Visual Arts 2023 HSC exam pack

Students should:

• engage in the exploration of concepts that go beyond a straightforward interpretation and present a considered representation of subject matter
• demonstrate a sensitivity to the selected expressive form to exhibit a proficiency in technical skills
• consult the Syllabus documents, Additional Advice, and Assessment and Reporting in Visual Arts Stage 6 for limitations regarding the size, materials, and duration of the body of work
• approach artmaking by authentically exploring the subject matter and conveying clarity of intention and meaning through the thoughtful use of titles.

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of the syllabus to effectively employ artistic conventions to ideas and technical skills
• display innovation in material manipulation, demonstrating the impact of original techniques and its integration in the artistic process
• illustrate that the artwork could be interpreted on multiple levels, suggesting ideas that complemented the technical proficiency evident in the production of the body of work.

Areas for students to improve include:

• engaging in experimentation of artmaking techniques to enhance their understanding of how technical proficiency can be conveyed in the body of work
• examining both historical and contemporary artists to investigate their approaches to technical challenges and key concepts to apply to their own artmaking
• engaging in critical self-reflection on their body of work, observing both the strengths and weaknesses to be refined before submission.

Students should:

• make informed curatorial decisions when selecting objects to be included in the submission
• make informed choices about contemporary ceramic practices and techniques
• reference artworld practices, but not directly copy artworks.

Trends include:

• a variety of approaches to practice including sculptural elements and works including both freestanding and relief forms
• a range of subject matter including environmental concerns, marine environments, cultural values/heritage and abstraction
• a dominance in submissions with multiple pieces such as 2D, 3D and documentation/display devices to expand the conceptual intent.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• present well-constructed and resolved forms with an understanding of finishes and firing techniques suitable to the concept
• show an informed understanding of contemporary ceramic practice and the potential for clay to communicate ideas
• demonstrate restraint in the structural forms and decorative qualities of the works produced.

Areas for students to improve include:

• investigating a range of ceramic construction and glazing techniques suitable to the intended form
• considering how titles can expand the conceptual intent rather than an artist’s statement
• making informed curatorial decisions based on how each component reiterates the overall concept.

Students should:

• demonstrate an awareness of how different forms present, elaborate and extend conceptual intent
• consider choices and selections across a range of forms so the body of work is consistent, cohesive and well-curated
• ensure time-based components remain within the prescribed three minutes.

Trends include:

• conceptual investigations of the built environment, cultural explorations of identity and examination of social concerns related to environmental degradation
• the creation of hybrid forms, combining two or three different forms
• an increase in the number of submissions that include a time-based component including multiple smaller pieces.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• understand how each element of the body of work informs the other, enabling greater conceptual inferences
• demonstrate material refinement and sensitivity across a range of forms
• represent concepts in a cohesive manner.

Areas for students to improve include:

• considering how titles can allow audiences to unpack and interpret layers of meaning
• providing clear display instructions that enhance curatorial selections
• demonstrating confident exploration and innovative approaches of the material qualities associated with different forms.

Students should:

• demonstrate confident handling of materials by considering appropriate design principles including composition, functionality and aesthetics to embed meaning
• research into historical conventions and contemporary innovations in the chosen field of design practice
• consider how art references are an integral conceptual feature in the design process.

Trends include:

• developing architectural designs and models with real world applications
• crafting jewellery pieces demonstrating a range of processes including metal casts and silversmithing
• recycling and repurposing materials to reduce waste and focus audience attention on environmental issues.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• use a diverse range of digital tools to complete submissions and demonstrate complex rendering of forms
• combine a range of historical and contemporary architectural styles to contextualise the design of new hybrid forms, fit for purpose, for example, museum and gallery spaces
• visualise design applications and proposals through a of range of forms including 2D illustrations, 3D models and time-based forms to elaborate meaning.

Areas for students to improve include:

• selecting and curating submission components to ensure conceptual clarity and extension rather than reiterating ideas
• considering the importance of material finish in the execution and completion of Designed Objects
• acknowledging the Designed Objects intention through either titling or a brief statement to articulate the function of the work.

Students should:

• demonstrate an awareness of how different forms can elaborate and extend conceptual intent
• consider how elements such as photography and time-based forms, document and capture aspects of an installation and/or performance
• understand course conditions and limitations, especially in terms of size and duration.

Trends include:

• explorations of concepts related to place and site as well as investigations about the role of the artist
• an interest in figuration and the exploration of psychology, stereotypes and gender roles
• the inclusion of photo media, time-based forms and sculptural elements used to document and record installations and performances.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of how each element of the body of work informs the other, enabling in depth conceptual inferences to be made
• present photographic elements and time-based forms displaying an informed understanding of camera craft and postproduction skills, effectively representing an installation and/or performance
• reference contemporary practices through the development of innovative approaches.

