← Visual Arts syllabus

Northern IrelandVisual Arts

Visual language and contextual studies: the elements of art and analysing artists

2 dot points across 2 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you investigate and analyse artists so it strengthens your own work?

Critical and contextual studies: analysing artists, movements and artworks, and developing your own ideas from sources rather than copying, to evidence AO1.
A focused CCEA GCSE Art and Design guide to critical and contextual studies. Covers how to investigate and analyse artists, movements and artworks, how to use context and the visual elements, and how to develop your own ideas from a source rather than copying it, to evidence AO1 and Part B.
14 min answer →

What are the visual elements, and how do you use them to make and analyse art?

The formal and visual elements: line, tone, colour, shape, form, texture and pattern, used both to create work and to analyse it.
A focused CCEA GCSE Art and Design guide to the formal and visual elements. Covers line, tone, colour, shape, form, texture and pattern, what each contributes to an image, and how to use the elements deliberately when making work and precisely when analysing artists and your own pieces.
14 min answer →