Art and Design
Art Curriculum 2023
Statement of Intent
Art teaching in our school should ensure that all children feel able to think and act creatively.
That means exploring all aspects of creativity: personal and social, exploring art for a variety of reasons, in a variety of contexts. Most importantly, it means enjoying the journey, so that pupils want to engage in creative activities, and so that they can grow to appreciate and value the importance of art as a highly subjective and individual experience, one which has great value in society and is capable of bringing people together.
Children should be given the opportunity to experience taking creative risks, should be taught that chaos and mess can be productive for some people and that there are no right or wrong ways of making art.
They will be exposed to a variety of media and learn to develop their skills through guided experimentation and creative play. They will develop ownership over their work, growing to articulate the reasons and meaning behind their work, why they have used a material or expressed themselves in a particular way.
Children will be exposed to many artists, craftspeople, makers and designers, taking part in discussion around Art and Design, why do they like an artwork? What does it say to them and what is the artist trying to express? The child’s opinion should be heard and valued, but they should also be encouraged to understand that someone else’s opinion may differ to their own.
Teaching should not rely on prescriptive outcomes, instead the role of the teacher should be to introduce key skills, materials and ideas to the children in such a way that each child can freely explore his or her own creativity.
By creating a safe and nurturing environment, children will be encouraged to take creative risks and to learn from the journey, rather than head towards a pre-defined end result.
Implementation:
Generating ideas
- Recognise that ideas can be generated through doing as well as thinking.
- Recognise that ideas can be expressed through art.
- Experiment with an open mind.
- Use drawing to record ideas and experiences.
- Use a sketchbook for different purposes, including recording observations, planning and shaping ideas.
The Secret Powers of sketchbooks Sketchbooks are an opportunity to put the pupil at the centre of their own learning. Each child should view their sketchbook as a safe place to take creative risks without fear of judgement.
Sketchbooks are an opportunity to “think around”. Sketchbooks should be a place of exploration and discovery, used to gather, experiment, reflect and understand. They are not just a place of open-ended journeying; they also encourage open, inquisitive thinking in other areas of learning.
Teachers should not be afraid if sketchbooks seem chaotic. Artist’s sketchbooks are full of personality – some sketchbooks are neat and tidy, others are not. All are valid. Sketchbooks are a place to put unresolved ideas into the world, which can be assimilated later. Sketchbooks are rarely linear and a good sketchbook will raise more questions than answers.
Sketchbook skills can be taught and practised like any other skill.
Sketchbook content should be treated with respect. Creativity is a delicate process. Teachers should not mark directly in the book. Teachers should use one-to-one or small group discussion to help articulate and understand sketchbook content.
Sketchbooks should equate to momentum. Sketchbook use will drive projects forwards and help all children understand their own learning. Pupils (and teachers) should therefore be discouraged from working in a single sketchbook which lasts a year or even longer. Instead sketchbooks should be filled with energy, enthusiasm and momentum.
Making
- Traditional drawing skills, including drawing from observation, should be balanced alongside more experimental drawing skills.
- Try out a range of materials and processes and recognise they have different qualities.
- Explore materials in a playful and open-ended manner
- Use materials purposefully to achieve particular characteristics or qualities
- Deliberately choose to use particular techniques for a given purpose.
- Develop and exercise some care and control over the range of materials they use.
- Understand that there is no right or wrong way and that through art they can invent and discover.
- Be excited by the potential to create.
Knowledge and Understanding
- Recognise different kinds of making and some of the processes involved in creating art.
- Children understand that their viewpoint is legitimate and that art is subjective.
- Know the names of tools, techniques and formal elements and begin to build a knowledge of what different materials can offer the creative individual.
- Know that different forms of creative works are made by artists, craftspeople and designers from all cultures and times, for different purposes.
Evaluating and responding to Art and Design
- Show interest in and describe what they think about the work of others.
- Take pleasure in the work they have created and see that it gives other people pleasure.
- Understand how evaluating creative work during the process, as well as at the end, helps feed the process.
- When looking at creative work express clear preferences and give some reasons.