Hi there was just wondering if Andy Goldsworthy and Fiona Hall would be considered post modern artists?
Just wondering if people do a context paragraph for their artists separately or integrate it throughout their essay
Thanks
Hi there,
I was just wondering if there was any formula or advice upon acing the short answer segment of the HSC paper? I've been struggling with figuring out how to get the full marks, while still using the art terminology and meeting the needs of the question.
Really there is no formula. I would just suggest doing as many past papers as possible and when that's done, find art books or online search up artists and pick a work randomly and just write for 10 minutes to a broad question like how does ______ respond to their world in their artwork. Another key thing to do is understand the importance of the citations as they are often hints eg. if the medium is quite new then that is evidence of Post-Modern practice. Also I would just recommend knowing the general art movements and what ideas they explore. For the 12 marker, I would look at making sure that you know how to compare and contrast art over time as they are often 3 artworks reflecting similar ideas but from different time periods, so it is important to mention in this case something along the lines of, as your opening statement: While the idea of the sublime has been explored by artists over time, their way of doing so has transformed in order to reflect their context. Something like that. But yeah just smash out as many past papers as possible and just look and write about as many artworks as possible too :)
Hi! Just wondering how you'd effectively approach a question concerning the connection between audience and artwork as I seem to have the most difficulty in answering those types of questions. Just a few general outlines or some pointers on the relationship between audience and artwork would be greatly appreciated as I've found I haven't really focused on this component in class haha.Really depends what artwork you get!
Hi! Just wondering how you'd effectively approach a question concerning the connection between audience and artwork as I seem to have the most difficulty in answering those types of questions. Just a few general outlines or some pointers on the relationship between audience and artwork would be greatly appreciated as I've found I haven't really focused on this component in class haha.
Hi there,
I was just wondering if there was any formula or advice upon acing the short answer segment of the HSC paper? I've been struggling with figuring out how to get the full marks, while still using the art terminology and meeting the needs of the question.
HELP! does anyone have any decent websites or places for past Visual arts papers. Most of the plates are under copyright so its a bit of a struggle.
Thanks so much
You can try this website http://www.pasthsc.com.au/HSC_Visual_Arts.html :). You can also try this
Edit: So far only the 2014 and 2013 paper don't have copyrights.
Hey just wondering does anyone has some good advice for doing short answers questions on architecture?Hey! Usually questions about architecture in art papers have an emphasis on how it relates to and works with the world, usually its immediate environment it has been placed in by its artist. So focus on materials eg. glass brings the environment in and demonstrates how the artist is influenced by the world around them. Also think of architecture which changes the way we look at the world and our surroundings. There's an example of a 12 marker on architecture here :) https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/2013/pdf_doc/2013-hsc-visual-arts.pdf
I haven't done a paper with architecture before nor did I really study it in school, I know how to talk about architecture generally but
I don't know if I could do it under exam conditions, especially when there isn't much info provided.
Hi, I have a 1500 word Art essay due, and wondering if there were any artists you could suggest and how you might go about approaching it. It is from the 2001 HSC Conceptual Framework.
“Artists interpretations of the world are constrained by their time and place”
Evaluate this statement with reference to particular examples.
I am not the best writer so any help would be appreciated.
In this installation artwork called ‘Merzbau’ by the German artist Kurt Schwitters, it appears to be an assemblage of rubbish in his studio. Schwitters was an avid rubbish collector and loved to transform them into art. The found objects dramatically invaded his studio and eventually became the Merzbau. His studio became part sculpture and part environment and took over a time period of fourteen years and covered eight rooms. Every wall and ceiling was covered with a range of collected miscellaneous objects. By doing this, Schwitters gives the objects a new purpose and a new meaning. However, it is unknown what the final product looked like due to its ever changing and ongoing nature. Merzbau was not only a reflection of Schwitters’ artistic practice, but also a response to the First World War. The defeat of the Germans has lead to Schwitters withdrawal from reality and taking refuge in his artmaking process. The need to find beauty and meaning in discarded objects can symbolically represent Schwitters’ attempt to rebuild the dysfunctional German society as a result of the war. Schwitters’ artistic practice of assembling to create a new found purpose in discarded objects has question traditional views of art.
what is the process yall take to choose your artists, I've heard elsewhere that the artist you choose should be well-documented but what is 'well-documented'? Right now I have some artists from past case studies from prelims and this year (from oldest to latest): Paul Klee, Anish Kapoor, Lindy Lee, David Hockney and Sohei Nishino and Im planning to use the latter in section 2 of my half-yearlies
Hey there and welcome to the forums!
