Don't panic. Doing your art boards is easy and fun (in a hard work-ish sort of way) if you know how to lay the work out.
Let's look at a student who made rather a good job of it . . . .
Let's look at a student who made rather a good job of it . . . .
This student received a high merit at Level 2. On the first half of the first board (give or take a little) she produced images that introduce us to the main theme/s or the BIG IDEA. These images should show that the student can work well from OBSERVATION, USE A RANGE OF MATERIALS and that she has LOOKED AT THE WORK OF ESTABLISHED ARTISTS for inspiration. (The more variety there is in this first set of images, the more options she will have when it comes to generating ideas).
The Big Idea would appear to be boats, jettys and sails. Materials used includes charcoal, pencil and paint. This student could have experimented with a few more materials and techniques but her observational skills are excellent. The real problem here is that the images are a bit too big which means there are not many images nor is there a lot of variety in the images produced . This will be a problem later. . . as we shall see! There is also no evidence of an artist model at this point. There should be!
This section is all about generating ideas, clarifying ideas and regenerating ideas. It is best to produce images that work as a sequence. This lower half of the first board does this well. There is certainly a development in the way that the paint has been handled (it gets more textured). There is great use of elements like subtle colour, great tone variation and a real attempt to focus on developing the abstract play between the curves of the sails and the rigid structure of the boats. Still no sign of an artist model but there is some very impressive art work here..
Ok, so this is where things start to get a little problematic! This is the top half of the second board and there are a few 'chickens coming home to roost'. The student has adopted a new colour scheme which does show some progression. She is also exploring in more detail the abstract possibilities of the subject matter. Again, this is good. However as a sequence of work, it tends to get a little repetitive. There isn't really the impression that ideas are being clarified and regenerated. It's just more of the same.
The 2 things that would have made a real difference for her would have been:
The 2 things that would have made a real difference for her would have been:
- Having more variety in the images on the top half of the first board. This would have given her more options.
- Establishing an Artist Model on the first board. This would also have given her more options as it would have suggested alternative ways of image making / using the formal elements ( particularly things like space, perspective, depth, scale, symbolism, metaphor).
This is where the board falls down somewhat! The student has suddenly made a huge leap in terms of using materials (none of that lovely texture that she was doing so well. STICK TO YOUR STRENGTHS! She has also made a big leap in terms of the subject matter. It doesn't seem to be about the boats and sails anymore. There is (finally) the introduction of an Artist Model. (In this case, New Zealand artist Gretchen Albrecht) but the student hasn't really taken Albrecht's work and then used it in an original context. It just looks like Albrecht's work. This suggests that she hasn't really worked out how best to incorporate the ideas of other artists. This should have happened a lot earlier.
So to summarise . . .
- The first half of the first board needs to show your observational skills, use a range of materials well and show that you have looked at the work of artist(s).
- The second half of the first board is where you generate ideas, clarify them (find out what works and what doesn't) and develop the best ones further. You should aim to explore 2 sequences of ideas. The artist model is an important part of this process.
- The top of the second board continues to explore a third sequence of ideas. Your starting point should combine elements from the ideas on the lower half of the first board. You can also consider bringing in another artist model at this point. The work on the second board will be bigger than on the first board.
- The lower half of the second board is where you 'pull together' all the best ideas and use them (along with your artist model(s) to create a series of images.
The student who produced this set of boards should have got an 'Excellence' at NCEA Level 2 because the quality of her work deserved it.
If only she'd planned it out a bit better.
If only she'd planned it out a bit better.
And that's why it matters, folks. And that's how you do it!