The Art and Design courses in S1, S2 and S3 are designed to help build up and develop students’ skills and abilities so that they grow in confidence and understanding and are able to communicate creatively and express themselves visually. Projects are designed to provide a wide-ranging experience of Art and Design, helping students to progress through the Curriculum for Excellence levels and preparing them for the National courses in S4, S5 and S6.
National 4
There are 3 parts to the National 4 Art and Design course:
1. EXPRESSIVE UNIT
Students choose a topic for their Expressive work (Landscape, Portrait, Still-Life or a combination of these) and explore their theme, producing observational drawings, studies, and development work in response to a given stimuli. Knowledge and understanding of artists and their work and practice will also be assessed.
2. DESIGN UNIT
Students choose a topic for their Design work (Graphic Design, Costume Design, Jewellery Design etc) and explore their theme, showing that they can produce creative ideas in response to a given Design brief. Students will produce investigative studies and market research and will use this to develop their design ideas. Knowledge and understanding of designers and their work and practice will also be assessed.
3. ADDED VALUE UNIT
Students will draw on, extend and apply the skills and knowledge they have learned during the National 4 course to produce 1 piece of finished Expressive work, and 1 piece of finished Design work. All work on the Nat 4 course is internally assessed.
National 5
There are 3 parts to the National 5 Art and Design course:
1. EXPRESSIVE FOLIO
Students choose a topic for their Expressive work (Landscape, Portrait, Still-Life or a combination of these) and produce a portfolio of artwork on that theme, showing skills with materials and the ability to successfully develop an idea into a piece of finished artwork.
2. DESIGN FOLIO
Students choose an area of Design (Graphic Design, Costume Design, Jewellery Design etc) and produce a portfolio of work exploring ideas, which they go on to develop into a finished, successful piece of design work.
3. EXAM
The National 5 Art and Design exam has 2 sections, Expressive and Design. Students will write about artists/designers they have studied during the course, and also analyse examples of artist's/designer's work. All work on the National 5 course is externally assessed.
The course assessment has 3 components:
Component 1: question paper, 50 marks, 1 hour 30 mins.
Component 2: expressive portfolio 100 marks.
Component 3: design portfolio.
Higher
There are 3 parts to the Higher Art and Design course:
1. EXPRESSIVE FOLIO Students choose a topic for their Expressive work (Landscape, Portrait, Still-Life or a combination of these) and produce a portfolio of artwork on that theme, showing highly developed skills with materials and the ability to imaginatively and successfully develop an idea into a well-considered piece of finished artwork.
2. DESIGN FOLIO Students choose an area of Design (Graphic Design, Costume Design, Jewellery Design etc) and produce a portfolio of work, imaginatively and exhaustively exploring ideas, which they go on to develop into a successful and highly finished piece of design work.
3. EXAM The Higher Art and Design exam has 2 sections, Expressive and Design. Students will write about an artist/designer they have studied during the course, and also analyse examples of artist's/designer's work. All work on the Higher course is externally assessed.
Advanced Higher
Students can choose either an Expressive or Design option for their studies. There are 2 parts to the Advanced Higher Art and Design course:
1. FOLIO
Students choose a theme or topic for their practical work and explore this theme imaginatively, exhaustively and in depth, producing artwork or design work and experimenting with materials and ideas, as they work towards a successful conclusion. The course focuses on creativity, problem solving and self-critical analysis.
2. CRITICAL ESSAY
Students choose a work of either Art or Design which has some relevance to the topic/theme they have been exploring in their practical folio. They produce an essay in which they analyse the work, and write about its influences and inspirations, as well as exploring the culture and society it was created in. All work on the Advanced Higher course is externally assessed.
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