Who am I?

Art and Design Unit
Mirror, mirror on the wall….

This unit aims to foster self-awareness in pupils in terms of who they are as individuals and as family members. It also encourages pupils to be aware of how others perceive them.

Key Questions:

Developing Pupils’ Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities Developing Pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills
  • Analyse the selected works using the suggested methods
  • Consider the most appropriate means of displaying work produced by the class
  • Put together a display so that it can be viewed and understood by an audience of peers
    (Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision Making)
  • Experiment with ideas and questions;
  • Make ideas real by experimenting with different designs, actions and outcomes
  • Organise and plan how to go about the work to be completed
  • Focus on work, sustain attention and persist with tasks
  • Compare their approach with others
  • Make a personal response to works examined
  • Select a technique and method to use in completing work
  • Make a visual response using appropriate media
  • Use observation drawing to investigate ideas
    (Being Creative)
  • Evaluate the processes used in arriving at final responses – which have been successful within the group?
  • Evaluate the work produced and displayed by the group
  • Evaluate own work and identify priorities for future action
    (Self Management)
  • Researching, gathering and interpreting information from direct experiences, observations, memory, imagination and a range of traditional and digital sources.
  • Developing an appreciation of the work of artists, designers and craft workers from their own and other cultures, past and present.
  • Developing creative thinking skills and personal creative outcomes through investigating, realising, designing and making:
    • drawing and graphic media,
    • printmaking,
    • textiles,
    • ceramics,
    • 3-dimensional construction or prototyping,
    • lens-based and digital media:
  • Using visual elements with understanding when engaging in art and design.
  • Evaluating and appreciating their own and others’ work through discussion and reflection.
   

 

How do I see others?
Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning … 		Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

…to appreciate and discuss critically the work of artists, designers and craft workers from their own and other cultures.
Managing Information

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…to appreciate and discuss critically the work of artists, designers and craft workers from their own and other cultures.

Research

Work begins by collecting examples of existing practice to start discussion about the representation of identities and belonging. Images could be researched during a visit to a gallery, or by using an online resource.

Pupils visit a gallery. Choose an exhibition or show which complements the theme of Personal Understanding, and in particular, sense of identity.

Alternatively, pupils could use an online gallery resource such as www.tate.org.uk and use the subject search facility to locate images on the theme of family, or people (subsection family in the Tate search categories).

As there is such a large range of images available, it will be useful to visit the site in advance. By pre-selecting a range of images appropriate to the preferred focus, pupils can be directed to profitable lines of enquiry. Select a broad range of examples from the eighteenth century or before, to contemporary practice featuring male and female practitioners. Include a variety of media and approaches, for example, sculpture, painting, photography, drawing, printmaking etc.
Opportunity to assess Using ICT

Discussion

Pupils research a variety of portraits that show different approaches (such as painting and sculpture) and methods (such as watercolour or oils). Discussion could be centred on the use of form, colour and content and how these have been used to embody what the artist was trying to convey. Different approaches can be the focus for a ‘compare and contrast’ exercise. Three strategies for structuring and guiding discussion are given below. Each strategy could be used on its own, or a variety of methods could be used sequentially.
Opportunity to assess Communication

Questioning

The following questions are useful to promote discussion:

  • What is the term for this type of art, craft or design?
  • Why do you think it was made?
  • Who is the artist or person responsible for making it?
  • Is it the work of only one person?
  • What materials have been used to make it?
  • What do you like about it?
  • Do you think others would like it? If so, whom?
  • Does it do what it's meant to? Is it effective in what it does? Why? Why not?
  • Does it remind you of anything?
  • Do you think the time when the work was made has been important in influencing what the artist has chosen to do? How?
  • Does the work belong to a particular style or tradition?
  • What is the work for, do you think?
  • What did the artist make it for? Is this purpose the same now, or different?
  • How has the artist been influenced by other art, if at all?

Pupils should make their own comments and opinions about one or more works selected from the material encountered. They should choose an image they react strongly to and describe what it is about the image that they like or dislike. This can be done as a verbal response given in the form of personal feedback to the class.

…to develop observational skills and awareness of the use of different media.
Managing Information

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




…to recognise and use specialist terms and vocabulary in an art and design context.

