Art and Design GCSE Fine Art

Exam Board: (AQA 8202)

Coursework: 60% Component 1: Portfolio

Exam: 40% Component 1: Externally Set Assignment

Areas of study

In Component 1 and Component 2 students are required to work in one or more area(s) of fine art, such as: drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, lens/light-based media, photography and the moving image, printmaking, mixed media. They may explore overlapping areas and combinations of areas.

Component 1 : Portfolio

A portfolio that in total shows explicit coverage of the four assessment objectives (Develop, Refine, Record, Present). Each student must select and present a portfolio representative of their course of study. The portfolio must include both:

A sustained project developed in response to a subject, theme, task or brief evidencing the journey from initial engagement with an idea(s) to the realisation of intentions. This will give students the opportunity to demonstrate, through an extended creative response, their ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skills and/or understanding from across their course of study.

1. A selection of further work resulting from activities such as trials and experiments; skills-based workshops; mini and/or foundation projects; responses to gallery, museum or site visits; work placements; independent study and evidence of the student’s specific role in any group work undertaken. The portfolio is completed and handed in at the end of January in Year 11.

Component 2: Externally Set Assignment

Students respond to their chosen starting point from an externally set assignment paper relating to their subject title, evidencing coverage of all four assessment objectives. The extended creative response must explicitly evidence students’ ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skill and/or understanding from initial engagement with their selected starting point through to their realisation of intentions in the 10 hours of supervised time. Students begin developing ideas in lessons from the beginning of January of Year 11 and complete the project in practical exam conditions of 10 hours spread over a period of time in May.

Skills needed to study this subject:

You will need to be creative, open minded, curious, persistent, hardworking, risk taking, problem solving, motivated, with a passion for mark-making and other art techniques.

Possible Careers + Future Study:

A Level Art, Photography, Graphics, Textiles. Foundation Degree, Honours Degree in all areas of Art and Design leading to careers in the Creative Industry including Multi-media/Graphic/Product/Interior/Fashion Design, Fine Art, Photography, Landscape Design, Ceramics, Jewellery and many more! Combine with physics and maths to study Architecture/Computer Programming/ Computer Design. Post graduate degree leading to teaching. Art also contributes to other areas that require visual literacy such as child care, hair and beauty and many other areas.