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Visual language and context in WJEC GCSE Art and Design (Wales)

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you study and analyse the work of others, and connect it to your own work?

Critical and contextual studies in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: analysing the work of artists, craftspeople and designers and the movements, periods and cultures they belong to, using the formal elements and questions of context, meaning and process, and connecting that analysis to a next step in your own work so it serves AO1 rather than sitting as decoration.
How to study and analyse the work of others in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: analysing artists, craftspeople, designers and the movements and cultures they belong to using the formal elements and questions of context and meaning, and connecting that analysis to your own work.
13 min answer →

What are the formal elements, and how do they make up the visual language that carries meaning?

The formal elements that make up visual language in WJEC GCSE Art and Design (line, tone, colour, shape, form, texture, pattern and composition, with scale), what each contributes, and how using them deliberately to communicate, rather than as decoration, is what 'understanding of visual language' in AO4 means and underpins AO2 and AO3.
The formal elements that make up visual language in WJEC GCSE Art and Design (line, tone, colour, shape, form, texture, pattern and composition), what each contributes, and how using them deliberately to carry meaning underpins the assessment objectives.
13 min answer →

How do you keep a sketchbook and present your work so the journey and the four objectives are visible to a moderator?

How to evidence and present work in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: keeping a well-organised sketchbook and presentation sheets so the line of enquiry is visible from a starting point through investigation, recording and refinement to the outcome, using annotation to show thinking, so a moderator can follow all four assessment objectives, which is part of what AO4 (Personal presentation) rewards.
How to evidence and present work in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: keeping a well-organised sketchbook and presentation sheets so the line of enquiry and all four assessment objectives are visible to a moderator, using annotation to show thinking.
12 min answer →

What is Unit 1, the Portfolio, and what does it require?

An overview of Unit 1, the Portfolio, in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: the 60 percent practical unit built up during the course on centre-set starting points, containing a selection of work that shows a sustained journey from a theme through investigation, recording and refinement to one or more finished outcomes, evidencing all four assessment objectives, internally marked and externally moderated by WJEC.
An overview of Unit 1, the Portfolio, in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: the 60 percent practical unit built up during the course on centre-set themes, a selection of work showing a sustained journey to finished outcomes, evidencing all four assessment objectives and moderated by WJEC.
12 min answer →

What is Unit 2, the Externally Set Assignment, and how does the 10-hour sustained focus work?

An overview of Unit 2, the Externally Set Assignment, in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: the 40 percent, 80-mark practical unit answering a theme from a WJEC-set paper, in two parts (a preparatory period of supporting studies and a final outcome made in 10 hours of sustained focus under supervision), evidencing all four assessment objectives, internally marked and externally moderated by WJEC.
An overview of Unit 2, the Externally Set Assignment, in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: the 40 percent, 80-mark unit answering a WJEC-set theme, with a preparatory period and a final outcome made in 10 hours of sustained focus, evidencing all four assessment objectives.
13 min answer →