Here at Tretherras we offer a wide range of opportunities and experiences for students within Art including: Traditional Drawing and Painting, Ceramics, Sculpture, Printmaking, Photography and Digital Art.
Under-pinning our courses and projects is the importance of introducing students to the multitude of influences out there in the world of art today: from historical to contemporary, local to global, the world of art is changing and evolving, and we want our Art department and our students’ work to reflect that.
“Creativity is intelligence having fun!” Albert Einstein
Year 1- Art
The first part of year 1 is divided into small teacher led projects. You will be challenged with different ways to approach drawing, experimenting with printmaking techniques such as screen-printing, etching and lino. Try your hand at creating 3-D sculptures in card or ceramics. Each year a project starting with a residential trip or working with an artist somewhere in Cornwall forms part of the years study.
Students will then produce an extended personal project where they have the opportunity to develop their own style of work using their own ideas, subject matter and choice of artist inspiration to produce a more sustained and involved outcome.
None of the work produced in the first year is assessed externally by the exam board. This gives much more freedom to explore, experiment and make mistakes which is an important aspect of creative learning. Work produce in the first year can form a starting point for the second year of study.
Year 2 -Art
Component 1- Personal Investigation.
This is a self-directed major piece of coursework, which gives the students the opportunity to really explore at a great depth an area within the world of Art they are interested in. The work can be based on any theme and can be produced in any range of fine art processes. Painting, printmaking, ceramics, illustrative drawing, video and installation have all been used by previous students to express their ideas. The project includes a 3000 word essay, which documents their findings in a critical and evaluative manner.
Component 2- Externally Set Task
Students work on an exam question provided by the exam board. Students have a 3 month exam preparation period followed by a 15 hour exam.
Assessment details
60% Coursework 40% Exam
Entry Requirement
We expect students to obtain a grade 6 at GCSE to be able to cope with the course, however, students who have gained a strong 5 will be considered after consultation with their GCSE teacher.
Students from other schools need to bring a portfolio of work to show if they have gained a grade 5 at GCSE. Students who have not taken GCSE Art will be considered but need to present a portfolio which should include drawing from observation, some photography and work which has been developed in a range of media.
Expectations
Students are to attend 9 lessons a fortnight and attend studio time once a week after school as well as work at home independently to keep up with coursework and exam prep.
Outside of the Classroom
We believe that it is important for Art students education to take them to see artwork in the context of museums and galleries. Trips to London, St Ives and Dartmoor are a regular part of our calendar. Artist’s visits are a particularly important as it gives students the chance to visit and see artists working in their studios, previous artists involved have been and Susan Derges.
Reasons to Study this
Art students at Tretherras are fortunate to have access to a vast range of facilities. We have 3 large traditional art rooms equipped with every resource under the sun. We have a Professional standard Apple Mac suite and Photography classroom running Adobe Creative Suite software. We are equipped with a professional Photography studio as well as a darkroom for traditional film and wet based Photography. We have a specialist kiln and ceramics room to facilitate the Ceramics element to our curriculum.
Students who have studied this course have gone to University to study; Architecture, Foundation in Art and Design, Graphics Design, Fine Art, Interior Design, Fashion and Textiles, and Illustration.
Find Out More
www.tretherras.net/art