Article - Art at A level
Having just finnished my AS level art course I think I can speak with some degree of authority on the issue, unlike Si, who was speculating in his last (but very good) article.
The actual mark you recieve for your art exam is negligable, you can pass art comfortably but fail your exam. The reason is simple, they do not care about your final outcome, it just doesn't matter, in art what is important is your book - this is clearly wrong. When I walk around an art gallery I look at the pieces they have produced, their paintings, sculptures or (*shudders*) installation pieces. What I don't expect to do when I walk around a gallery is flick through an artists sketch book, half baked ideas and prelimenary sketches, interesting of course but not as impressive - or good as their actually art pieces.
This is the problem with actually having art as subject. By placing the emphasis on bookwork you detract from the importance of final studies. However by placing most of the marks on final studies pupils would be able to "coast" art doing very little work but producing a couple of decent paintings at the end of the year.
Another problem with Art as it is now is the importance placed on art history, don;t get me wrong I realise its importance and how valuable it can be. However 20% of your final grade should not be on art history, I took art not to be marked on my essay writing skills, I took History and Politics for that and frankly I am slightly shocked at how much of your grade is descided by something that is essentially, not art. Yes it is to do with art, but is not art in itself, you are not expressing yourself through writing about other artists. A2 level is even worse, half your grade is placed on your ability to write about artists, to evaluate their work and asses their style. This is in my opinion a gross swing of the importance of the different areas in art.
Until actual importance is placed on final outcomes and less is placed on art history and sketchbooks, students will continue to believe they are more important, that isn't art being taught, it's how to make a book look pretty; and asking pupils to produce 3 A3 books in a year along with 3/4 final outcomes is ridiculous.
This needs to be sorted out before British art suffers some real problems. And I'm not talking about the school subject.
The actual mark you recieve for your art exam is negligable, you can pass art comfortably but fail your exam. The reason is simple, they do not care about your final outcome, it just doesn't matter, in art what is important is your book - this is clearly wrong. When I walk around an art gallery I look at the pieces they have produced, their paintings, sculptures or (*shudders*) installation pieces. What I don't expect to do when I walk around a gallery is flick through an artists sketch book, half baked ideas and prelimenary sketches, interesting of course but not as impressive - or good as their actually art pieces.
This is the problem with actually having art as subject. By placing the emphasis on bookwork you detract from the importance of final studies. However by placing most of the marks on final studies pupils would be able to "coast" art doing very little work but producing a couple of decent paintings at the end of the year.
Another problem with Art as it is now is the importance placed on art history, don;t get me wrong I realise its importance and how valuable it can be. However 20% of your final grade should not be on art history, I took art not to be marked on my essay writing skills, I took History and Politics for that and frankly I am slightly shocked at how much of your grade is descided by something that is essentially, not art. Yes it is to do with art, but is not art in itself, you are not expressing yourself through writing about other artists. A2 level is even worse, half your grade is placed on your ability to write about artists, to evaluate their work and asses their style. This is in my opinion a gross swing of the importance of the different areas in art.
Until actual importance is placed on final outcomes and less is placed on art history and sketchbooks, students will continue to believe they are more important, that isn't art being taught, it's how to make a book look pretty; and asking pupils to produce 3 A3 books in a year along with 3/4 final outcomes is ridiculous.
This needs to be sorted out before British art suffers some real problems. And I'm not talking about the school subject.
posted by Anonymous at 5/28/2005 12:54:00 pm
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