My art teachers would always tell us to pick artists who have actually exhibited their works at an exhibition/museum, not one of those artists who post their stuff on deviant art and tumblr ahaha. But in terms of “well documented” artists, I think that what just refers to artists who’ve actually exhibited their stuff, have made an impact within the art world, have been documented within articles, docs & textbooks and have been criticised by art critics. I personally haven’t heard of the artists you’ve done but if they reach the criteria I’ve mentioned above, it should be good.
wow this was very helpful definitely agree that my artists arent very well known, are there any artists (any website/list) that you recommend that aren't overdone?
Hi!
I don't do visual arts but for one of my english related texts I am doing a painting and need help finding a specific technique the artist has used in their composition.
Basically, I am trying to say how the artist as used elements of light and fog to elicit a sense of religious mysticism. I looked at chiaroscuro but that seems to be a contrast of light and dark colours.
For anybody wanting context, the painting I am analysing is 'Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog' by Caspar David Friedrich.
Thanks! :)
The way I'm going to reply to your question will be the same way I would answer questions in Visual Arts so please bare with me :)
In this oil on canvas painting called 'Wanderer above the Sea of Fog' (1819) by the German artist Caspar David Friedrich, it appears to be a man posed triumphantly above rocks and a sea of fog. The artist conveys a sense of religious mysticism as the painting exemplifies spiritual and mysterious themes through its many elements and principles of composition. The portrait layout of the painting presents a significance to the subject matter of the man rather than an emphasis on the landscape, alluding to the possibility of the theory of the sublime as the man is overwhelmed by his surroundings. The subtle, monochromatic white and blue colour scheme used to depict the sky and the fog presents an allusion to spiritual and religious notions as it depicts the "unknown". The mountains and rocks as seen behind the fog conveys the notion of the possibility of what's beyond the realm, a significant theme behind most religious institutions as adherents try to find meaning in the after life. Just like religious adherents, the body language of the man in the painting has his back facing the audience; showing his curiosity and his journey to his religious fulfilment and spiritual self actualisation. Furthermore, the juxtaposition between the light in the top half of the painting and the rocks in the bottom half, presents conflict between the two worlds and is a possible reference the heaven and hell; two reoccurring worlds within the Christian faith. It can be seen that the painting presents religious mysticism through its plentiful elements and principles of composition.
^ Sidenote: I've never studied this painting in my life or studied Adv. English at all so this is just a really rough analysis of the painting. I hope this helps in some way :)
Omg I didn't expect you would go into this much depth!
This is actually amazing and helps so much!
I am very thankful ;D
Hi, I'm currently writing an essay and I was wondering if there's any particular way some of you find quotes from art critics. I've used textbooks and the internet to find quotes for most my artworks but some works, such as Cezanne's 'still life with apples and oranges' I could not find for, even a general comment on his still lifes overall.
I'm writing a practice essay about how artists break from tradition and I'm unsure how many quotes I need, do I need one for every artwork? I didn't have any in my last essay and that was a downfall sooooooooooo
Now that the hsc timetable has been released, "Monday 3 September 2018 at 3pm is the final hand-in date and time for your body of work". So approximately how long does it take to get your works delivered so I can have an idea of when my cut-off date should be to mail them?
Hi! I'm a year 11 art student at the moment. Does anyone have any tips on building a strong foundation for visual arts in the HSC right now, and how I should be studying for art?
Thank you!! :)
what are the three most important artist to memorise for the HSC
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could help me with how to generate thesis statements for the Section 2 essay?
