GRADE 9 - VISUAL ARTS

AVI101 - Open  - 1 credit

 


The Sir Winston Churchill Visual Arts program is structured to inspire and to provide creative direction.  Artistic talent and creativity have to be nurtured and developed through visual expression.  Often we are discouraged in childhood from discovering our creative interests because of criteria based on arbitrary, personal preferences.  At Sir Winston, we believe students need an opportunity to experience art as a worthwhile activity and as a valuable personal endeavour.

 

Visual Arts at Sir Winston provides a solid foundation for further study.  Students will become familiar with the elements and principles of design and the expressive qualities of various materials through working with a range of materials, processes, techniques, and styles.  They will learn and use methods of analysis and criticism.  They will also study the characteristics of many different types of art (including Canadian art).  The AVI10 is a foundation course based on the fundamental questions of art: What Is Art?  Why Make Art? What Does Art Say About Me And My Surroundings? and Where Am I Going?

 

UNIT 1:  WHAT IS ART?

UNIT 3:  WHO AM I?

What makes art good?  How can I better judge my own art?  Where does art come from?  Why do we as a society make art?

Activity 1:     Elements of design - looking at slides  

Value Scale drawing

Contour drawing and colour wheel exercises

Activity 2:     Stone Age Art - group work, articles, slides

Drawing Superimposed images 

Activity 3:     Egyptian Art - research and presentations

What is the history of Canadian Art?  How do I fit into that history?  Why is the landscape so important in Canada? How does my world fit into the landscape?  How is the figure used in Canadian Art?  

Activity 1:     Early Canadian Art History - looking at slides

Activity 2:     Get to know the landscape

Paint the landscape experimenting with colour

Activity 3:     Group of Seven Art History          

Activity 4:     My personal landscape

Activity 5:     Contemporary Canadian landscape looking at slides

UNIT 2: WHY MAKE ART?

UNIT 4:  WHERE AM I GOING?

How can I represent the real world better?  What makes a good composition?  What is the purpose of art in our society?  (to communicate religious, political, social, and individual expression; to decorate; to entertain.)

Activity 1:     Communicate through Representing the Real World

Draw an object

Draw a still life

Activity 2:     Communicate Politically, Socially, and Religiously Anti-Racism Poster

Activity 3:     Decorate and Entertain - Architectural Adornment

An investigation of the contemporary Canadian figure.  Related hands-on studio activities will include mixed media art and experimental approaches to art making.

Activity 1:     Contemporary Canadian figures  

Activity 2:     Printmaking