Areas for students to improve include:

• considering how time-based elements, photographic images and sculptural forms enhance intentions
• considering how curatorial selection impacts upon coherence and consistency in the body of work
• demonstrating an awareness of how audiences can interpret meaning through documentation.

Students should:

• submit a body of work that reflects a sustained engagement and exploration of mark making
• ensure that conceptual intent and stylistic approaches are complimented by a careful selection of materials and surfaces
• demonstrate an awareness of how titles can conceptually engage the audience and extend artistic intentions.

Trends include:

• a range of subject matter including portraiture, fantasy and animals
• approaches to traditional and contemporary drawing practices, including hyper-realistic, photo-realistic, illustration and digital media
• the use of graphite and coloured pencil, biro and felt tip markers to explore a variety of mark making techniques including blending, cross hatching, and stippling.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• submit a body of work that is conceptually engaging reflecting an understanding of mark making, materials and techniques
• employ techniques associated with conventions, for example, hyper-realistic, illustrative and expressive approaches
• present a range of viewpoints when composing and cropping artworks.

Area for students to improve include:

• showing refinement in the development of drawing skills and techniques
• understanding the role of the selection of reliable source material
• adhering to the guidelines when framing works.

Students should:

• demonstrate understanding of the appropriate Graphic Design conventions such as illustration, typography and digital technologies
• consider appropriateness of graphic genre, treatment and/or technique to ensure effective material resolution of the submission
• acknowledge the diverse genres of Graphic Design, ranging from traditional hand drawn illustrations to contemporary manga and gaming designs.

Trends include:

• innovative digital approaches to graphic illustration using a range of software programs
• digital compositing of sourced, drawn and/or photographic imagery within a multiple panel submission or a single scroll
• tablet drawing to explore themes of mythology, cultural integrations and dualities, politics and propaganda, relationships, nostalgia, fantasy worlds, dystopian worlds, social issues, mental health and critiques of social media.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• combine selected graphic genre, aesthetic conventions and paper stocks
• understand the conventions of illustration, typography within graphic design and use of restrained colour palettes
• refine graphic illustrations through application of digital software programs.

Areas for students to improve include:

• selecting and integrating typography; placement, scale, font, tracking, kerning, leading and consideration of aesthetic and conceptual intention
• considering file management and image resolution for intended scaled output, and postproduction
• demonstrating strong curatorial choices and selections.

Students should:

• explore painting techniques and stylistic conventions to communicate and highlight intention
• investigate compositional devices to strengthen the aesthetic qualities including consideration of expressive mark making, glazes, scumbling, dry brush, drips, sgraffito on various surfaces
• make informed curatorial choices of the whole submission and its cohesion, providing clear instructions for display.

Trends include:

• small, intimately scaled works with inclusion of multiple panels inviting close investigation from the audience
• using traditional practices and references to artists of influence rather than literal appropriations or direct copies
• representational approaches with a focus on intimate reflections of urban life, creating a sense of place, portraiture, still life, marine environments, nocturnes and personal physiological states.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• explore colour to communicate mood and atmosphere that is sombre, nostalgic and sensitive to enhance the concept
• investigate multi-layered concepts through sustained material practice, moving beyond a representation of subject matter
• use photographic images as a source material, varied compositional viewpoints and surreal arrangements.

Areas for students to improve include:

• understanding the importance of selection and refinement to enhance meaning and intention to the painting submission
• acknowledging the importance of reiteration rather than repetition both visually and conceptually through selection of imagery, investigation of techniques and concepts
• supporting the intention of the artwork with considered titles.

Students should:

• apply their understanding of contemporary photographic styles and traditional conventions to synthesise conceptual and material practice
• refine curatorial choices across the submission
• discern between paper stock which enforces the conceptual intent of the work.

Trends include:

• increased knowledge and understanding of how contemporary photographic practice are explored through a variety of analogue and digital approaches
• investigations exploring themes of isolation and loneliness, mental health, family, identity and gender, architectural spaces, rural and urban environments
• reportage which is further extended using online published books.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• demonstrate understanding of camera craft in different lighting situations, studio and ambient lighting
• use postproduction techniques and processes to refine technical aspects of images
• explore diversity of photographic genres within analogue and digital contemporary practices.

Areas for students to improve include:

• selecting appropriate file management and image resolution for intended scale of output
• discriminating the curation of final series
• understanding camera craft and controlling exposure in low light capture.

Students should:

• show knowledge and command of printmaking processes and conventions, demonstrating awareness and understanding of traditional and contemporary practice
• select materials, techniques and procedures to reinforce or elaborate on an idea
• edit a submission to inform an intent and reveal an awareness of curatorial practice.

