Art

Visual Arts

Through engaging in the visual art, students learn how to discern in, and celebrate their own and others’ visual worlds. Visual arts learning, begins with students' curiosity and delight in their senses and stories and extends to communication of complex ideas and concepts. An understanding of Maori visual culture is achieved through exploration of Maori contexts.  The arts of European, Pasifika, Asian and other cultures add significant dimensions to New Zealand visual culture.

 In visual arts education, students develop visual literacy and aesthetic awareness as they manipulate and transform visual, tactile and spatial ideas to solve problems. They explore experiences, stories, abstract concepts, social issues and needs, both individually and collaboratively. They experiment with different media and materials, using processes and convention/s to develop their visual enquires and create both static and time-based art works.  They view art works, bringing their own experiences, sharing their responses and generating multiple interpretations. Their meaning making is further informed by investigation of the contexts in which artworks are created, used and valued.  As they develop their visual literacy, students are able to engage with a wider range of art experiences in increasingly complex and conscious ways.

 The visual arts develop students’ conceptual thinking within a range of practices across drawing, sculpture, design, painting, printmaking, photography and moving image.  Theoretical investigations also inform practical enquiry. Opportunities to explore and communicate in their visual arts continue to expand as technologies and multi-disciplinary practices evolve.