Inspire - Overview.​



I feel very fortunate to have had a lifetime involved in visual arts.  Although it has been many years since I held a permanent position as a full time, secondary Visual Art teacher, I have never not had visual arts or some form of creativity in my life.  My recent studies in teacher-librarianship show evidence of my passion with many of my focused studies linked to visual aspects of learning and presenting. It is for these reasons, that I have chosen to redesign a Visual Art unit that I wrote some 15 years ago which was modified for a Queensland School Curriculum Council syllabus module.  

 

The original unit, Design for the Body, was a unit written for year 9 and 10 students at a co-educational, Catholic, yr 8 - 10 school that had recently embarked on developing a vertical curriculum structure for the school.  Our regional community also celebrated a wearable art show, every year, as part of the Festival of Arts. The unit was designed so students could possibly create an entry for that event and as a result, their designs were often governed by the entry categories for that year.  There are many aspects of the original unit that were inquiry based as this form of learning underpins how learning occurs in the visual arts. So, although there are some similarities in my newly designed unit, including keeping the unit at a year 10 level, there are also many developments.  Most evident, is the richness of the inquiry that students self-direct and the direct stimulus that forms a conceptual level of inquiry, not a theme, as was popular before.

 

Two inquiry cycles frame this unit. Firstly, there is an inquiry into the contrasts and intersections that exist between fashion and wearable art.  The second inquiry, uses artist Jill Chism (regional artist and who was my own senior visual arts teacher), and her environmental artwork as a direct stimulus for an inquiry about our relationship with nature and how we can co-create our future together.  The second inquiry uses the students knowledge of wearable art to develop an artwork that brings together the two inquiry cycles.  Fusing both inquiries together, the unit has been entitled A Wearable Co-Creation, which harmoniously ties in with my overall Creating Inquiry framework.  This unit would be run as a heavily timetabled, ten week unit, to fulfil the expectations of the intended learning outcomes.

 

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES:

 

INQUIRY ONE:  Guiding questions - What is fashion and what role does it play in society?  What is wearable art and what is its purpose in fashion and art contexts?  This inquiry focuses on the FORM that is being explored in this unit - wearable art.  It explores concepts of self identity and expression in what we wear.

 

Students are to create a digital resource, such as an infographic, slideshow, digital sketchnote or other, that addresses an inquiry into the intersections and contrasts that exist between fashion and wearable art.

 

Students:

• Select and analyse a range of wearable art and fashion sources, from historical, cultural and contemporary contexts, that explores the intersections and contrasts that exist between fashion and art.

 

• Develop an informed viewpoint that synthesises their research, development, resolution and reflection into their inquiry.

 

• Use appropriate terminology to evaluate how artists and others use design elements and principles to communicate meaning and message in their artwork.

 

• Manipulate and intentionally use digital materials, techniques, technologies and processes to communicate their synthesised inquiry and produce a considered aesthetic.

 

INQUIRY TWO:  Guiding question - How do we or can we co-create our future with the environment? This inquiry cycle ties into the first, however, it now moves into the CONCEPTUAL exploration of this unit - our relationship with the natural environment.  Students begin with the same direct stimulus but are afforded more freedom to explore their own inquiry into their relationship with the natural environment.  Knowledge of wearable art (inquiry one) is required to successfully develop the culminating artwork in this inquiry.

 

Students are to design and create a wearable artwork that addresses and resolves their own inquiry into how do we or can we co-create our future with the environment.  Students develop an appropriate context to display their work.

 

Students:

• Investigate concepts of present and future relationships with the natural environment, through various mediums, to develop and resolve a rich inquiry of learning.

 

• Investigate the work of other artists and influences, including local and indigenous people and wearable artists, to explore various viewpoints and ideas, so as to enrich their visual art-making and conceptual ideas.

 

• Develop an informed personal aesthetic, reflected in their art making approach and processes, informed by artists and other work.

 

• Create wearable artwork that manipulates and controls design elements and principles to communicate meaning and message.

 

• Select, experiment with, manipulate and refine the application of various materials, techniques, technologies and processes to develop and represent artistic meaning in their wearable art.

 

• Reflect on the display of other wearable art to  plan for the context in which they would display their artwork, including visual aesthetics, sound, movement and intended audience.

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