Rationale
This rationale complements and extends the rationale for The Arts learning area.Visual arts includes the fields of art, craft and design. Learning in and through these fields, students create visual representations that communicate, challenge and express their own and others’ ideas as artist and audience.
Aims
In addition to the overarching aims of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts, visual arts knowledge, understanding and skills ensure that, individually and collaboratively, students develop:conceptual and perceptual ideas and representations through design and inquiry processes
Structure
Learning in Visual ArtsLearning in Visual Arts involves students making and responding to artworks, drawing on the world as a source of ideas. Students engage with the knowledge of visual arts, develop skills, techniques and processes, and use materials as they explore a range of forms, styles and contexts.
Example of knowledge and skills
Foundation to Year 2
Foundation to Year 2 Band Description
In Foundation to Year 2, learning in The Arts builds on the Early Years Learning Framework. Students are engaged through purposeful and creative play in structured activities, fostering a strong sense of wellbeing and developing their connection with and contribution to the world.
In the Foundation Year, students undertake The Arts appropriate for their level of development.
They explore the arts and learn how artworks can represent the world and that they can make artworks to represent their ideas about the world. They share their artworks with peers and experience being an audience to respond to others’ art making.
As they experience the arts, students draw on artworks from a range of cultures, times and locations. They explore the arts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and of the Asia region and learn that they are used for different purposes. While the arts in the local community should be the initial focus for learning, students are also aware of and interested in the arts from more distant locations and the curriculum provides opportunities to build on this curiosity.
As they make and respond to artworks, students explore meaning and interpretation, forms and processes, and social and cultural contexts of the arts. They make early evaluations of artworks expressing what they like and why.
Students learn about safe practices in the arts through making and responding safely in the different arts subjects.
They experience the role of artist and they respond to feedback in their art making. As an audience, they learn to focus their attention on artworks presented and to respond to artworks appropriately. In Foundation to Year 2, students learn to be an audience for different arts experiences within the classroom.
In Visual Arts, students:
- become aware of visual conventions and learn to notice visual detail
- explore how and why artworks are created and ways to use and apply visual conventions, such as line, shape, colour and texture
- learn how their ideas or subject matter can be developed through different forms, styles, techniques, materials and technologies
- learn about how and why artists, craftspeople and designers present their ideas through different visual representations, practices, processes and viewpoints.
Foundation to Year 2 Content Descriptions
Foundation to Year 2 Achievement Standards
By the end of Year 2, students describe artworks they make and those to which they respond. They consider where and why people make artworks.
Students use the elements and processes of arts subjects to make and share artworks that represent ideas.
By the end of Year 2, students describe artworks they make and view and where and why artworks are made and presented.
Students make artworks in different forms to express their ideas, observations and imagination, using different techniques and processes.
Foundation to Year 2 Work Sample Portfolios
Years 3 and 4
Years 3 and 4 Band Description
In Years 3 and 4, learning in The Arts builds on the experience of the previous band. It involves students making and responding to artworks independently and collaboratively with their classmates and teachers.
As they experience The Arts, students draw on artworks from a range of cultures, times and locations. They explore the arts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and of the Asia region and learn that they are used for different purposes. While the arts in the local community should be the initial focus for learning, students are also aware of and interested in the arts from more distant locations and the curriculum provides opportunities to build on this curiosity.
As they make and respond to artworks, students explore meaning and interpretation, elements and forms, and social and cultural contexts of the arts. They make personal evaluations of their own and others’ artworks, making connections between their own artistic intentions and those of other artists.
Students continue to learn about safe practices in the arts and in their interactions with other artists. Their understanding of the role of the artist and the audience builds on their experience from the previous band. As an audience, students focus their attention on the artwork and respond to it. They consider why and how audiences respond to artworks.
In Years 3 and 4, students’ awareness of themselves and others as audiences is extended beyond the classroom to the broader school context.
In Visual Arts, students:
- extend their awareness of visual conventions, and observe closely visual detail as they use materials, techniques and technologies and processes in visual arts forms
- explore and experiment with visual conventions such as line, shape, colour and texture to develop an individual approach to a theme or subject matter
- explore, observe and identify ideas and symbols used and adapted by artists in their artworks as they make and respond to visual arts
- consider how and why artists, craftspeople and designers realise their ideas through different visual representations, practices, processes and viewpoints.
Years 3 and 4 Content Descriptions
Years 3 and 4 Achievement Standards
By the end of Year 4, students describe and discuss similarities and differences between artworks they make and those to which they respond. They discuss how they and others organise the elements and processes in artworks.
Students collaborate to plan and make artworks that communicate ideas.
By the end of Year 4, students describe and discuss similarities and differences between artworks they make, present and view. They discuss how they and others use visual conventions in artworks.
Students collaborate to plan and make artworks that are inspired by artworks they experience. They use visual conventions, techniques and processes to communicate their ideas.