Task Title: Artist Case Study Task Number: 1

Faculty: Creative and Performing Arts Subject: Visual Arts

Year: 12 Weighting: 20% of all case
studies (5 in total)
Date Issued: Week 1 Term 1 Due Date: Week 4 Term 1 2022
Nature of Theory and Research Task
Task:

Description of the Task

Complete a comprehensive Artist Case study that servers a research task task has various
types of responses, some extended and some short answer components. This Assessment
provides a scaffold to an extended response Essay later in the course. The information
gathered through this case study will be used to complete this later theory assessment.

Syllabus Outcomes to be assessed

H7 A student applies their understanding of practice in art criticism and art
history
H8 A student applies their understanding of
the relationships among the artist, artwork, world and audience
H9 A student demonstrates an understanding of how the frames provide for
different orientations to critical and historical investigations of art

Submission Details:

Students are required to select and investigate an artist of their choice. This artist will
need to have information that is accessible to answer the following components of the
case study. BOOKLET provided for completion (See attachment). This analysis will include
the analysis of Practice, the Structural Frame and Conceptual Framework as the major
contributors to the practice Essay writing tasks. These practice activities are geared
towards getting students familiar with the processes needed to answer HSC theory exam
questions.
The following components form the content that students will engage with in their
booklets.
Glossary – Students are to fill in a list of words that are new or specific to their chosen
artist and their practices. The table has space for both the words encountered and their
definition.
Persona information and Biography – Student’s research and record personal information
on their chosen artist, including – Name, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Nationality,
Medium, Subject matter. These brief responses are to be followed with a researched
biography of important events in the life of the artist that have shaped their personality
and artistic expression.
Common Concepts and Influences – Students are to research and record information
under the following headings in describing what the artist does and an artist. These forms
both Conceptual, Cultural and Structural information about their practice. Common
Concepts, Cultural Influences, Art World Influences, Political Influences.
Artwork Study – Students are to select an artwork that represents the style and Symbols
used commonly by the artist. This study will require students to research a citation, make
statements on what they find interesting about the artwork, what the work is made of
and the impact the materials have on the concepts presented in the work, who students
feel is the intended audience for the work and why, what symbols are utilised and their
meaning, and describe what art movement students feel that this work would fit into and
why.
The following activity requires students to take a much more targeted approach to their
analysis of the artist and their artworks whilst viewing the work through the Frames.
Structural, Subjective, Cultural and Postmodern responses are required here.
The Conceptual Framework analysis asks students to analyse their chosen artwork
through the lens of the Artist, Artwork, World and Audience. Here they make comments
on their understanding of the Conceptual Framework and how this relates to their chosen
artwork.
The Materials used by the artist are to be researched and listed in the Booklet as this
forms a portion of the Structural Frame analysis. This research can also lead students to
investigate other forms of artmaking that they had not encountered or considered before.

Essay Practice Questions.

Students are required to put the research they have done into practice as they are
required to complete 2 practice Essay exam style question using the information gathered
during their research. There are 3 areas from which to choose 2 questions to answer,
Practice, Conceptual Framework and The Frames.

