Year 8 Art & Design

Unit Content

Unit 1

Art of the everyday: food

Students explore in detail the work and context of a given artist before using their own observational drawing and watercolour layering techniques to develop independent 2D outcomes. The unit emphasises the visual connections students make between their own work and that of others, while teaching them to develop skills in media experimentation.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Knowing how tonal value, mark-making and direct observation inform complex drawings
  • Understanding the work of others using tools of visual analysis and appropriate vocabulary
  • Understanding how 2D watercolour layering techniques build the illusion of 3D forms

Key skills developed:

  • How to draw with line, weight, pressure and tonal complexity to create the illusion of 3D forms
  • How to write descriptive sophisticated visual analysis
  • How to use value and saturation to build watercolour layers from light to dark in order to describe 3D forms

Assessment: Learning is assessed formatively at Weeks 5 and 10 of the 12-week unit against an established checklist of criteria. Summative assessment and feedback are based on progress made towards the expected standard, which is articulated through a series of 'I can' statements.

Unit 2 

Art of the everyday: illustration & 3D cakes

Students independently select and investigate the work and context of an artist as stimulus for their own observational drawing and mixed media illustrations. They use a range of techniques to produce 2D illustrations and 3D clay outcomes. The unit emphasises the visual connections students make between their own work and that of others, while teaching them to develop skills in media experimentation.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding how mixed media techniques are used by artists to illustrate a narrative
  • Understanding how illustrators use a variety of techniques to communicate powerful visual narratives
  • Understanding how 2D design ideas can be realised using techniques of 3D clay sculpture 

Key skills developed:

  • How to investigate independently and use research to inform the generation of personal creative ideas
  • How to select, experiment with and refine mixed-media processes
  • How to use slab and coil techniques to realise 2D ideas by joining, building and constructing in clay

Assessment: Learning is assessed formatively at Weeks 5 and 10 of the 12-week unit against an established checklist of criteria. Summative assessment and feedback are based on progress made towards the expected standard, which is articulated through a series of 'I can' statements.