War: A Personal Connection (A Level Art)

Final Updated on February 8, 2017

This A2 Art and Design Coursework project (Unit iii) was completed by Ruth Beeley while studying A Level Fine art (Edexcel) at St George'due south School, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England in 2011. She was awarded 100% for this component.

A Level Fine art Unit iii: This sketchbook page is the result of a visit to the National Gallery, during which Ruth documented war art from a range of fourth dimension periods. Competent, controlled areas of painting trail away into gestural background layers, over which critical analysis is written.

Ruth'due south piece of work is particularly notable for the fashion she approaches a challenging topic – one which nearly high school Art students have little first-mitt feel of: War. Her emotion-filled sketchbook pages and good final works investigate different aspects of this theme (combat, injury, loss, grievance, war games and media propaganda) finding connections with her ain life, such as displaced emotions, ostracised feelings and concepts of 'the Other' (as explored while studying Othello in her A Level English language class).

We were lucky enough to interview Ruth about her projection. Her responses are beneath:

Students tin can sometimes be unsure how to work from first-mitt sources when a topic doesn't accept an immediately obvious applied connection to their life. Your projection is an excellent example of how to approach this. Please depict the outset-hand sources you found or created while exploring your State of war theme. Ruth: It was difficult obtaining outset hand resource for this topic, so I partly found and adapted images from war books; for instance I colourised the iconic photo of St Paul's Cathedral and used a dip pen to replicate an image of a line of soldiers. I referred to the work of James Nachtwey who, unlike myself, has travelled to countries at state of war in order to document and nowadays to united states the realities of it. When it came to creating my ain pieces I obtained a WW1 helmet and clothes that looked like to an army uniform. I took a range of photos of people close to me, and tried to imagine what it would be similar if they were at war, provoking emotion in myself and hopefully in my piece of work.

Hither Ruth studies the work of war photographer James Nachtwey, looking at wounds and scars: permanent reminders of battle. Her A Level Art sketchbook pages are well-composed, seamlessly integrating paradigm and text.

This page in Ruth’south A Level Art Unit iii sketchbook looks at prisoners of war and is drawn using biro pen upon an ink and acrylic background. Biro is a surprisingly effective medium for high school Art students to utilize. It tin can exist applied over pigment easily: adding item, sharpening edges and strengthening tonal variation.

This is a powerful and striking sketchbook folio. It has been featured our 'sketchbook ideas' article. Please see the link at the bottom of this page for more data!

A dark, moody scene showing a famous scene from WWII: St Paul's Cathedral. This piece of work contrasts finely detailed architectural drawings with rich, smudged, painterly backgrounds.

Ruth drew inspiration for her projection from a range of sources, including the works of writers and poets (in addition to war art). This sketchbook folio depicts is inspired past Wilfred Owen'southward poem, 'Dulce et Decorum est'.

Ruth continues to demonstrate an ability to select media wisely for the task at mitt. She uses Indian ink (using a dip pen) to draw soldiers landing at Arzeu in WWII. Note the beautiful pale washes used to create ships in the groundwork.

You lot have used a large range of mediums within your project, resulting in rich, layered, textural sketchbook pages. How did this approach benefit your project? Ruth: Where I used dense, uncoordinated materials, I was trying to replicate the devastation and defoliation of war. Whilst the theory of battle is mathematical and planned, the reality is not and is instead overcast with blood, dirt and emotion. For example for the 'Uncle Sam' piece, I took the classic Uncle Sam propaganda poster and covered it with acrylic, sand, wire, coffee, lentils, porridge, biro, scrim (strips of loosely woven fabric), Modroc (material coated in Plaster of Paris) and created a solution of ink, water and PVA for blood. I intended to highlight the irony of propaganda posters which glorify war without showing the destruction of information technology.

