Art & Design

Members of Department

Mrs J Parkin
Mrs Munro Main

STANDARD GRADE

The Standard Grade Art and Design courses aim to offer experience relevant to pupils' lives and to encourage pupils to become more visually aware.

The courses are devised to benefit pupils at all levels of ability.

There are three main areas of study:

EXPRESSIVE ACTIVITY

DESIGN ACTIVITY

CRITICAL ACTIVITY

These are experienced throughout the two year courses.

EXPRESSIVE ACTIVITY involves pupils in practical work, exploring a chosen theme. Pupils may be able to produce work in any of the following categories: Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Printing and Photography. Pupils express visually their own ideas and feelings and have the opportunity to work with a selection of media.

DESIGN ACTIVITY gives the pupils the opportunity to tackle practical design problems, by investigating, researching and presenting their own solutions in 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional form. The problems are based on real life situations, as appropriate to:

Applied Design - Textiles Design

Communication Design - Graphic Design.

CRITICAL ACTIVITY is done in written or taped form including illustration. This activity is intended to encourage pupils to develop ideas and opinions on their own work and the work of others, particularly artists, designers, and architects. Pupils should come to understand the place of the visual arts and design in everyday life. In this activity, the Art Department library and the Internet are regularly used for personal research and presentation. This element of the course is the main contribution to homework at Standard Grade.

ASSESSMENT

Expressive Activity: is assessed by the Scottish Qualifications Authority on work produced over a 5 hour examination.

Design Activity: is assessed in school and monitored by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Critical Activity: is submitted to the Scottish Qualifications Authority in the form of two essay investigations, one in a design area, the other in an expressive area of study.

HIGHER

This is generally a one year course articulating and advancing from Standard Grade Art & Design, requiring the study of 3 areas of art through Design Activity, Expressive Activity and Art and Design Studies. The different activities will be familiar from Standard Grade study level.

Homework is an integral part of the course and will constitute a major part of the Art and Design Studies element of the course.

Credit Level attainment at Standard Grade Art and Design or equivalent will be expected as an entry requirement to the course.

INTERMEDIATE 2

This level of study may be available by negotiation with the Art Department.