Art

The Art department at Brighton College provides a caring and supportive environment in which each pupil can explore their own ideas and develop their creativity.  We are very fortunate to work in the Alexander Visual Arts Centre, an environment in which every pupil is inspired to fulfil their potential, both through examination results and their broader development as artists.

Fourth Form (Year 9)

The Fourth Form is a pivotal year in the pupils' education and it expands upon and develops the valuable foundation skills in Years 7 and 8. During this year about a quarter of pupils decide on pursuing this subject to GCSE. For many it will be the last experience of Art within the classroom and Art staff aim to make this experience inspirational, thought provoking and fun.

The course touches very much on GCSE themes and approaches. The emphasis is to allow artists to develop their understanding through employing exciting and complex ideas. The main topics studied at this level are:

• Developing thematic work in response to an idea or contextual Art movement.
• Developing painting skills.
• Observational and imaginative drawing.
• On-going thematic project in workbook.
• Written analysis in response to a brief.
• Growing independence and initiative in making informed judgement about Art and Art History.

The focus of lessons remains practical, but Art preps are completed and are included in the on-going Art workbook.

Fifth Form (Years 10 and 11)

The Art Department at Brighton College follows the OCR Fine Art course which cultivates recording in a variety of media, a creative use of material in gathering and improving upon work and our pupils personal ideas. This is primarily achieved in ongoing sketchbooks (work journals) as well as in prep sheets in which visual and written explorations and ideas are conducted with a vast use of different media.

In the first two terms of the Lower Fifth (Year 10) a set structure, orchestrated by the teacher, is given and thereafter as the pupil becomes more confident and assured, greater autonomy is given so that the work sheets by the time pupils reach the Upper Fifth are highly individual responses and the finished outcomes are equally impressive and individual.

Trips and Extra-curricular

The Art Department is open during activity time, after lunch and school, five days a week, for pupils to attend and create!

The Fourth Form attend an annual Art/DT trip to London to visit and gain inspiration from the Tate Modern and Design Museum.

The Upper Fifth travel to London to visit the galleries and broaden their appreciation of a wider range styles and approaches.