A Level Fine Art

Don’t worry about how you ‘should’ draw it. Just draw it the way you see it – Tim Burton, Film Director

A Level Fine Art students are creative, committed and imaginative. Building on the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired at GCSE,  Fine Art A Level is an opportunity to provide a creative outlet to students’ thoughts and feelings while being experimental and allowing them to push boundaries.

Course overview

Fine Art gives you the skills and knowledge to create personal and imaginative work. Pupils can choose to focus on a specialist area of study from a variety of exciting processes and media to suit your individual interests and abilities. This can result in degree opportunities and careers ranging from painting portraits to producing exotic fashion costumes or designing futuristic architecture. For students who have an adventurous, creative and enquiring mind and are excited by shaping and determining the visual world around us, there is a career opportunity waiting for them within the arts sector.

This is a practical course in which students learn by doing, in order to create imaginative personal work. They will find out about a whole range of media, techniques and processes. They will develop their creativity and independent thought, learn to express themselves visually and let their imagination flourish. Fine Art is a great companion to all other subjects as creativity, imagination and problem-solving skills can give pupils original ideas for your other subjects.

Course content

Students are introduced to a variety of experiences that explore a range of fine art media, processes and techniques. They are guided to explore both traditional and new media and will explore the potential of online journals and physical sketchbooks to document your learning.

Students are required to work in one or more area(s) of Fine Art, such as those listed below. They may explore overlapping areas and combinations of areas:

• drawing and painting
• mixed-media, including collage and assemblage
• sculpture
• ceramics
• installation
• printmaking (relief, intaglio, screen processes and lithography)
• moving image and photography

Assessment

At A-level for Component 1 students will develop work for a personal investigation into an idea, issue, concept or theme supported by written material. This will count for 60% of their total A-level marks. In Component 2 (launched in the second term of Year 13 and concluding at the end of their studies) you will produce personal work in response to one of eight exciting starting points which will count for 40% of your total A-level marks.

Career opportunities

The fine art A-level builds on the skills, knowledge and understanding developed through study at GCSE, equipping you with the further skills, knowledge and understanding needed for various higher education course. Past students have successfully moved on to study degrees in the following subjects:

Studying art-related degrees at university can give you all sorts of exciting career options, including: