strawberrye
Premium Member
Introduction:
Having completed a BOW, an achievement that could never have been possible without the support of some incredible art teachers, I hope to give some advice to current and future HSC students on how to ace their BOWs, and in turn, enjoy the journey of creating their BOWs and get good marks in it. To enjoy visual arts is important since I presume most people have chosen visual arts because they genuinely share a passion in it (considering it is a relatively low scaling subject).
Please feel free to comment below if you have anything you would like to add that I have missed
1) Time management
Write a time management plan on a week by week basis for each upcoming term based on your progress in your BOWs so far. Allocate a part of your school holidays to work on your body of work further. Progressively increase the amount of time you will spend working on your body of work leading up to your practical assessments in school.
Make sure you are using your class time efficiently (don’t give in to the temptation of bludging and gossiping with your classmates, because that wastes time-you will eventually have to make it for it using your own spare time) and don’t leave everything to the last minute, make checklists and tick off things you have done will help you manage your time more effectively.
2) Using available resources effectively and consistently
During this journey, your art teachers will be providing you with feedback (including praise and criticisms) to help you improve your work. You should always try to consider their criticisms and make corresponding conceptual or structural adjustments to your work, this is especially important if they are also past HSC markers. If you are struggling, don’t wait until the teacher comes around to help you, ask for help immediately. Don’t be shy-it won’t get you anywhere.
If your school has retained past HSC BOWs-ask the teacher if you can have a look-you might get inspired by ideas, go to the Art-express exhibition, borrow or look through past art-express catalogues and description online or in your libraries. Ask your teachers whether there are any good artists to research upon based on your idea. Ask classmates what do they think of your BOW-i.e. any other ideas you can do-and likewise, you can help them out as well. By using available resources and actively seeking more throughout the year-you will maximise your chance of success and your enjoyment of this process as well.
3) Choose a passionate/intriguing subject matter and use mediums/techniques that shows off your technical/conceptual capabilities.
Sometimes abstraction and postmodern appropriation can interest your markers a lot more than realism. Don’t have a fixed idea of what your final BOW will be like at the start of the year, it will restrict the risks you take and eliminate other possible, and often, much more effective ways of exploring your ideas. This also goes with selecting subject matter-make sure it is a subject that you can explore extensively-not too broad or too narrow in scope, and that you will be willing to work with it for the entire year.
Try not to use completely new mediums you haven’t used before without sufficient experimentation, use materials that shows off your technical capacities and moreover, use mediums to enhance your ideas-whether in its aesthetic impact or adding to its conceptual meaning through the distinct texture or behaviour of that certain medium.
4) Work consistently hard throughout the year and establish goal(s) that you would like to achieve
For many HSC visual arts students, the ultimate goal at the end of the year would likely to be having their BOWs nominated and selected for the ArtExpress exhibition. However, bear in mind that although this is an excellent goal to pursue, if at the end of the year, you fail to achieve a nomination/selection, don’t be disheartened by it-as long as you have tried your absolute best, then you have nothing to regret and nothing you should be disheartened by.
Don’t burn out-put in the consistent effort throughout the year. Working on your BOW will often be a love/hate relationship, sometimes everything works out brilliantly, maybe even better than what you have imagined, and other times things don’t turn out the way you wanted it to-and it is easy to want to give up and even drop this time-consuming, low-scaling subject. However, try not to give up-remember why you have selected this subject in the first place-because you are passionate about it and you think you are going to do well in it.
Keep putting in the hard yards, and establish goals-whether in marks, in ranks, or by some other measure to work towards. One very important point is don’t try to finish your artwork weeks before a practical assessment is due-because when you are rushed, when you think you will save time for other subjects, your quality of work will not be well thought out. Yes, it is stressful to work on something every single week, however, go with the journey of revising and enjoy the exhilaration as you complete the final details of your BOW.
5) Finally, don’t neglect your Visual Arts Diary!
Remember that for many of the practical assessments you will encounter in Visual Arts in your school, it is likely at least one will require you to submit your diary as part of your assessment. Work on your diary consistently along with your body of work, if you have experiment with any materials or explore or research any ideas or influences, make clear headings in your diary and stick everything in, try to not have too much loose material in your diary if you are using a tangible form of documentation, i.e. a diary made of paper.
Try to keep your writing legible, and remember that this is not English, so don’t write endless paragraphs (like I have in this post), but rather it will be more effective to stick photographs of your progress, experiments and label everything. In visual arts, the notion that a picture speaks a thousand words resonates better than any other subjects. Make sure you also put dates on every page of your diary work-so that the teacher can see you’ve worked consistently throughout the term/year and you haven’t left everything to the last minute. Use your visual art diary to help you develop your ideas; don’t see it as a chore to work on it-use this tool to your advantage. Often, your teacher will get a better idea on how to help you if you can show them a visual art diary that is neat, that contains logical, well-researched information and ideas, and that shows your various thought processes.
If you think of anything about exploring your artwork further, write it down in your diary. Make sure you store your diary in a safe place and keep it in good condition, after all, you will be using it for an entire year and you don’t want to lose all that evidence of your hard work
Conclusion:
Finally, remember to remain sane. Working on your BOW can be an emotionally and physically draining process, remember to step back from it from time to time and if it gets too tiring, to stop working on it and come back at a later time when you feel inspired. Remember, you are never alone-there will be thousands of Visual Arts students working, like you, on their BOWs, sharing similar feelings as you. Remember consistency, perseverance and passion are the keys to success in VA-Best wishes for current and future HSC visual arts student to ace their BOWs
Having completed a BOW, an achievement that could never have been possible without the support of some incredible art teachers, I hope to give some advice to current and future HSC students on how to ace their BOWs, and in turn, enjoy the journey of creating their BOWs and get good marks in it. To enjoy visual arts is important since I presume most people have chosen visual arts because they genuinely share a passion in it (considering it is a relatively low scaling subject).
Please feel free to comment below if you have anything you would like to add that I have missed
1) Time management
Write a time management plan on a week by week basis for each upcoming term based on your progress in your BOWs so far. Allocate a part of your school holidays to work on your body of work further. Progressively increase the amount of time you will spend working on your body of work leading up to your practical assessments in school.
Make sure you are using your class time efficiently (don’t give in to the temptation of bludging and gossiping with your classmates, because that wastes time-you will eventually have to make it for it using your own spare time) and don’t leave everything to the last minute, make checklists and tick off things you have done will help you manage your time more effectively.
2) Using available resources effectively and consistently
During this journey, your art teachers will be providing you with feedback (including praise and criticisms) to help you improve your work. You should always try to consider their criticisms and make corresponding conceptual or structural adjustments to your work, this is especially important if they are also past HSC markers. If you are struggling, don’t wait until the teacher comes around to help you, ask for help immediately. Don’t be shy-it won’t get you anywhere.
If your school has retained past HSC BOWs-ask the teacher if you can have a look-you might get inspired by ideas, go to the Art-express exhibition, borrow or look through past art-express catalogues and description online or in your libraries. Ask your teachers whether there are any good artists to research upon based on your idea. Ask classmates what do they think of your BOW-i.e. any other ideas you can do-and likewise, you can help them out as well. By using available resources and actively seeking more throughout the year-you will maximise your chance of success and your enjoyment of this process as well.
3) Choose a passionate/intriguing subject matter and use mediums/techniques that shows off your technical/conceptual capabilities.
Sometimes abstraction and postmodern appropriation can interest your markers a lot more than realism. Don’t have a fixed idea of what your final BOW will be like at the start of the year, it will restrict the risks you take and eliminate other possible, and often, much more effective ways of exploring your ideas. This also goes with selecting subject matter-make sure it is a subject that you can explore extensively-not too broad or too narrow in scope, and that you will be willing to work with it for the entire year.
Try not to use completely new mediums you haven’t used before without sufficient experimentation, use materials that shows off your technical capacities and moreover, use mediums to enhance your ideas-whether in its aesthetic impact or adding to its conceptual meaning through the distinct texture or behaviour of that certain medium.
4) Work consistently hard throughout the year and establish goal(s) that you would like to achieve
For many HSC visual arts students, the ultimate goal at the end of the year would likely to be having their BOWs nominated and selected for the ArtExpress exhibition. However, bear in mind that although this is an excellent goal to pursue, if at the end of the year, you fail to achieve a nomination/selection, don’t be disheartened by it-as long as you have tried your absolute best, then you have nothing to regret and nothing you should be disheartened by.
Don’t burn out-put in the consistent effort throughout the year. Working on your BOW will often be a love/hate relationship, sometimes everything works out brilliantly, maybe even better than what you have imagined, and other times things don’t turn out the way you wanted it to-and it is easy to want to give up and even drop this time-consuming, low-scaling subject. However, try not to give up-remember why you have selected this subject in the first place-because you are passionate about it and you think you are going to do well in it.
Keep putting in the hard yards, and establish goals-whether in marks, in ranks, or by some other measure to work towards. One very important point is don’t try to finish your artwork weeks before a practical assessment is due-because when you are rushed, when you think you will save time for other subjects, your quality of work will not be well thought out. Yes, it is stressful to work on something every single week, however, go with the journey of revising and enjoy the exhilaration as you complete the final details of your BOW.
5) Finally, don’t neglect your Visual Arts Diary!
Remember that for many of the practical assessments you will encounter in Visual Arts in your school, it is likely at least one will require you to submit your diary as part of your assessment. Work on your diary consistently along with your body of work, if you have experiment with any materials or explore or research any ideas or influences, make clear headings in your diary and stick everything in, try to not have too much loose material in your diary if you are using a tangible form of documentation, i.e. a diary made of paper.
Try to keep your writing legible, and remember that this is not English, so don’t write endless paragraphs (like I have in this post), but rather it will be more effective to stick photographs of your progress, experiments and label everything. In visual arts, the notion that a picture speaks a thousand words resonates better than any other subjects. Make sure you also put dates on every page of your diary work-so that the teacher can see you’ve worked consistently throughout the term/year and you haven’t left everything to the last minute. Use your visual art diary to help you develop your ideas; don’t see it as a chore to work on it-use this tool to your advantage. Often, your teacher will get a better idea on how to help you if you can show them a visual art diary that is neat, that contains logical, well-researched information and ideas, and that shows your various thought processes.
If you think of anything about exploring your artwork further, write it down in your diary. Make sure you store your diary in a safe place and keep it in good condition, after all, you will be using it for an entire year and you don’t want to lose all that evidence of your hard work
Conclusion:
Finally, remember to remain sane. Working on your BOW can be an emotionally and physically draining process, remember to step back from it from time to time and if it gets too tiring, to stop working on it and come back at a later time when you feel inspired. Remember, you are never alone-there will be thousands of Visual Arts students working, like you, on their BOWs, sharing similar feelings as you. Remember consistency, perseverance and passion are the keys to success in VA-Best wishes for current and future HSC visual arts student to ace their BOWs
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