Although it is not a requirement to have an Ordinary level/SEC in Art in order to further your studies at Advanced or Intermediate levels, students who never studied Art before would need to work harder in the first days of their studies. We strongly encourage students to use summertime effectively and engage either in available Art courses, or start practising on a personal level.
The Personal Study aims at encouraging students to choose a topic of their interest, to question it, research it in depth and record this visually so as to develop a personal interpretation to it. This Personal Study is a year-long project that allows you to mature ideas under the mentorship of your tutors. Throughout the two-year course you will delve into a number of small projects to help you prepare and experience this creative research process.
The preferred term for this is a ‘visual journal’. For anyone who is experienced in personal journaling, imagine that instead of just writing, you will be visually illustrating your ideas, experiences, thoughts and feelings. It is a representation of all your visual thinking from researching to reflecting, to exploring new ideas and media and also referencing established artists that have in some way influenced your thoughts and processes.
For more information, check out this video on how to produce an A level sketchbook by Zarifa Dag, a past Junior College student.
Throughout the course you will be able to experiment and manipulate a number of media and processes, including:
drawing with pencil, charcoal, chalk and oil pastels,
painting in acrylic, watercolour, inks and mixed-media,
printing with different objects and on different surfaces,
collaging,
digital imaging and manipulating,
assembling and other three-dimensional works.
Perhaps you can recall the many times you visited Art museums and galleries but you could only look at works without really appreciating the content. Or the other times when you got angry over the comment that Abstract Art is not Art but could not sustain your point with enough arguments.
This course will equip you with the skills, the language and the methods to appreciate, criticise and interpret works of Art within their social and political context. Studying History of Art will help you to learn the universal visual language used and adapted by artists of all times which you will eventually apply to your art practice.
While studying at the college, you are encouraged to become an active member of our small Art student community which we highly value through constant peer evaluations and peer support, as well as our various campus exhibitions showcasing your efforts.
However, the JC Creative Arts & Design department is part of a bigger Art community. Throughout the course, you will be able to participate in co-curricular activities like ongoing workshops led by established local artists; visits to local galleries and museums as well as an annual opportunity to go on an Art trip to appreciate globally renowned works from life, including those that form part of your Art syllabus.