Classifying

Developing a subject vocabulary is essential for learning in Art and Design. The following categories can be used to encourage talking about cultural artefacts and the ways these can symbolise identity and belonging:
Identifying Processes : drawing, painting, cutting, joining, embossing…
Responding to Qualities : straight, curved, twisted, smooth, rough hard, soft, heavy…
Naming and Labelling : colours, materials, shapes, similarities, differences…
Making Analogies : “it looks like a…”, “it reminds me of...”
Hypothesising: what different meanings could the work have?
Telling Stories : describing the narrative events of a painting
Interpreting and Evaluating : making judgements

 

Developing Critical Vocabulary

Using a critical vocabulary developed through discussion and reflection which has been guided or structured in this way, pupils can describe their own and others’ work with increasing complexity and sophistication. Descriptions can be given as oral responses made to the class or within smaller groups and may refer to the following areas: Materials : Why were particular materials or media chosen?
Processes : How were the materials used. Why was the process chosen? How successful was it?
Formal qualities : How have line, shape, tone, form, colour pattern or texture been used? Have they been used in combination?
Content and meaning : What is the work about? What is its content in terms of subject matter? How has the artist accumulated the information necessary to execute the work? How does it make you feel? What is the mood or atmosphere of the work?
Being Creative

…to use information to influence own thinking.
Managing Information

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… to develop self-awareness/self-image, and to build self-esteem.

Being Creative

Apply thoughts and reflections from discussion process to planning responses for practical work.

Having looked in general at the representation of people and character in a range of artworks, discuss with pupils the idea of self-image and personal and group identities.

Ask questions such as:

  • How do you see yourself?
  • How would you like to be seen by other people? Now? In the future?
  • How would you describe your chief characteristics?
  • Would your friends agree with your account? What might they say differently? Would your family say something different again?
  • Why do people think and say different things about you?
  • What is the most vivid dream you can remember?
  • What is the most amazing place you’ve ever been?
  • What do you like doing best?
  • What do you want to achieve or what are your ambitions? Who are your heroes/heroines?

Focus on the unique qualities of a portrait. Think of how these show various interpretations of self. Look at a range of traditional and contemporary portraits, discuss with students how the artist has established the character/spirit of the person through the material and processes used.

Look at the work of artists who use personal memorabilia in their work to explore issues of identity, such as Dorothy Cross, Peter Blake, Christian Boltanski, Andrea Finn, Christine Wilkinson.

Working in pairs, discuss with pupils how they would represent each other. How do they see their partner? How would they represent their partner in words/images? (Only positive responses allowed!)

Re-apply the considerations given to the character and appearance of their partner to themselves. Can you be as objective or realistic about yourself as someone else is? What aspects of personal identity would you choose to focus on when making a representation of yourself? What do you want to show or conceal? Would it be a self-portrait, or are there other ways to show things about yourself, your character, feelings and experiences that would be equally or more meaningful than a straightforward portrait? What could these be, and how could you realise your suggestions as an image, a picture, a sculpture or other visual outcome? What materials would you choose, or what processes and techniques would be best suited to your idea?

 

How do I see myself?
Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning … 		Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

… to communicate self-awareness by integrating various ideas and media.
Being Creative

 

Ask the students to gather images of themselves (drawn images, digital images, painted portraits). Pupils should pick six or more images and use these to create their own visual life story. Alternatively use memorabilia to encourage a contemporary and innovative portraiture approach.

…to experiment with different designs and media.
Being Creative		 Ask the students to make observational studies of each other using drawing medi a. Encourage them to include objects or representations of activities that symbolise their interests.

What could my portrait tell others about me?
Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning … 		Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

… to evaluate their own work and to make any necessary modifications or improvements.
Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision Making

… to heighten awareness of audience and purpose.

Display

Ask the pupils to identify a location within the classroom or school environment to use as a gallery space in which to exhibit their work. Working in groups or in pairs, pupils present their visual work in the allocated space. Pupils review the display as a whole, using vocabulary developed in the earlier stages. In pairs, pupils review their own contributions to the group display, considering, for example, how powerfully does their work project a sense of self to others?

How did my feelings/mood influence my finished piece?
Learning Intentions:
Pupils are learning… 		Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities
…to discuss, compare and evaluate the development of their ideas and meaning in their work, using appropriate vocabulary.

Through discussion, ask the pupils to relate what they have studied about other artists in relation to their own work.

How have they applied the considerations of self, identity, family, interests and experiences, to planning and making their own work? Did their approach use anything from the examples researched and discussed in class? How successful was their choice of medium and how well did they handle the making of the image? Did anything unexpected occur? How does their exhibition compare to the material encountered in the on-line gallery?

Record responses as self-evaluation in workbook or sketchbook or as part of an online portfolio of evidence.
Self Management

 

Development of Learning Outcomes
  • Research and manage information effectively to investigate and inform ideas in art, design, craft, digital media and moving image, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate.
  • Show deeper artistic understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriates.
  • Demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through.
  • Work effectively with others.
  • Demonstrate self-management by working independently and systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance.
  • Communicate effectively in oral, visual, written and digital media (ICT) formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

 
Links with Key Elements Links with Learning for Life and Work

Personal Understanding.

Mutual Understanding

Spiritual Awareness

Citizenship

Cultural Understanding

Media Awareness.

Personal Development
Key Concept: Self-awareness
Relationships

Home Economics

Key Concept - Home and Family Life