Thanks in advance.
Hey there!
Since Section 2 is ridiculously flexible as you can pick one question to answer out of six options, you may generate a general thesis statement beforehand and change it slightly to your chosen question.
To create a thesis statement in the first place- you must agree with the question (unless the question asks you to disagree with the given statement but good chance they'll ask you to agree with the given statement). Your agreement must be short and sweet and straight to the point. If possible, make some reference to the art world and their impact on the artist's mind and practice. Remember to use high modality and persuasive language- don't be on both sides of the fence. Pick a side and stick to it.
For example, if the question was 'Examine how artists have used artworks to challenge social and political views in innovative ways' (this is from the 2017 paper)
- breakdown what they're asking you to do; in this case 'EXAMINE'
- what have artworks and/or artists have specifically done; in this case 'HOW ARTISTS HAVE USED ARTWORKS TO CHALLENGE VIEWS'
- what unique perspective have the artwork and/or artist has done; in this case 'IN INNOVATIVE WAYS'
To create a thesis for this given question, it must be CLEAR! Using pretentious language may help you later on in your body paragraphs but avoid doing this in your thesis. Just go straight to the point. Integrate parts of the question within your thesis statement.
You may write a thesis similar to this:
'Modern and postmodernist artists have presented thought provoking political and social ideas through their groundbreaking artworks'.
> Breaking down my thesis statement
- mentions artists
- mentions political and social views
- 'EXAMINE' and 'IN INNOVATIVE WAYS' parts of the question = acknowledged through 'presented' and 'their groundbreaking artworks'
Writing thesis statements in VA is kind of similar to rewriting the question BUT actually using high modality language and agreeing/disagreeing with the given statement. Hope this makes sense in some way...
Thank you this is extremely helpful. I was also wondering, and sorry if this is a silly question, if I choose to do a question on one of the frames (or two if a question asks it) do I only address that one frame in my essay or do I sort of intertwine the other frames?
Thank you again.
Hey, so I’ve decided to try and focus on practice for section 2 of the exam and wondered if I should have my artist linking to artmaking, criticism and history, and how many prepared “case studies”. Also my teacher hasn’t really taught us much on how to actually respond to the essay questions so I’m also still a bit stuck on it, is it like English if we had to analyse an artwork??
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has critic quotes for Picasso (Les Demoiselles and Guernica) as well as Ai Weiwei (sunflower seeds and Law of the Journey) or is able to give advice for finding. I'm doing different artists to my trials and over the past few weeks I've been spending so much time trying to find critic quotes but have only found a couple for each artist andI know I need a couple for each work if I want to do a conceptual framework question.
Thank you.
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has critic quotes for Picasso (Les Demoiselles and Guernica) as well as Ai Weiwei (sunflower seeds and Law of the Journey) or is able to give advice for finding. I'm doing different artists to my trials and over the past few weeks I've been spending so much time trying to find critic quotes but have only found a couple for each artist andI know I need a couple for each work if I want to do a conceptual framework question.
Thank you.
Hey! Just adding more onto dancing phalanges' answer above-
I don't have much critic quotes on Picasso since I pretty much referred to one quote per artwork but here are the quotes I used per work
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon:
- 'and it was meant to shock' (art critic- John Berger)
Guernica:
- [paraphrased] quintessentially Spanish (art critic- Jean Cassou)
- 'On a black and white canvas that depicts ancient tragedy... Picasso also writes our letter of doom: all that we love is going to be lost' (French writer- Michel Leiris)
Picasso in general
- 'The classical still life was dead' (art critic- Robert Hughes)
Sunflower Seeds
- 'It’s a work about mass production and repeatedly accumulating the small effort of individual to become a massive, useless piece of work' (
- 'China is blindly producing for the demands of the market'
- 'I wouldn’t say I’ve become more radical: I was born radical' (Ai WeiWei)
Law of the Journey
- I do not have quotes on this work since it was never taught at my school and I only knew of the work post HSC! Surely there should be quotes about it online since it is fairly brand new.
