during the conception of ideas, experimentation and the development of artworks may be reassessed and resolved in the diary. The Visual Arts diary can trace the development of student judgement. Changes in artworks can be negotiated, discussed, evaluated and worked through, and alternative views, multiple ideas, experiments and mistakes can be documented in the Visual Arts diary. Teacher feedback and advice assist students with the development of their art making practice and body of work.

The Visual Arts diary can take various forms, including:

• a sketchbook, folder or container for 3D artworks and materials
• photographic media, multimodal forms or digital portfolio
• hybrid combinations or other suitable forms.