Hi there,
I assume you're in Year 12, class of 2016?
Well firstly I'd like to say well done on choosing such a fine subject; it's extremely rewarding if you do well (I myself achieved a band 6 for art, wasn't expected haha!)
For the practical component of Visual Arts
- HSC markers are looking for
original, creative ideas. These ideas, or rather "themes" or "concepts", are going to underpin the fabric of your body of work. You want to stay right away from the cliche concepts (i.e. war, romance, etc); they've seen it all, they will get bored, and you won't get high marks.
- Think about what
YOU want to achieve and convey to your audience.
Brainstorm a few ideas before you get started. Consult your teacher and fellow peers to get a multitude of perspectives, which in turn will broaden your options on what you want to do.
-
Decide what medium you would like to use for your major work. This can be something you really like to use because you're good at using it (e.g. if you're really good with paints, use paint! Acrylic, oil etc.). The medium you use could also correlate to your concept of your body of work. For example, if you want to convey a sense of disconnection, someone might use physical objects like broken bark or sticks to articulate this.
- Absolutely make sure that your ideas, concepts and major work are within the bounds of the HSC Visual Arts regulations! Click this link to view more information about it:
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/visual-arts-faq.html
- Most importantly, manage your time wisely, and have fun in the process of crafting your masterpiece! Your body of work will eat out a lot of your time in your HSC career. However, proper time management and staying focussed will enable you to become a multitasking maestro.
For the theoretical component of Visual Arts
- Know the three important aspects of the theory course: "Conceptual Framework", "Practice in Artmaking, Art Criticism and Art History" and "The Frames". Look these up on the Visual Arts Stage 6 syllabus (click here and scroll down:
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/visual-arts-st6-syl.pdf). These are extremely important, because it will enable you to answer Section I of the Visual Arts HSC paper.
- You will need to have a few case studies (preferably 3-5) of artists, perfected, known from back to front, and memorised. This is extremely important, as it will help you answer the essay questions (the 25 mark ones in Section II of the HSC Visual Arts paper). What do I mean by case study? What I mean is: 1. knowing the work of the artist and its important features, 2. his/her life, background etc, 3. the historical context taking place in his/her time.
- Know the structure/format of the HSC paper. Section I consists of 3 short-med answer questions which will test you in the Conceptual Framework, Practice, and The Frames by showing you unseen images. Section II consists of 9 essay questions, you only choose and complete ONE. There are 3 essay questions for each of the 3 core concepts (i.e. Conceptual Framework, Practice and Frames). Here, you can use this to your advantage, play to your strengths, and pick whichever one you like, and do that essay question.
General hints & Tips: Theory
- Choose different case studies from different times, or ones that you aspire to. This in turn will make it easier to write about.
- Don't go with the cliche case studies like Picasso, Manet etc. It's all been done before, and you'd have to write exceptionally well to shock the hair out of the HSC markers to give you high marks.
- When memorising case studies, try to also memorise the important features of the artist's work and try to relate that to the historical context of the artist as well as their practice or whatever the question specifies. Taking Picasso's
Guernica, for example (mind you, this one's been done too many times
). You may say that "the chiaroscuro correlates to the dull atmosphere conjured by a dull, despotic Facist regime, glowing in power within Picasso's Spain in the 1930s." Theory is sort of like English to be honest, but you have to make sure that it doesn't sound like an English essay - it's Visual Arts you must answer about.
- When memorising artists' works (such as paintings or sculptures or whatever), print them out in colour A4, and look at them for 10-15 minutes everyday (or whenever you have time). This is visual memorisation, and it makes it 100x easier to memorise the important features of the work that you will need to talk about in an essay. I personally found this one of my favourite memorisation strategies for my HSC. However, whatever suits you at the end of the day is most important for your HSC. If you like this technique, you could give it a go and see if it works out (which hopefully it does!
).
Well those are my tips and tricks on how to rack up a band 6. I achieved a HSC mark of 90 for VA following the advice above, so I hope that you also will as well, and even beat me! Good luck man, try and enjoy the subject; that way, you'll love it and do well in it.
Best of luck,
IceKool15.
