CAPA - Art

• Visual Arts - Years 7 to 12

In Year 7, Visual Arts students engage in two programs, Objects: Still Life and Extraordinary Creatures. Students explore a range of artmaking disciplines that are challenging, creative and thought-provoking to develop their technical skills in 2D, 3D & 4D media. Through the study of Australian and International artists, students reflect on their own artmaking practices and build on their knowledge and understanding of art.

"To create one's own world takes courage." Georgia O'Keeffe

In Year 8, Visual Arts students explore two programs, Landscape and Portraiture. Students build on their knowledge and experience in Visual Arts with challenging and exciting ways of making art. Their conceptual understanding of art is further enriched, through fascinating case studies of artists that explore the boundaries of art and life.

"I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart." Vincent Van Gogh

In Year 9, Visual Arts students focus on two programs, City as Utopia, City in Decay and Body as Narrative. Students shape their artistic process through in depth studies of significant themes and ideas in the Visual Arts. Through contemporary and historical case studies, students learn how diverse artistic practices are shaped by changing ideologies in art.

"A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others."  Salvador Dali

In Year 10, Visual Arts students study two programs, Humanism in Italian Renaissance Art and Events: Births, Marriage, Funerals and Art as Spectacle. These programs are designed to allow students to make powerful visual representations about the world around them. Students continue to build on their conceptual and material practice through various artmaking challenges. Philosophical concepts underpinning Western civilization is explored through critical and historical case studies.

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art."  Leonardo da Vinci

In Year 12, the HSC year is characterised by specialisation in artmaking, so that students now produce a Body of Work for submission as 50 % of their mark. It is here that students can showcase their conceptual strengths and artmaking skills in a sustained and sophisticated way. Our students produce Bodies of Work which can encompass everything from traditional forms such as painting or graphics to the documentation of installations using digital media including time-based forms such as video or film. Students critically and historically investigate artworks, critics, historians and artists from Australia and round the world through five case studies.

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery."  Francis Bacon

• Visual Design - Years 9 and 10

Currently, we offer this as a 100 and 200 hour elective course to Years 9 and 10.

Students who study design in Years 9 and 10 are usually interested in some kind of design-oriented career. The visual design course uses many of the practices of the art course so that these students have no difficulty in studying visual arts and doing well in the senior school. This allows them to choose tertiary courses in design-related areas.

Students are introduced to the design process and the conventions of design. They develop and produce a comprehensive design portfolio. Students gain a deep understanding of the fundamentals of design layout, graphic design, and visual communication. Students are involved in object design and construction as well as digital photography. Students will learn how to use a variety of technologies and graphics programs to create design works and manipulate imagery. Time-based work is also introduced as students make films, learn about animation and web design. Installation work, interior, and architectural design are also explored. Students study the practices of a range of designers, whose both material and conceptual practice can inform their own designing, and to write critically about such designs.

'I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.' Georgia O'Keeffe

• Photographic and Digital Media - Years 9 and 10

Currently, we offer this as a 100 and 200 hour elective course to Years 9 and 10.

In this elective course students are provided with the opportunity to create a comprehensive photographic and digital media portfolio. Portraiture, landscape, still life, photojournalism, film, animation are just some of the genres and technical media areas students work in.

Students will explore the practice and work of a range of Australian and international photographers, designers, filmmakers, videographers, digital artists and animators to inform their own practice and recognise how it is situated in the context of the art world. Such experiences provide opportunities for students to establish their intentions as photographers and digital artists and to develop their own practice and to make different kinds of photographic and digital works that reflect various concepts and techniques.

"There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment." - Robert Frank.

• Board Endorsed Course  Photography  - Year 11 Only

Currently we offer this as a 100 hour elective course.

This elective course offers students the opportunity to develop professional skills in digital photography. Students develop a professional portfolio and investigate studio photography, action and motion photography, product photography, digital media design, video editing and stop motion animation. As part of the course, students will undertake specific location shoots to enhance techniques. Students will build a solid portfolio of work.

It is a rigorous course with a strong theoretical component with a focus of contemporary and postmodern artists studied.  Students produce images of a high technical and aesthetic standard as well as understand the theoretical underpinnings of the subject.

"Photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place … it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them." Elliott Erwitt

• Board Endorsed Course Philosophy - Year 11 Only

This subject is a Board Endorsed Course 1 Unit offered to Year 11 only.

Students investigate the history and development of philosophy. Ideas and concepts underpinning western and non-western philosophy and classical and modern philosophy is explored through various case studies. Philosophical ideologies of key figures, such as Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, Foucault, Derrida and Sartre among others are studied. Art, mathematics, politics, science, religion, ethics and feminism are areas students explore.

Course Content

Introduction to Philosophy: Historical Overview of Western Philosophy, Greek to Medieval including the Philosophies of Science, Mathematics, Art, Medicine etc.

Views of Eastern Philosophy: Hindu, Islamic, Hebrew, Buddhist and Christian in relation to the study of Ethics.

The Construction of Knowledge in Philosophy: The study of Logic through the theme of Ethics. Historical Overview of both Modernist and Postmodernist Philosophies.

Key Philosophies: Modern - Kant, Nietzsche, Russell, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Sartre, Popper, Marx, and Postmodern, Foucault, Lacan, Baudrillard, Derrida.

Key Issues: Individualism, Science, Art, Politics, Economic Rationalism, Socialist theory, Psychology, Existentialism, Linguistics.