Art
A Level
The Art course at Eltham College allows students to work across a wide range of materials and techniques including painting, drawing, mixed-media, sculpture, land art, installation, printmaking, film, animation, video and photography. The art department is well-resourced with materials, equipment and a substantial art library.
There is an Artist-in-Residence who has a studio in the department and staff in the department come with a range of specialisms, which makes for a creative environment. The course introduces a range of materials and techniques along with the opportunity for students to experiment extensively and discover their own interests as artists.
Experimentation is supported by research into the work of other artists and movements.
The course starts with a trip to London Galleries to generate ideas and leads into an exploratory unit that offers the students a good grounding for the course. The initial coursework project, for which student choose their own title, is worth 60% of the A Level mark. The externally set task, 40% of the A Level, is set in early February of Upper Sixth giving students a wide range of starting points and the chance to develop their own interests. Both aspects of the course require students to be able to record confidently through drawing and photography, to use artists to support their work and to experiment extensively refining their work to bring it to a conclusion.
The course becomes gradually more focused upon the students’ strengths and interests. There are a highly diverse range of approaches adopted which support many students to gain places on art-related course at university: from Architecture to Graphic Design, Fashion to History of Art. There are many opportunities throughout the course, including a trip to a European city in October half term and weekly workshops each Monday evening.
The Gerald Moore Gallery also offers the students a whole host of unique opportunities. It is a professional gallery space on the school site which exhibits work from national collections and also commissions new works, hosts events and runs classes. There are regular workshops in the space, the opportunity to meet and collaborate with artists, run events and the chance for students to curate an exhibition of their own work.