Hither Ruth'south Edexcel A2 Art and Design coursework begins to take on a more personal connection. The graphite pencil portrait on the left shows her father; symbolic of the battles and conflicts that 'ordinary' humans ofttimes endure in everyday life. On the right Ruth has used a range of mixed media, such as wire, java, lentils, ink, biro and scrim to modify the well known Uncle Sam 'I want you' propaganda affiche.

Which artists did you study as role of your projection? How accept these influenced and shaped your work? Ruth: When creating my ceramic piece I looked at Penelope Batley's twisted sculptures and Robert Arneson's war-related pieces, such as 'Full general Nuke'. I liked the mode General Nuke has the ability to make the viewer uncomfortable, and certainly depicts a negative epitome of state of war. Similarly I wished to create a sense of unease, however where Arneson did this through sculpting an evil-looking general, I sculpted one of the victims of state of war. The soldier's confront is a moving picture of pain and anguish and the dorsum of his head is caving outwards as if shot. As there is no 'entry wound', the slice could be a visual representation of the psychological harm that war inflicts, too every bit the physical. I looked at war memorials, noting how the lists of killed soldiers induce feelings of loss in those who view them and put the number of killed into perspective. Finally, wanting to create a cinematic, realistic painting, I looked at war photographers, such as James Nachtwey. Whilst Nachtwey captured images that I practise non have the opportunity to capture, I likewise considered his composition and lighting, thinking how I could apply it to my final slice.

Inspired by the dirt sculptures of Robert Arneson, Ruth begins to design her own ceramic piece, painting a victimised soldier. Exploring War in three-dimensions gives Ruth'due south Coursework project added multifariousness, morphing from painted to sculpted grade.

These images show analysis of ceramic sculptures by Penelope Batley and Ruth's own sculpture in progress.

The finished ceramic sculpture shows a soldier with his face screwed upwards in terror / ache / pain, with the back of his caput blown open up equally if shot.

What communication do you have for other high school Fine art students who wish to gain excellent grades? Ruth: I accomplished my course by simply covering all areas of the brief; I included plenty of research, offset looking through magazines for inspiration, moving on to artists, photographers and articles. I used a range of media and worked both in sketchbooks and on A2 sheets, producing a large body of work and therefore ensuring that all areas were covered. The ceramic sculpture was a side project that again ensured a range of materials were used and brought me into the third dimension. The concertina sketchbook was proficient in presenting a thought procedure and a abiding stream of work.

There are many benefits to experimenting with different artwork sizes and formats. This epitome was completed on an A5 fold-out concertina sketchbook, pieced together from multiple war-themed images, forming a single horizontal composition.

In this stage of her A Level Art Unit 3 project Ruth studies state of war memorials. Note how cartoon over the black and white images helps to integrate these within the sketchbook folio.

Over the adjacent few sketchbook pages, Ruth develops the composition of her final work, exploring first-hand imagery (a young man dressed to look like a soldier).

The last page in Ruth's Edexcel A Level Art Unit 3 Sketchbook shows composition plans for her final work. The figure has been carefully positioned within the frame and lighting and colour manipulated to help convey a sombre mood.

Ruth's final piece in her A Level Art Coursework project is a striking, well-composed paradigm, with potent contrast and careful balancing of positive and negative grade. She demonstrates an excellent control of acrylic pigment, working with a high level of precision and control. The prototype depicts an apprehensive / expectant soldier, mayhap soon to exist marred by the mess of homo suffering alee.

If you enjoyed this commodity, you might also like view 20 Artistic Sketchbook pages – an article in which Ruth'due south work has also been featured!

Amiria has been an Art & Design teacher and a Curriculum Co-ordinator for seven years, responsible for the course design and assessment of student work in two loftier-achieving Auckland schools. She has a Available of Architectural Studies, Available of Compages (First Class Honours) and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching. Amiria is a CIE Accredited Art & Design Coursework Assessor.

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Source: https://www.studentartguide.com/featured/war-theme-a-level-art

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