Curriculum

An essential underpinning of the both the Australian and Victorian Curriculums is that students gain understanding and skills in the Visual Arts through the symbiotic concepts of making and responding. The Victorian curriculum states that “Learning in the Visual Arts leads students to become increasingly confident and proficient in achieving their personal visual aesthetic, appreciating and valuing that of others.” (VCAA) In part this is a recognition of the deep and rich history of the Arts, and it is also a recognition that no one is making art in a vacuum.

Making is the doing of art, the joyful moment of swirling colour across a page with a brush or squishing your hands into clay. But it is more than that it embedded within an inquiry process of what will happen if? Inquiry based learning has been shown to lead to deeper understanding for students as they pose, and answer questions knowledge is better embedded than simply being told or shown something.

Of course, Visual artists have been posing and answering questions forever, many great moments in art history have come through these types of thoughts, which is of course one of the reasons that responding is central to the achievement levels in Visual Arts. Through responding to historical and contemporary artworks from a range of cultures, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures students gain insights into their place in the world and begin to understand why artists, craftspeople and designers choose to express their ideas in a range of styles and mediums.

Visual Art allows us to tell our stories; about who we are and what we feel and where we fit. With this in mind my resources are focussed on levels 3 & 4 around the theme Our Stories.

I am focusing on the curriculum for levels 3 & 4 as this is a crucial point of the curriculum and for students as they mature from the junior levels and begin to explore deeper concepts and generally have finer motor skills, observational prowess and the patience to begin to explore more advanced artistic techniques.

By the end of level 4 students plan and make artworks that are inspired by artworks they experience. They use materials, visual conventions, techniques and processes to express their ideas in artworks. Students also discuss how artists express ideas and use materials, techniques and visual conventions in artworks from a range of places, times and cultures. They discuss and evaluate the art making processes, materials and techniques they use to express their ideas. (VCAA)

Approaching these achievement levels, the resources below relate directly to the four stands of the curriculum and each offers opportunities for both making and responding.

Each of these resources relates to the theme Our Stories as they allow students to express different things that are important to them; their school, their emotions, their lives and their families.