A LEVEL ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY TRANSITION PROJECT Y11 INTO Y12

1. Y12 Transition Project Art & Photography
WHAT? Create a Journal or Portfolio of artwork in
response to ONE of two themes ….
FREEDOM
Or
RESTRICTION?
Share first work with us in July and the rest in September
How should I do this?
1. You can stick with ONE Visual Arts Genre (such as
Photography, Drawing, Painting or 3D) OR you can
use SEVERAL, maybe try new things out.
2. Use a range of materials, techniques and processes.
Complete work from observation but also from your
imagination
3. You must COMBINE ideas, research, thoughts and
analysis with experiments, observations, drawings
and creativity and present in a way that you enjoy.
Why should I do this?
1. To develop and refine your existing visual arts skills
2. To show that you can think, notice, observe and
express in a creative way
3. It is the start point of your A level in Art, 3D-Design or
Photography – so take the lead and show us what
your interests and strengths are

2. Wondering
how to start?
Sometimes it is best not to
overthink – just begin at
the beginning… by making a
start…… Choose the start
point that best describes
you and follow the
instructions.
Start point 1: I AM STUCK (maybe panicking a little); where should I start
• Start with some idea generation. Think about the words RESTRICTION &
FREEDOM. Talk them over with other people and record some ideas on
paper.
• Read pages 5 & 6 to decide if you want to buy or make a sketchbook OR
use a portfolio (and if it will be digital or traditional). Then get it made
OR ready . .
• Looking at the artists sketchbook pages on page 12-20 might also give
you some ideas for your own work
• It often helps to just start to make marks on the page OR to just
photograph something. So read the tips on pages 3 & 4, make a mind
map of your own. You are now ready for START POINT 2
Start point 3: If you have chosen from the two titles and you are looking
forward to this project. If you have been waiting 2 years to do the Artwork
that YOU want to do. If you already know what you want to explore and try
and you can visualise your sketchbook. If you feel confident then just make
a start, give it a go. If you later need more help or have a wobble no
problem:… just ask
Start point 2: I have chosen my title and feel confident and inspired by it
BUT the next step is hard: what do I actually make, create, or photograph?
• Read pages 7-10 to give you some ideas for how you could present /
what to include, maybe make a list of what you want to try
• Read the list on PAGE 11– there are 38 different page/art themes that
you can respond to in an arty way.
• Begin by selecting 10 that most interest you and dedicate one
page/sheet or photoshoot to each starting point
• Find a way to represent these starting points and link them to your title
of FREEDOM or RESTRICTION?
Please remember to
• Share work with us often. Keep
the teacher student
communication live so share
work and your thoughts at least
twice a week with Ms Harris, Ms
Humpleby and Mr Wesley
• Use our new website to help you
–
https://visualartsatsca.wixsite.c
om/mysite/links-research

3. See more at: http://www.studentartguide.com/articles/how-to-make-a-mindmap-creative-ideas?utm_source=Student+Art+Guide+Newsletter&utm_campaign=0c0050ec5b-
Newsletter_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_23af712e7d-0c0050ec5b-28594137#sthash.6WEod78k.dpuf
When starting an Art project, remember that:
It is often helpful to brainstorm possible ways of beginning or approaching the theme. Single words are
unlikely to express an idea adequately and you need to do it in a way that feels right for you. So as you think
though possibilities, it might be more useful to combine words, drawings and examples, recording what you are
thinking so you can revisit it at a later stage.

4. EXAMPLESOFARTISTSTHINKING,
EXPLORINGANDCREATING

5. SKETCHBOOK, JOURNAL or PORTFOLIO DECISIONS chose one of these 3 ways to present work
Collect together all sorts of
different papers – fold them
in half then tie them into an
outside cover that you make.
You could tie
in little mini
books or add
pages if you
fill your book
If you use a
pre-made book
make sure
that you make
in unique and
personal to
you –
something no-
one else has
Concertina books are easy to make, you can
work on both sides as well as stick more
pages onto the end. Then your work can be
across several pages or on one – you could
even cut holes through some of them. Draw
directly into it or paste things in
1. Purchase a ready made A5 or A4 sketchbook, OR use whatever you have at home to make your own free and original sketchbook:
Online videos and https://www.accessart.org.uk/sketchbooks-making-your-sketchbook-your-own/is a good place to help you start
2. Create a portfolio of loose pages is an organised way of keeping large work – this link shows a example for university applications and
is good for ideas on how to do it https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/how-to-make-an-art-portfolio-for-college-or-university
3. Present your work online as a free website or digital portfolio. This is a cheap modern way to show photography (without a need to
print), or progress evidence of 3D or Textiles work: do an online search ‘how-to’ tutorials. I use Wix.com or Google sites/Google photos