Weiwei quotes in general
- ‘The timber is from demolished temples … the structure is chaotic’
- ‘History is always lost in interpretation. The moment is always lost’
- ‘Everything is changing and happening in such a dramatic way and it’s all reflected in Chinese art’
- ‘Certain areas, certain taboos can’t be touched. There’s still censorship there.’
- ‘Your own acts and behaviour should tell the world who you are and at the same time what kind of society you think it should be’
Hope this helps :)
Hi, does anyone know when artexpress nominations come out? is there a set date?
Hi, does anyone know when artexpress nominations come out? is there a set date?
Quick Question: What's the time frame for 'contemporary art'? Would something made in the 1980s be considered contemporary, or is it strictly last 20 years or so?
Hi all!
I didn't know where to post art essays for marking, so I'm just popping it over here.
I would love it if anyone could provide me with feedback and criticism :)
I was a bit stuck on the writing style and structure of art essays, as I had to keep on reminding myself not to fall into the English-style essays I've been doing. How are art and English essays different? What sort of structural differences are there, in terms of topic sentences and the like?
Thanks heaps ;D
Hello! Sorry for the late reply but I have your essay attached here with my comments. Overall, this is a beautifully written essay- you've provided evidence for every point that you made + provided historical context as well as art critics quotes. I think my main issue was just the thesis statement and the lack of intro sentence (that links back to your original thesis) for each of the body paragraphs. But besides from that, definitely a solid essay.
As for differences between art and english essays- the great thing with art essays is that the structure tends to be fluid. It's encourage to provide historical context for artworks for VA essays while in English essays they just want you to get straight to your point. Topic sentences and thesis statements are similar structure wise- with thesis statements in art, markers wouldn't mind if you were to repeat the question in your thesis statement (unlike in english where you'll need to use synonyms so that it doesn't look like you copied the question word by word). In art, you'll need to provide quotes/insight from art critics after you've done all your analysing of the work (unlike in english where you'll want to only stick with the text itself and not bring in other people's opinions of the text- if that makes sense?)
Hope this helps in some way :)
Hello all,
With the essay for section two of the exam, how many artists should I be aiming to talk about? Is two okay, or should I be trying to use three? And with the artists, how many works is the minimum?
Also, at school, our teachers have never told us to include critics or quotes in our essays, but reading through some essays, I've noticed this a lot- should I find and include quotes and critic in my essay for the trial paper?
Thanks, and good luck to everyone doing trials!
hello,
I don't get how I'm supposed to write 4 pages worth for a short answer question in an exam. I don't even write 4 pages in an English essay. What points would you put down for the longer, 12 mark short answer responses on art practise?
Also how would you structure your short answer questions for section 1?
many thanks
Hi!It does say and/or so I guess in theory just artists, but I wouldn't know for sure.
Just wondering if a question asks for us to refer to ‘a range of artists, art critics and/or art historians’ or ‘a range of artists, designers and/or architect’, would we need to refer to all those specified or just artists?
Hi!
Just wondering if a question asks for us to refer to ‘a range of artists, art critics and/or art historians’ or ‘a range of artists, designers and/or architect’, would we need to refer to all those specified or just artists?
Hey! I have a question about how many artists I should be used in section 2.
I usually use 2 artists and 2 artworks ("one artist and one of their artwork" x2) and I've managed to get full marks (or v close) using this format in school.
However, I'm noticing that people are usually using 2 artworks and 4+ artworks for their essays. I'm not sure whether to change my structure for the HSC as external markers could mark differently.
What would you recommend?
Thank you
In relation to the BOW, how specific should your concept be?
Is it better to have a broader concept and focus on all the different aspects within that concept or just focus on one specific aspect of that concept?
Thanks ;D
Hello :)
When analysing images of an architectural building (e.g. the interior & exterior of a cathedral) in Section I, what aspects of architecture do we need to take into account?
Hi!
