Visual Arts
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Art making practice and the expressive forms
Drawing
Painting
Printmaking
Photography
Digital media
Graphic Design
Sculpture
Ceramics
Textiles and fibre
Designed objects and
environments
Film and video
Drawing
Drawing is an important part of the process of exploring and developing ideas. It is an immediate and accessible way to document observations, sensations, ideas and associations. Drawing can also form an artwork in its own right as seen in drawings by James Gleeson.
Graphic qualities of drawing vary according to media use; ink, graphite, charcoal and oil pastels. Drawing can be used to explore different visual qualities such as contour, proportion, movement, volume, depth and pattern. Drawing can focus on the elements of line, tone and texture in representing subject matter.
A variety of graphic forms can be investigated such as expressive, figurative, cartoon, abstract, topographic, diagrammatic and architectural drawing. Drawing can be combined with other forms such as collage, assemblage, printmaking and painting.
Painting
Painting is the most popular form of artmaking practice presented for the HSC. This is probably because of the rich and diverse range of styles, techniques and material that can be employed to produce an artwork. The issue of technical proficiency is important in the consideration of painting. Whilst the equipment is often very simple, it is the skill in the manipulation of the materials that is of chief concern. Oil or acrylics can both produce art works of a high standard; it is not the material but the knowledge of selecting the right medium and development of skills in painting techniques. Practice is the key activity to ensure the success of a painting.
Themes, issues and ideas should act as the catalyst for your painting; the subject matter should compliment the style and technical finesse. By selecting the appropriate medium (oil, acrylics, encaustic, watercolours, airbrush etc) coupled with an idea you want to express or analyse, you then need to demonstrate technical accomplishment in your use of paint.
Different media offer different qualities and it is important that you choose a medium that suits your skill and artistic intentions. A sound knowledge through experimentation is important. To recognise the qualities in an artist’s work is one thing but to imagine you can work with oil painting without any training or experience is like taking a musical instrument and expecting to be a competent musician. Good painters make the activity of painting look deceptively simple. Good students develop skill through practice and by exploring the qualities of paint.
Printmaking
Printmaking is a method of transferring ink from a screen, plate or block onto a surface such as paper or canvas. Almost any surface can, in fact, be printed upon. It is the selection of the printing process that is important. A variety of materials, from stone (lithography), zinc (etching) and silk (screen-printing), have been used as primary methods for printing.
There are four main categories of printmaking:
- relief: including block printing or linocut prints, woodcuts, collagraphs, embossing and lithography
- intaglio: including engraving, dry point or etching
- serigraphy: including screen printing and stencilling
- monotypes or monoprints.
Printmaking allows for multiple copies to be produced; the number of copies produced is known as an edition.
Photography
The medium of photography is going through radical changes with the advent of digital photography and postmodern theories. The traditional photographic conventions such as pictorialism, documentation and abstraction are being reassessed. Photography is being manipulated in a variety of ways both in its form and the concepts generating the artwork. The practice of photography is one medium that clearly demonstrates the synthesis between technical proficiency and conceptual definition.
Technical proficiency includes competent camera skills and good understanding of processing and manipulation techniques. The results of good photographic work are similar to any artistic practice and it is one that requires a developed knowledge of all equipment.
Digital media
This is the most recent development within the practice of visual arts. It is a hybrid form that assimilates all other practices to create a new form. Digital media has been referred to as “technomedia art” in an exhibition titled Digital Aesthetic in Sydney 1996, suggesting an association with technology and contemporary aesthetics as two components within its structure as an expressive form.
It is a temporal medium, which is to acknowledge that such work resides within a space and time framework. Presentation and navigation become two important aspects within the construction of a multimedia work. Some multimedia artists choose to develop a sequential format which constructs a linearity to the way the work unfolds whilst navigating. The other structure is a fragmented format, which allows the viewer to select their own path, the artist can enhance this by “architecture of the frames” within the multimedia work. The key aspect to multimedia work is its interactivity with the viewer or user and the skill of the crafting of the work.