Trends include:

• engaging multiple plates and processes within a single work, requiring successive passes through the printing press to create unique state prints
• developing layered and painterly grounds such as monotype printing as a surface to print a key plate
• investigating collage assemblages and sculptural extensions, in relief or in the round, that transform either the block or the print.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• engage digital technologies and graphics tablets to prepare compositions prior to carving or scribing the plate, showing ambition and innovation in the application of structural devices
• show a high degree of technical proficiency in applying conventions such as the carving or scribing of the plate, and in inking, registering and printing the image
• select, apply and manipulate printmaking conventions in ways that extend the conceptual intent of the submission.

Areas for students to improve include:

• applying an understanding of structural devices when constructing compositions and narratives
• editing to reveal best practice or where plates are editioned, elaborate on an idea
• making curatorial decisions that assist in the reading of the work. 

Students should:

• make informed curatorial choices when selecting artworks
• demonstrate knowledge of sculptural practice through multi layered references to artists and historical movements
• explore conventional and contemporary sculptural processes and techniques.

Trends include:

• approaches including freestanding, frontal, relief, assemblages, cabinets for display and plinths or bases
• heavily decorated and embellished surfaces using collage, casting, gluing, brazing and welding
• issues and themes connected to animals, family/heritage, identity, fantasy and the built and natural environment.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• make clear references to the artworld agencies in an informed manner
• show restraint and sensitivity when investigating spatial relationships, sculptural processes and techniques
• create innovative and idiosyncratic works that engaged the audience.

Areas for students to improve include:

• considering how layered titles may extend conceptual intent rather than lengthy artist statements
• refining and moderating in the application of surface treatments and decorative collaged elements
• investigating the conventions and innovations of sculptural practice to make informed decisions about artmaking practice.

Students should:

• consider sculptural and aesthetic properties found in textiles to convey conceptual and material concerns
• choose techniques and mark making that are sympathetic to the material used in the textile and fibre design work
• look to contemporary textile and fibre artists as a creative reference.

Trends include:

• integrating a variety of historical and contemporary cultural motifs to contextualise the artwork
• approaching the use of materials to create innovative hybrid forms, tailored for specific purposes such garments, quilts and soft sculptures
• exploring sculptural qualities of the fibre form in its singularity of an art object, as well as in situate being worn.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• employ innovative construction methods to adeptly expand the technical properties of textile forms
• demonstrated a profound ability to establish personal and cultural connections with the textile and fibre forms, creating a resonance with the marker
• extended the architectonics of the textile and fibre piece to convey ideas about the spatial context inhabited by the form.

Areas for students to improve:

• developing a proficiency in the technical aspects of textiles and fibres and a skill set in their manipulation and execution of forms
• searching the historical dimensions of textiles and its multifaceted role as a symbolic representation of cultural identity and personal narrative
• exploring strategies for navigating restrictions, demonstrating an awareness of the impact factors can have on the overall aesthetic and conceptual dimensions of the produced artworks.

Students should:

• demonstrate effective synchronicity of sound, vision and continuity in the body of work
• compress files to below four gigabytes, keeping the submission at or under six minutes duration and clearly label the USB.

Trends include:

• animations from hand-drawn illustration to digital graphics, constructed environments in vector and 3D software programs exploring complex and compelling narratives, parallel, linear and non-linear narratives which provided conceptual complexity
• themes exploring mental health, identity, family, cultural and personal identity, time, animals, the environment and the influence and impact of social media and technologies
• multi-layered soundtracks, sound effects and soundscapes to enhance visual imagery and pace the unfolding narrative.

In better body of works, students were able to:

• develop pre-production plans and scripts to optimise characterisation and extend the conceptual and technical approach of their submissions
• apply effective post-production techniques through digital software programs to edit and colour grade narratives and construct soundscapes
• transform assets using current software technologies to construct new worlds about critical and reflexive narratives.

Areas for students to improve include:

• stabilising the camera for panning and tracking shots and selective manual focus, using depth of field
• using different shot types, camera viewpoints and cinematic tools to storyboard narratives and use post-production techniques
• using continuity and dynamic editing to control logical coherence and film pace.

Students should:

• read the question carefully to ensure important components of the question are not missed
• have a clear understanding of key words and recognise the intent of the question and its requirements
• engage with any source material provided and refer to it in the response
• develop a plan for an extended response to assist with the logical sequencing of information
• use relevant concepts and terminology to support the response
• develop a cohesive and sustained argument in response to the question, where appropriate, reflecting extensive knowledge of artists, artworks, critics and historians’ views, and the syllabus
• present a logical and cohesive response addressing the question
• integrate diverse examples across time and place to demonstrate depth and breadth of understanding
• review the response to ensure it addresses the question requirements.

Question 1

In better responses, students were able to:

• make explicit connections between the artwork and the artist's world through an examination of personal and cultural heritage
• demonstrate a well-developed understanding of features of Plate 1 and the artist’s context, intent or processes through interpretation of the source material
• provide an explanation of the quilt as an artwork and as a functional object.