For Section II, I want to discuss 3 artists (2 artworks per artist). Do I need to introduce all artwork titles in the introduction or can I introduce them one by one later in the essay? Are artist birth/death dates needed in the introduction? Also, are there any other synonyms for 'artist practice'?
Hey, svnflower!
Great question ;D I personally didn't introduce the artwork titles in my introduction. I would introduce them in the body paragraphs as I discussed them and included information such as the year, form/medium (sculpture, painting etc.) and where it was first exhibited (name of exhibition if applicable). I only mentioned the artists and what period they came from (Renaissance, Modernist etc.) That, I believe, provides more context about the artist and the nature of their work over providing birth and death dates. Here's an example :)Introducing ArtistsPostmodern artists Patrick Dougherty, Alison Sigethy and Ai Weiwei have explored their artmaking practice with an awareness for the cultures and lives they are representing, researching and experimenting with innovative materials, techniques and forms to engage contemporary audiences.
As for other ways of expressing artist practice, you could use "artmaking" as a similar term. I also separated their process into "material practice" and "conceptual practice" because I found it easier to talk about the artist's practice like this and to then draw connections between the two as a means to explain how the artwork embodies both concrete and abstract qualities. Hope this helps!
Angelina ;D
Hi!
I'm just beginning to start planning my ideas for my body of work and I have a bit of a concept in mind but I wanted to get some opinions on it :) So my strongest medium is probably drawing and that's what I'm probably going to use, but I basically wanted to explore the myth of Icarus through my work. I was thinking of doing 3 pieces.
1. would be him with his wings
2. would be him flying with his wings
3. would be him falling as his wings fall apart/melt
I'm not however too sure if this is a good concept to represent through drawing, and I've also heard that you shouldn't just stick to one medium and would obtain higher marks if you integrate multiple mediums in your work. Any thoughts?
Thanks guys!! :)
Hey, muneezaaa!
Welcome to the forums ;D I think your concept sounds awesome! My BOW concept originated from looking at the story of Prometheus so I'm loving that the appeal of Greek mythology is continuing to inspire artistic ideas such as yours! I definitely think it is wise to play with your strengths if drawing is that for you. What you might want to do though is perhaps deepen the concept a little more by perhaps choosing to draw someone in place of Icarus himself. This could present new layers of meaning in your BOW! The first thing I actually thought of was Alexander Hamilton because in Burn, one of the lyrics is "You have married an Icarus; he has flown too close to the sun" so thought I'd just share an example of how you might use the myth as an intertextual reference that symbolises someone else's ascent and downfall :D
I also have definitely seen people who have stuck to one medium and achieved high performing results. You should work with whatever media can best allow you to demonstrate your technical skills and strength, as well as reflect and express the conceptual aspects of your artmaking practice. Hopefully that helps. I'd love to hear what you end up deciding to do!
Angelina ;D
:) Hello
In the HSC 2015 paper q3 plate 5, are there any positive and negative shapes? (i'm unable to post it here, file is too large :( )
Also, what does "sensitivity of material practice" mean?
THANKS!
I saw it under the suggested answers for Question 3 (2015 paper) (12th dot point down the list!)
https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/39b2458a-16a9-41ae-a2e8-3e9e1ad00fba/visual-arts-hsc-mg-2015.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-39b2458a-16a9-41ae-a2e8-3e9e1ad00fba-nbDp1l7
Hi!
Its me again :) I've kind of had an epiphany and sparked a new idea, but again I wanted some feedback. So I decided to extend a bit further from my icarus and greek mythology idea, and I wanted to base my body of work on how greek mythology has transcended into our modern lives and how it shows us the true dark realities of our world. So I was thinking that maybe I could have like a panel of 3 works including
- icarus: a symbol of youth and perhaps drug usage, how at first its exhillirating, but the side effects could be fatal
- persephone and hades: showing the illusion of happiness but in real life it symbolises domestic violence
- medusa: I actually am still thinking on how to depict this but I was thinking of maybe giving it a feminist perspective?
Would these themes be too dark and inappropriate for my major work or are they alright to stick with? Would my original idea with just Icarus be better?
Thanks!! :)