Creative arts

In creative arts, students discover a variety of art forms through a study of dance, drama, music and visual arts.

Studying the creative arts, students learn to appreciate, compose, listen, make and perform. Each art form has its own unique knowledge and skills, elements or concepts as well as a capacity to inspire and enrich lives.

Students must study 100 hours of both music and visual arts during Years 7 to 10. They also have an opportunity to further develop their knowledge and skills in other art forms through elective subjects including drama, dance, photography and visual design. Students can then select from a range of courses in Years 11 to 12.

Curriculum Coordinator:

Alana Trovato

At Matraville Sports High School there are opportunities to develop skills in the creative and performing arts in the areas of Music and Visual Arts.

There are also a range of co-curricular enrichment and extension opportunities linked to the CAPA faculty. This includes:

· Participation in Artist Talks – In partnership with Artsmatter organisation

· Participation in UNSW In the Making workshops – hands on, practical experiences at university

· Participation in afterschool Music and Art HSC workshops

VISUAL ARTS

The Visual Arts department at Matraville Sports High School cultivates a positive learning environment and a curriculum that encourages and nurtures critical and creative thinking skills, while also fostering individual and artistic self-expression.

Our teaching staff, who excel in various fields, maintain high standards to promote student excellence. We prioritise both strong conceptual understanding and technical skill development to achieve the best possible results for each student.

Which subjects/courses do we offer?

The CAPA faculty offers a wide range of subjects and courses that vary depending on which year the student is in at school.

The Visual Arts faculty offers a range of courses across Year 7-12. These include Visual Arts, Visual Design, and Photography.

Visual Arts is mandatory in Years 7 and 8, and an elective in Years 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Stage 4 (Years 7 and 8) - Mandatory course

In Year 7 or Year 8, all students study Visual Arts for three periods a week. The course comprises the practical component of artmaking, along with critical and historical studies where students are introduced to the concepts of practice, the conceptual framework and the frames. Students learn to use practical media in at least two of the 2D, 3D and 4D expressive forms.

· 2D forms include flat work, for example, painting, drawing, wet photography and printmaking.

· 3D forms include works that involve volume and mass, for example, ceramics and sculpture.

· 4D forms include works that exist in real and virtual time, for example, time-based works, film and video, digital animation, and performance works.

Students are required to keep a Visual Arts Process Diary (VAPD), to record and plan ideas as part of their artmaking practice. Students are expected to include all documentation, sketches, planning, experimentation and work samples from all artmaking tasks.

VAPDs must also include the completion of all classwork, including theory and literacy activities. VAPD must be neatly maintained, in sequential order, with all handouts secured neatly. VAPDs will be regularly monitored and marked.

Students will participate in Critical and Historical Studies, leading to an increase of knowledge of the art world. They will learn how to interpret and communicate concepts of the art world using specific art metalanguage.

Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10) – Elective Choices

· Visual Arts

· Photographic and Digital Media

· Visual Design

Stage 6 (Years 11 and 12) - Visual Arts (ATAR)

Students will follow the visual arts curriculum designated to best suit them and their year level.

What will students learn about?

They learn about the pleasure and enjoyment of making different kinds of artworks in 2D, 3D and 4D forms. They learn to represent their ideas and interests with reference to contemporary trends and they explore how their own lives and experiences can influence their art making and critical and historical studies.

They learn how painters, sculptors, architects, designers, photographers and ceramists make artworks and explore how art is shaped by different beliefs, values and meanings. They will examine artists and artworks from different times and places and the relationships between the artist, the artwork, the world and their audience.

Stage 6 Achievements

· 2018 and 2019 Art Express entries 

The Years 7–10 music courses provide students with the opportunity to continue to build on musical experiences, developing the knowledge skills and understanding necessary for active engagement and enjoyment in performing, composing and listening.

When performing in music students will:

• perform solo and as part of ensemble as a means of self-expression
• interpret and perform varying forms of notation and symbols across a variety of musical styles
• experiment with and apply technology to enhance music performance
• develop solo and ensemble performance techniques.

The stage 6 course provide students with the opportunity to study the concepts of music through the learning experiences of performance, composition, musicology and aural within the context of a range of styles, periods and genres. Students nominate three electives made up of any combination of performance, composition and/or musicology which reflect the three topics studied in the HSC course.

At Matraville Sports High School, the music department have enjoyed many collaborations with UNSW, recording in their studios and using their facilities. The students are able to access the UNSW facilities and recieve expertise from distinguished lecturing staff.

Industries related to Music

The knowledge and skills developed in this course can be applied across a range of career pathways.

Industries related to this course include, but are not limited to, the following outlined on the Your Career website:

• Arts and Recreation Services
• Education and Training
• Information Media and Telecommunications