Stage 6 - Visual Arts


Course Overview

Visual Arts involves students in artmaking, art criticism and art history. Students critically and historically investigate artworks, critics, historians and artists from Australia as well as those from other cultures, traditions and times. Students develop their own artworks, culminating in a ‘body of work’ in the HSC course.

Course Content

Year 11

The Year 11 course is broadly focused, while the Year 12 course provides for deeper and more complex investigations. Year 11 course learning opportunities focus on:

  • the nature of practice in artmaking, art criticism and art history through different investigations
  • the role and function of artists, artworks, the world and audiences in the artworld
  • the different ways the visual arts may be interpreted and how students might develop their own informed points of view
  • how students may develop meaning and focus and interest in their work
  • building understandings over time through various investigations and working in different forms.
  • While the course builds on Visual Arts courses in Stages 4 and 5, it also caters for students with less experience in Visual Arts.

Year 12

Year 12 course learning opportunities focus on:

  • how students may develop their practice in artmaking, art criticism and art history
  • how students may develop their own informed points of view in increasingly independent ways and use different interpretive frameworks in their investigations
  • how students may learn about the relationships between artists, artworks, the world and audiences within the artworld and apply these to their own investigations
  • how students may further develop meaning and focus in their work.
Course Requirements

Year 11

  • artworks in at least two expressive forms and use of a process diary
  • a broad investigation of ideas in artmaking, art criticism and art history.

Year 12

  • development of a body of work and use of a process diary
  • a minimum of five case studies (4–10 hours each)
  • deeper and more complex investigations in artmaking, art criticism and art history.
Course Assessment
  • Artmaking 50% 
  • Critical & Historical investigations 50% 

Students are required to produce a body of work and keep a Visual Arts diary.

HSC Examination
  • Curated Body of Work and 1.5 hour written examination
Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills

There are no prerequisites for this course, although students who have undertaken the Stage 5 Visual Arts course are ideally prepared for this subject.

Students need to be able to work individually and with others and learn to use a range of expressive forms to create images.

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