In creative arts, students discover a variety of art forms through a study of dance, drama, music and visual arts.
Studying the creative arts, students learn to appreciate, compose, listen, make and perform. Each art form has its own unique knowledge and skills, elements or concepts as well as a capacity to inspire and enrich lives.
Students must study 100 hours of both music and visual arts during Years 7 to 10. They also have an opportunity to further develop their knowledge and skills in other art forms through elective subjects including drama, dance, photography and visual design. Students can then select from a range of courses in Years 11 to 12.
All students complete 100 hours of Music and 100 hours of Visual Arts. Both are taught as coherent study and are not spread over years.
Visual Arts provides opportunities for students to enjoy the making and studying of art. It builds an understanding of the role of art in all forms of media, both in the contemporary and historical world, and encourages students to develop their ideas and interests in artworks. Visual Arts enables students to become informed about, to understand and to write about their contemporary world. Students learn:
- About the pleasure and enjoyment of making different kinds of artworks in 2D, 3D and 4D forms.
- To represent their ideas and interests with reference to contemporary trends.
- How artists, including painters, sculptors, architects, designers, photographers and ceramists make artworks.
- How art is shaped by different beliefs, values and meanings.
- How their own lives and experiences can influence their artmaking and critical and historical studies.
All students also have the opportunity to develop their musical abilities and potential. Throughout the course students will discover how music as an artform plays important roles in the social, cultural, aesthetic and spiritual lives of people.
At an individual level, music is a medium of personal expression. It enables the sharing of ideas, feelings and experiences which students will explore through the learning experiences of performing, composing and listening, within the context of a range of styles, periods and genres. They will also study the concepts of music (duration, pitch, dynamics and expressive techniques, tone colour, texture and structure).
As part of the Creative Arts program, students can choose to study electives which may include Dance, Photographic and Visual Media, Drama, and Visual Design.