Graphic design
This refers to the manipulation of image and text to communicate ideas or concepts. The combination of pictures and words provides an immediate structure that can readily transfer meaning. Successful graphic design goes beyond the process of communication to reflect social and culture concerns such as style and taste. Graphic design can incorporate drawing, illustration, photography, digital manipulation and typography.
Sculpture
Sculpture is probably the most immediate expressive form that can be used by students. Almost any material can be employed to produce a sculpture. Sculpture enjoys a long and important history; often being associated with the belief and traditions of the culture in which it was made. From the ritualistic sculpture of the “Venus of Willendorf” to Rauchenberg’s collection of debris known as “combined sculptures”, sculpture can take many forms and employ traditional or non-traditional materials.
As previously stated, there are a number of ways a sculpture can be produced. They can be broadly classified into the following:
- modeling
- construction
- carving
- casting
- installation.
Ceramics
Ceramics can be used for many different purposes ranging from large scale works to small items such as jewellery. The conventions used in ceramics relate to the shapes of utilitarian and sculptural forms, the use of clay, construction techniques and surface treatment and firing processes, all of which can contribute to expression in artworks. The properties of different types of clays such as earthenware, stoneware and raku can be used to support intentions. Construction methods include pinch, coil, slab, thrown and cast forms. Surface treatments range from from slip and wax-resist to burnishing and dipping. Resolution of ceramics works can depend on the relationship between the three-dimensional form and surface treatment.
Ceramics is often combined with other forms, such as printing with oxides onto slabs, and with other materials such as wire, wood, metal, fabric, fibre and plastics.
Textiles and Fibre
Different fabrics and fibre have powerful cultural and symbolic associations such as status, class, ritual and gender. The qualities of fibre lie in the tactile and surface possibilities. Fibre can also be used in three-dimensional works. The conventions used in weaving, tie dyeing, screen printing, painting, embroidery, sewing, knitting, batik and applique. These can be applied to a range of products including clothing, accessories, wall hangings, furnishings and banners.
Fibre constructions employ a diverse range of traditional and non-traditional materials. They can incorporate mediated images, plastics, paper, found and recycled fibres and objects. Fibre can be used in other forms such as collage, sculpture, jewellery and painting.
Designed objects and environments
Design is everywhere in our every day activities. It is what gives an appearance to the taste and style of a culture. It reflects the status of the individual through the charisma of the object, often in the context of good design it becomes the “bench-mark” of style and often alludes to a type of charisma for the owner of the design. Design reflects the style and technology of its time. It reverberates the unique quality, which communicates a sense of prestige, and demonstrates how technology can shape the world.
The HSC has divided design into two expressive forms; graphic design and design objects and environments.
Both these categories for expressive forms highlight the operation of design as a utilitarian device which has a particular usage. Frequently design has had a particular objective identified before its production. Particular considerations in terms of its usage are generally articulated in the design brief. The production of all expressive forms have a clear intent of production but it is within design that students can submit with their design support material in the form of a ‘brief’ to ensure its intention and that the aims of the design are clearly understood by the markers.
Film and video
These two expressive forms are concerned with using aspects of space and time to create an artwork. It is often referred to as a temporal field and it is within this context that these expressive forms differ greatly from all other forms except for multimedia.
Film and video have been referred to as sculpting in time and space. Their characteristics extend upon visual convention found in all other media. The compression of time and events are used to create a particular viewpoint or create a specific aesthetic experience. Both film and video have certain styles or what is commonly referred to as genres. These include:
- documentary or narrative: The film or video could be a documentary account of other events such as a performance work. It may be structured as a narrative, which constructs a story.
- installation: Film or video can be used in a sculptural sense to create an artwork.
- experimental: This refers to the exploration of the aesthetic qualities and visual conventions and how they can be manipulated to produce an artwork. Often such visual qualities are presented in either a realistic or abstract form and highlight the difference of film and video as art rather than craft.
Because of the expense of film, most temporal works submitted for the HSC are usually produced on video as either analogue or digital. Both Super 8 film and all forms of video must be transferred onto a high quality VHS tape.
Craig Malyon, Visual arts teacher
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