Visual arts is a mandatory subject in Years 7 to 8, after which students may choose to study elective visual arts in Years 9-10. The preliminary visual arts course in Year 11 and or photography and finally higher school certificate (HSC) visual arts in Year 12.
Students are taught technical skills in a broad range of two, three and four dimensional media including drawing, painting, printmaking, digital media, photography, ceramics, film making, animation and sculpture. With this practical knowledge they are then encouraged to develop this expertise to a high degree of refinement.
Art history and critical study goes hand in hand with the students understanding of their own artistic practice. They are exposed to all facets of visual arts, traditional methods and artists through to contemporary art. All this is a substantial part of the visual arts syllabus through from Stage 4 through to Stage 6.
Visual arts students participate in excursions to places like art gallery of NSW, museum of contemporary art, Penrith regional gallery, sculpture by the sea and a variety of other locations to engage with original works of art and stimulates the creation of expressive artworks.
Structured class activities which foster student confidence are followed by more self-directed learning when students can pursue their own interests in both art making and art history. All the visual arts courses develop students' visual literacy, creative problem solving, lateral thinking and personal expression as well as contemporary practice.
Girraween has the privilege of mentoring the growth of very creative and conceptually advanced visual arts students. These students annually achieve the highest standard in their higher school certificate results with their of which produce a level of art making that is far beyond their years. We have had many students achieve selection to the coveted selection of art express.