Areas for students to improve include:

• synthesising analysis with less descriptive observations of the artwork
• directly explaining the relationships between the artist, artwork and world
• interpreting written and visual source material and noting the significance of the images, materials, techniques or narratives within the artist’s world.

Question 2

In better responses, students were able to:

• apply all source material to explain how Courbet and Abdullah convey drama and emotion through personal, cultural or visual lenses
• explain how each artist’s self-portrait and their choice of materials, scale, technique or viewpoints create a feeling of drama and emotion
• identify visual qualities of each artwork and link these to specific feelings and emotions.

Areas for students to improve include:

• analysing the expressive qualities of the imagery rather than providing speculative narratives about the artists
• developing the response from a description of features of the artworks to a considered analysis of both plates
• explaining the significance of each artist’s choice of materials, compositional devices, colour palette or mark making techniques to create drama and emotion.

Question 3

In better responses, students were able to:

• understand both material and conceptual practice through explanations of materials, processes and techniques
• use all source material to build the analysis of each artist’s practice and ideas about extinction and climate change
• understand how the context in which the artworks are displayed enhances their communicated meaning.

Areas for students to improve include:

• reflecting on the significance of Rickard’s performance work in a gallery and Eliasson and Rosing’s installation in a public space for a limited time
• interpreting how ideas are communicated through the unconventional practices rather than describing the plates or restating the citations
• discussing the artists’ choices of materials, techniques and site within the context of ideas about extinction and climate change.

Question 4

In better responses, students were able to:

• analyse how artists’ material choices are influenced by their ideas or purpose with reference to the quotation
• present an understanding of artists’ practice through the analysis of appropriately chosen artworks
• demonstrate an understanding of artists’ personal beliefs, contexts, concepts or societal expectations and how these influence the artists’ material choices.

Areas for students to improve include:

• establishing a dialogue between the artists’ ideas and the specific materials, techniques and processes
• selecting appropriate examples using art terminology to support a logical explanation of artists’ conceptual and material practice 
• avoiding general and descriptive statements by presenting a point of view about the artists’ conceptual and material practice.

Question 5

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate an informed understanding of the variety of roles artists may adopt in their practice such as being both artist and subject, social or political commentator, art maker or director
• link artists’ ideas and actions to their role in a sustained and synthesised response
• support the response with a multi-layered analysis of the conceptual and material practices.

Areas for students to improve include:

• addressing all aspects of the question, avoiding general and descriptive statements   
• supporting arguments with an analysis of examples, providing an investigation of conceptual and material practice
• explaining how artists adopt distinct roles in their artmaking to generate meaning within the context of time and place.

Question 6

In the better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the interrelationships between the agencies of the artworld
• use appropriate examples to examine the complex ways artists engage audiences to be active participants in their artworks, for example, physical, emotional and intellectual engagement
• elaborate on how immersive or interactive artworks can activate audience engagement with their world.

Areas for students to improve include:

• addressing all aspects of the question by examining how artists engage audiences to become active participants in their artworks
• communicating an informed understanding of the engagement between artworks and audiences using relevant case study examples
• sustaining an argument by explaining audience and artwork interaction and avoiding general or descriptive statements.

Question 7

In the better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of how controversy in the artworld enables artists to provoke audience dialogue
• provide appropriate examples about ideas and issues such as politics, social norms, race, feminism or modern and postmodern art practice
• use subject specific terminology to explain ideas and issues in art, from the position of controversy.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating an understanding of how controversy is used in art to provoke audience understanding of ideas and issues
• selecting appropriate examples to explain the interrelationships within the agencies of the artworld  
• presenting clear points of view with links between the artist and audience, avoiding general or descriptive statements.

Question 8

In better responses, students were able to:

• support an explanation of how artists create their own visual language through styles, movements, symbolism or mediums to communicate the context
• select relevant examples to support an explanation of the relationship between visual language and experience
• demonstrate knowledge through an examination of the artworks chosen and their formal and subjective qualities.

Areas for students to improve include:

• establishing direct and sustained relationships between an artist’s visual language and their communication of autobiographical narratives
• selecting appropriate examples that communicate personal biographies using signs, symbols and visual qualities
• developing explanations that reveal and connect clear structural and subjective meanings.

Question 9

In better responses, students were able to:

• apply the frames to analyse artists’ intentions and processes when communicating ideas
• explore the role of appropriation from the past to create new meaning
• use appropriate examples and an informed analysis to explain how new artistic intentions are constructed.

Areas for students to improve include:

• addressing all aspects of the question to communicate how artists reinterpret the past to construct new meanings in the present
• selecting relevant case study examples to analyse the construction of new meanings
• providing an argument linking to the question and avoiding general or descriptive statements.