6. Traditional vs digital portfolios?
Traditionally they were made of card but you could use
recycled cardboard, fabric, plastic – even wood.
Positives – easy to make, any size (see examples)
adaptable, personal, easy to carry (add handles),
physical, keep work safe and we can touch them.
Negatives - they are heavy / they can get wet
Digital is increasingly how you submit work for the first
round of an interview or university application.
Positives – light, adaptable, easy to add to, great for
larger or 3D work, video, animation and photographs,
Negatives – you might have to pay a weekly fee and
you might need to upskill with digital things. There is
no touchability factor
Learn how to make one here https://artful-
kids.com/2012/05/07/art-portfolio-tutorial/

7. What do I include in my journal/portfolio?
You can include a wide variety of
evidence including
• Photographs and edits
• Drawings
• Collage
• Paintings
• Artist research
• Lettering
• Graphic designs
• Experiments with fabric
• Models and 3d work
• Photographs of your work process
• Mind –maps/idea logs/plans
• Thoughts
You could explore what the theme means to you OR
you could use the actual letters as a start point
You could include photographs or drawings of
where and how you are working – this is a
corner of Ms Humpleby’s studio
You could experiment with repetitions of colour or shape, through photographs or art, or try
different ways of presenting you work, such as hanging, folding, layering, in public or a window
You could examine and represent the same one
thing every day/for every task. For example, your
own image, a room, a view. what do you notice
that is new about it?
Decide how you want to include words – you should record/include the following
• your thoughts and feelings,
• the facts (such as the day, time and location you were working in, the materials used)
• the title of the page/piece (do you make this part of the artwork?)
• Your opinions and feelings (about the work, your sources and inspirations, the process)
Each page/outcome could relate or be something
totally new, not related in any obvious way

8. What else could I try at home: I
want to do something different
Try working with just
colour, letters, numbers
& symbols. The words
could be from a scientific
formula, a song, the tv,
a paper or even given to
you by someone else
Try working with the
same image overlapped
and layered using paint,
pen and sweet wrappers
Try creating lots
of designs by
experimenting
with drawing
into found paper
– I cut pottery
shapes from old
photographs
and adverts
Try responding to music and using things you find lying
around at home – this is using tape, paper, string pencil
and heavy metal music
Learn how to make zines and use them to express your
opinions for an audience, try publishing them and get
people’s opinions on your message Or artwork
Work outside – making art on location – it changes how
you see things AND how fast you work
This work is created using paint, a
sponge, poppies, stencils and old
book pages – It has 7 layers
What is most
important is
having a sense
of discovery –
be prepared to
explore,
experiment and
just try things
out

9. What if am a photographer or want to use digital arts?
The same approach applies – just use a camera or a digital art-pad to create
with. You can create a journal but you are more likely to go the web-site or digital
portfolio route – so make sure that you investigate ways of doing this as part of
your project. Overall the aim is to be creative, to make art and to practice, refine
and develop as an artist, finding ways to share your creativity
Some of Ms Humpleby’s
work this lockdown,
• Looking up from the
ground
• Freezing flowers in ice
then photographing
them. A selfie a day
• Cats
• Finally exercise at the
beach – only when
allowed
• Cyanotypes mania
Find your inspiration:
• Top left loo roll
viewfinders
• Artists and
photographers photo
above is a one hour
exposure by – Ken
Ohara long exposure
• Around me
• My garden
• My home
• Lighting
• How does my camera
work?
• Look for new things

10. In these pages Jo Walton uses different found paper to make a
surface which she then paints into to show her experience of being
there before then adding painted words or a tiny photographic record
of the location
Collage is a fun way to create background pages but also a process you can use to create original art or photography
Trying something new: COLLAGE
You can use collage to add things into your book to make original
art outcomes OR to make a surface to work on; giving you a new
and interesting starting point
You could use layers and transparency and an editing programme
to create a digital Photo-collage or a Photo-montage. Or create
new work from found photographs
You could consider using
fabrics, recycling and found
bits to hold pages together OR
to keep ideas in
Using a found book instead of a new
sketchbook full of blank pages is
interesting. The paper texture, existing
words and pictures all influences your
work. This is in Ms H’s sketchbook: a
page drawn in a hospital carpark.
Old and found photographs can be great starting points for new art
Things I could collage
• Receipts
• Photographs
• Bags
• Envelopes
• Fabric
• Flyers
• Adverts
• Newspaper
• Magazines
• Postcards
• Letters
• Tickets
• Wrappers
• Dried leaves and
flowers
• String
• Postcards….

