Year 11 VCE Art Creative Practice

Unit 3: Investigation, ideas, artworks and the Creative Practice

In this unit students use Inquiry and Project-based learning as starting points to develop a Body of Work. They explore ideas and experiment with materials, techniques and processes using the Creative Practice. The research of historical and contemporary artists is integral to students’ use of the Creative Practice and informs the basis of their investigation. Students also investigate the issues that may arise from the artworks they view and discuss, or those evolving from the practice of the artist. Unit 3 commences with students researching the practice of a selected artist as the starting point to develop a finished artwork. The finished artwork will contribute to the Body of Work developed over Units 3 and 4.

In Unit 3, the Interpretive Lenses are used in Making and Responding throughout the students’ art practice. Students apply the Interpretive Lenses to researched artworks and in their reflective analysis and evaluation of their use of the Creative Practice. They use critical and creative thinking skills to explore and develop ideas, and experiment with materials, techniques and processes.

Inquiry and Project-based learning, the Creative Practice and the Interpretive Lenses are further explained in the Study specifications on pages 11–16. Specific terms used across VCE Art Creative Practice are defined on page 19.

Unit 4: Interpreting, resolving and presenting artworks and the Creative Practice

In Unit 4 students continue to develop their art practice through Project-based and Inquiry learning as their research and exploration continues to support the development of their Body of Work. Throughout their research students study the practices of selected historical and contemporary artists to inform their own art practice. They use the Interpretive Lenses to analyse, compare and interpret the meanings and messages of artworks produced by the artists they study. Students also apply the Interpretive Lenses throughout the Creative Practice to resolve and refine their Body of Work.

Students continue to build upon the ideas begun in Unit 3 and present a critique of their use of the Creative Practice. They reflect on the feedback from their critique to further refine and resolve a Body of Work that demonstrates their use of the Creative Practice and the realisation of their personal ideas. The students present their Body of Work to an audience accompanied by documentation of their use of the Creative Practice.

In Unit 4, Areas of Study 1 and 2 are taught concurrently. The critique in Area of Study 1 takes place before the resolution and presentation of the Body of Work. Documentation of the Creative Practice is carried throughout Areas of Study 1 and 2 in the refinement, resolution and presentation of the student’s Body of Work.

The students’ use of the Creative Practice involves both Making and Responding and is underpinned by the Interpretive Lenses. Students use the Interpretive Lenses to analyse and interpret the meanings and messages of artworks created by the artists they study and to investigate the practices used to create them. Applied together, these Interpretive Lenses enable students to appreciate how an artwork may contain different aspects and layers of meaning and to acknowledge the validity of diverse interpretations. Students view a range of artworks in different contexts and interpret the ideas and meanings communicated in the artworks.