Marking Criteria
▪ Research and analysis that provides sophisticated critical and A- 17-20
historical analysis of chosen artist’s works.
▪ Sophisticated knowledge and understanding of how chosen artist’s
work is influenced by the Conceptual Framework.
▪ Sophisticated ability to explain and demonstrate artistic preferences
and styles of chosen artist. Able to acknowledge a variety of differing
opinions and tastes of audiences in analysis.
▪ Sophisticated understanding and explanation of key world events
that have influenced the artistic practice of chosen artist.
▪ Sophisticated understanding of how chosen artist has impacted
culture and arts.
▪ Research and analysis that provides advanced critical and historical B- 13-17
analysis of chosen artist’s works.
▪ Advanced knowledge and understanding of how chosen artist’s work
is influenced by the Conceptual Framework.
▪ Advanced ability to explain and demonstrate artistic preferences and
styles of chosen artist. Able to acknowledge some differing opinions
and tastes of audiences in analysis.
▪ Advanced understanding and explanation of world events that have
influenced the artistic practice of chosen artist.
▪ Advanced understanding of how chosen artist has impacted culture
and arts.
▪ Research and analysis that provides some sound critical and historical C- 8-12
 analysis of chosen artist’s works.
▪ Sound knowledge and understanding of how chosen artist’s work is
influenced by the Conceptual Framework.
▪ Sound ability to explain artistic preferences and styles of chosen
artist. Able to acknowledge some differing opinions in analysis.
▪ Sound understanding of world events that have influenced the
artistic practice of chosen artist.
▪ Sound understanding of how chosen artist has impacted culture and
arts.
▪ Research and analysis that provides some basic analysis of chosen D- 5-8
artist’s works.
▪ Basic knowledge of how chosen artists work is influenced by the
Conceptual Framework.
▪ Basic ability to explain artistic preferences and styles of chosen artist.
Able to list some examples of differing opinions in analysis.
▪ Basic understanding of world events that have loosely influenced the
artistic practice of chosen artist.
▪ Basic understanding of how chosen artist has impacted culture and
arts.
▪ A website that provides limited analysis of chosen artist’s E- 1-4
photographs.
▪ Limited knowledge of how chosen photographer’s work is influenced
by the Conceptual Framework.
▪ Limited ability to list artistic preferences and styles of chosen artist.
▪ Limited understanding of relevant world events that influenced the
photographic practice of chosen artist.
▪ Limited understanding of how chosen photographer has impacted
culture and arts.
No Submission received F- 0
Teacher Feedback
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 Student Self- Reflection
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task consuming and challenging

Rationale
 This Assessment task has been designed to engage Stage 6 learners Studying Visual

Arts for their HSC course. It has been designed to incorporate Syllabus requirements, the

Australian Professional Teaching Standards (2017), and uses differentiation to engage

learners with a spectrum of theoretical analysis ability. This task seeks to prepare students

who are sitting the theory exam for the HSC by providing students an opportunity to

develop the skills necessary for answering questions that have typically appeared in the HSC

Visual Arts examinations. This case study forms the first building block in a series of 5 case

studies that will be undertaken by students during the HSC course and as part of this

extended learning tool focuses on specific elements of the Stage 6 Visual Arts Syllabus

(2003). The subsequent case studies compliment this focus and expands upon them into the

area (Frames) that have not been covered extensively here.

By creating a targeted analysis that focuses on both the Structural Frame and the

Conceptual Framework I have incorporated elements of the NSW Visual Arts Syllabus (2003)

in such a way that it requires planning and sequencing of content that display knowledge

and incorporation of the Australian Professional Teaching Standards (2017). By sequencing

this information in a scaffolded and connected fashion I have displayed not only a

knowledge of my students and how they learn, but also successful planning and sequencing

of learning materials. By creating this task in this way, I have connected and sequenced

Syllabus content so that students can draw knowledge together, rather than seeing each

individual element of their learning as being compartmentalised and independent of the

previous concept or content.

By focusing on the Structural Frame, I have also differentiated the analysis so that it

allows for learners of various ability levels to engage with the content. The Structural Frame

analysis can be accessed by all learners at the base level by answering the following 5
questions when analysing an artwork, and answering The Who? What? When? Where? And

How? By delving a little deeper in their analysis, a differentiated approach asks students to

engage with questions that require students to identify Symbolism, Visual language used by

decoding visual information and how to develop a relationship between this information

and the creation and analysis of meaning. This differentiation allows students to engage

exam questions in a more meaningful way and would assist in achieving a goal of a higher

mark come exam time (Bermeitinger et al, 2018).

Differentiation would also exist in the planning phase of these case studies. By

guiding students as they select a relevant artist that would meet their analytical ability level

the content is designed so as to allow the students strengths to become evident in their

analysis. Although this may seem arbitrary, selecting an artist that will challenge learners at

their own level of ability cannot be overlooked as an integral part of the differentiation

process.

This Case study therefore engages students of a variety of ability levels, incorporates

relevant Syllabus and Curriculum content and is differentiated to allow learners of a variety

of cognitive abilities to engage and enrich their Visual Arts educational experience.

References
AITSL. (2017). Aitsl.edu.au. Retreived 14 March 2021, from

https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards

Bermeitinger, C., Hellweg, C., Andree, C., Roick, J., & Ringeisen, T. (2018). Goal

(dis)engagement, emotions, and cognitions in an exam situation: A longitudinal

study. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 32(1), 55–65. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/10.1002/acp.3379

NSW Visual Arts Syllabus Stage 4 sourced from

https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/visual_arts_710_syl.p

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