11. THEMES TO START YOU OFF: You must use number 1 and number 2
From all the others you may choose all or only a few.
Use one for each piece of work you create.
Find a way to fit them to the project title you have chosen: Restriction OR Freedom
Have fun: these are prompts to encourage you to Explore, Develop and create
1. FAVOURITE ARTIST
2. NEW ARTIST
3. SELF PORTRAIT
4. MUSIC
5. CLOSED
6. CONFLICT
7. THE NEWS
8. SQUASHED
9. CHOICE
10.FROZEN
11.STORYTELLER
12.WORDS
13.FILMS
14.SHOES
15.CONTAINED
16.FEARS
17.TRAVEL
18.DREAMS
19.HOPES
20.HABITS
21.EMOTIONS &
FEELINGS
22.LOOKING THROUGH
23.INSIDE
24.FAMILY
25.LIQUID
26.OUTSIDE
27.SHOPPING
28.COLOUR
29.WEATHER
30.STRUCTURE
31.DOORS / WINDOWS
32.EATING
33.BOX
34.TEXTURE
35.REMEMBERING
36.LIMITED
37.REFLECTIONS
38.EXTENSION

12. ARTIST SKETCHBOOK INSPIRATION

13. Photographers sketchbooks
Nigel shafran https://www.nowness.com/story/photographer-
nigel-shafrans-work-books
Photographer sketchbooks are a collection of images, notes, technical
plans, process notes and ideas. Mixed in with that are often sketches of
shoots, contact sheets and proofs of final edits. We are more than happy
for those of you who are photographers to do that – you do not have to
paint, sculpt, collage if you do not want to

14. Evaly Jerome
Evaly is a mixed media artist who builds her work
from the quirky oddities she collects from
photographs to dolls, she paints, weaves, prints
and uses collage. Her sketchbooks are a
wonderful glimpse into to the creativity of her mind
– she has a sketchbook for each year and one for
each major event plus a keen eye for collecting
interesting things

15. Grayson Perry
http://mskaysartworld.weebly.com/identity---grayson-perry.html
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/31/sketchbooks-by-grayson-
perrie-review-daft-ideas-that-later-become-art
He is the artist who is the host for Grayson Perry's Art Club on
channel 4 on Mondays but he has been around a long time –
his sketchbooks are personal and creative. He says that they
are important because ‘he is free to doodle and play as freely’
as he want. They are a collection of drawings, ideas, words and
random things he writes down. Some pages are scruffy and
some colourful, some are planning pages and some record
what he sees or is feeling. He writes down prompts or
questions to himself to guide later work.
Most of his work is 3dimensional, brightly painted clay
sculpture and pots but he also produced painting, textile work
and installations. He is a good source to remind yourself that
great art is not necessarily neat, planned and organised

16. Julianna
Cole
Julianna Coles works small and in an intense way. About her practice she
says Visual Journals are an experiment in self portraiture and personal
mythology that capture a moment in time where freedom of expression is
utmost and all considerations to color theory, composition, and technique
are unimportant. These layered and timeless books are rich, hauntingly
beautiful, and exquisite; the stuff of something deeper, darker, meatier,
with the gouges, scrapes, and scars of life in our own words and our own
images. https://www.meandpete.com/index.html
All your expression can be explored within the pages of
a sketchbook; this artist is a great example of one way to do it

17. Jim Moir
https://vicreeves.tv/
Noel Fielding Jean Michel Basquiat
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NoelsArtCl
ub&src=hashtag_click
Jim Moir (aka Jim Reeves) and Noel Fielding
are known as both Artists and Performers.
They live very much in the public eye. Both say
they are influenced by Jean Michel Basquiat.
Their artwork is expressive, and personal
showing influences from Surrealism, Dada and
Neo-Expressionism (look them up). Their work
is colourful, eye-catching and energetic, an
individual viewpoint on the world expressed
with energy and fun. They are good examples
of artists who have found a way to make art
their way without worrying what other people
think.

18. Guillermo Del Toro

19. Chandler O’Leary

20. Frida Kahlo's life was expressed
through her work. A chronological
look at her artwork provides an
understanding of the events that
changed her life: her passions,
motivations, disappointments, and
desires. Painting was cathartic for
her, however, writing and keeping a
diary also helped her to establish a
relationship with herself, and to find
a way of expressing her afflictions
during the final 10 years of her life.
Kahlo found that writing, as well as painting, was useful not just
for communicating with her family and friends—and also as a
way of connecting with her own feelings, conveying her ideas on
her artistic practice, and expressing her worries and pains, both
physical and emotional.
“I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.”
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo