Lesson video

Hello.

Welcome to your lesson Creating and Presenting an Artist Research Page from the unit, Finding Your Artistic Voice, an Introduction to the Creative Process.

My name is Miss Gopal and I'm gonna be your art teacher today.

I'm really excited to be here with you for this lesson, and I know that you're gonna get some great ideas to really support you with finding artists and artworks to research and presenting that research.

Our outcome for today is I can research artists and present my findings and analysis.

Of course, we have some key words for today.

They are analysis, annotation, and context.

Analysis, meaning the process of examining the elements or structure of something.

Annotation, meaning adding notes to explain, analyse, or share your thoughts about a piece of artwork.

And context, meaning the circumstances or setting surrounding an event or idea, especially in art.

This is our lesson outline for today.

Selecting an artist to research, record and analyse an artist's work and presenting your research.

Let's start with selecting an artist to research.

What do these have in common? Let's have a look.

Online galleries, museums and galleries, books, magazines and art blogs, social media platforms, documentaries, and the great outdoors.

What do you think? What did those things all have in common? I can see that some of them definitely relate to seeing art.

Art fairs.

These are all a variety of places you could go to to find art and artists to inspire you, so some of those on there you might have thought of already and some of those might be new to you.

Izzy says, "I like to visit smaller local galleries and exhibitions by local artists too," and that's a really good point by Izzy.

We don't have to go to famous galleries to see artwork.

We could also visit lesser known smaller galleries that might be local to us.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false.

The only place to go to find art and artists to inspire you is famous art galleries.

I think you know this.

Do you think it's true or false? Hopefully you got that one right, it's false.

There are a variety of places you could go to to find art and artists to inspire you, including smaller local galleries and exhibitions by local artists.

Artists often look at and analyse other artists' work as a source of inspiration.

It allows them to build on and innovate the past, to develop knowledge and to experiment with new ideas, themes, and techniques and materials.

By studying the work and context of other artists, artists enrich their art and develop their own artistic voice.

Now, you've probably done some of this already in your art learning.

You've probably been inspired by other artists and artworks before.

Which of the following statements is true? Do you think it is A, all artists are against looking at and analysing other artists' work as a source of inspiration? Do you think it's B, artists never look at and analyse other artists' work? Or do you think it's C, artists often look at and analyse other artists' work as a source of inspiration? What do you think? If you said C, you are right.

Artists do often look at other artists for inspiration.

Artists throughout history have done this and art students continue to do this.

So Izzy's having a bit of a problem here.

She's having a bit of a dilemma.

What do we suggest Izzy does? She's saying, "I have a good list of places to go to for art and artists, but I don't know where to start or how to choose which artworks or artists." I can relate to that.

Maybe you can too.

How do we know where to start? Alex is being very reassuring.

He says, "It's completely normal to feel overwhelmed with so many options," and I think it is completely normal.

There are thousands and thousands of artworks that we could look at for inspiration and likewise with artists.

Let's see if we can get some help about how to start researching.

When selecting an artist to research, you can think about what excites or interests you in art and life.

Is it colour, texture, stories, culture, or a particular medium like painting, sculpture, or digital art? So really importantly there we're saying think about what excites or interests you in your life, so it doesn't have to be limited to art.

You might start to consider hobbies or skills that you have outside of art, and we also want to get clear about your theme and whether there are themes within the theme.

For example, if the theme given is identity, you might look at identity and teenagers or identity and social media.

So as art students, it's very likely that you are given a theme to start with, but within that theme you can certainly find your own sub themes or mini themes.

Izzy says, "The theme I have been given is celebration.

I am interested in sports and I love traditional painting.

I am looking for artists who celebrate sports achievements, maybe through painted portraits." Do you see what Izzy's done there? She's taken her own interests and combined them with the theme to come up with a sort of more specific sub theme that she might start to research within.

Let's look at some other examples of how we can take a theme, our own interests and come up with a way to research art and artists.

For example, if the theme is identity and the interests are that the person loves bright colours, exploring cultural heritage and celebrating art that tells personal stories, perhaps they might search for artists who explore family history or cultural identity through mixed media and storytelling.

Another example, if the theme given is nature and the interests are that you are drawn to abstract art, exploring natural forms and experimenting with textures inspired by landscapes, perhaps you will search for artists who focus on nature, abstract landscapes or environmental themes using unconventional materials.

Here's our first task.

Consider your chosen aspect of a theme, your interests, and which type of artists you might search for, so you are invited to perhaps use the theme that you are given or perhaps you already have an idea of a theme within that theme, think about your interests and remember, these are interests not just in art, but in life in general, and then come up with some art or artists that you could search for related to the two.

Good luck with this task.

Okay, how did you do with the task? This is the sort of task where there are many possible outcomes because you could all be working with different themes and different interests.

But for example, if you had the theme of conflict and perhaps you were interested in dramatic stories of war and peace and enjoy using bold, expressive brushstrokes in paintings, you might decide to search for artists known for capturing historical or social conflicts with emotional intensity in their work.

Let's move on to our next learning cycle, which is record and analyse an artist's work.

Recording and analysing an artist's work is essential for developing your understanding of techniques, concepts, and creative processes.

It really helps us as artists to look at the artwork of others.

You can do this visually and through annotations.

You can see that this sketchbook has some visual examples of recording analysis of artist's work.

We can also see some annotations, the writing, the note taking, another way of recording and analysing an artist's work.

Let's have a check for understanding, true or false.

Recording and analysing an artist's work is essential for copying and making work exactly like this.

Have a good think.

What did you come up with? The answer is false.

Recording and analysing an artist's work is essential for developing your understanding of techniques, concepts, and creative processes.

We don't need to copy an artist's work, but we can take and apply knowledge and ideas inspired by relevant artists.

So when we record and analyse an artist's work, we might do it visually, visually recording, such as in this beautiful example here.

By visually recording artist's work such as through observational studies and material experiments, you can explore their use of the elements such as colour, texture, and composition.

Remember, we can also record using annotation.

Annotation helps you break down the artist's intentions by describing what you see, interpreting the meaning behind it and perhaps understanding the context.

So the context is the environment and setting within which that artist was working and that art was made.

Reflecting on how artists work influences your ideas is a key step in developing your artistic voice and demonstrating critical understanding.

Let's have another check for understanding.

Which of these are ways to record an artist's work? A, you can record through conversations and thinking.

B, visiting and looking.

Or C, visually and through annotations.

Have a think.

If you said C, visually and through annotations.

Well done.

Okay.

Our next task, task B.

Pick an artist whose work relates to your theme.

Choose one artwork that resonates with your theme and interests and create a study of it.

You could focus on a small manageable section rather than the entire piece.

You could use materials similar to those the artists use if possible, and you could take photographs of your work as you progress.

So a photograph of you in the process of making the art.

Good luck with this task.

How did you get on? Like our last task there are many possible outcomes for this task, but you might have focused on a section of a larger work, used similar techniques and materials to that of the artist.

Noticed how it felt to replicate the style and technique and felt inspired by it.

Here's task B2.

The next part of that task, annotate your study.

You could write three things you learned about the artist and one way you'll use their techniques or ideas in your final piece.

You could answer these questions.

What techniques did the artist use and how did they affect the overall mood or message? What challenges did you face while recreating their work? How might you use similar techniques or ideas in your own work? There are many possible outcomes for this, but you might have reflected in a way similar to this.

"I learned that this artist uses thick paint and heavy, dark colours.

This gives her work a slightly eerie feel.

The scenes she paints such as this one have an ominous mood.

I found it challenging to achieve the mottled effect with paint.

However, I would like to try that effect with brighter colours in my own work." Okay, our final cycle is presenting your artist research.

To present your research effectively, include a mix of visuals such as images of the artist's work and your studies.

Written annotations, media experiments inspired by their techniques.

You can see in nice example in the sketchbook there.

Use a clear artistic layout that communicates your analysis and personal responses.

In other words, we really want your artist research to look good too.

You are the artist.

It is up to you how you present your research, but it should be visually engaging.

True or false.

Presenting artist research should only be done visually.

Have a think.

If you said false, you are correct.

To present your research effectively, include a mix of visuals, written annotations, and experiments inspired by the artist's techniques.

Presenting your research should include images of the artist's work, written annotations in your own words.

For example, facts analysis alongside your art, your own interpretations and reflections.

For example, how this links to your ideas, sketches, studies or material experiments inspired by the artist's techniques.

Visually engaging composition and presentation.

Try to remember these things when you're creating an artist research page.

Which of the following is a good idea when presenting artist research? Be sure to list only facts about the artist.

B, include all details about the artist's personal life.

Or C, add your own interpretations and reflections.

For example, how this links to your own ideas.

Have a think.

Hopefully you said C, if so, well done.

Here is task C.

Design an artist research page in your sketchbook or your portfolio.

For a chosen artist, you could include two to three images of the artist's work, your annotations.

You can use bullet points or full paragraphs.

One to three small studies or experiments inspired by that artist's techniques.

Good luck with this task.

How did you get on? I've got a few examples for us to look at here of different ways that people have presented their artist's research.

Remember, there are many possible outcomes.

For each example that we look at, you'll see that they've experimented with the techniques and materials inspired by the artist, included some facts and some opinions and thoughts and annotations and presented research in a visually interesting way.

Of course, like we said, there are many possible outcomes and you can see here that each artist has researched a different artist, some textile artists, some visual artists, some painters.

3D work.

Okay, well done.

We're at the end of the lesson.

In summary, analysing key themes and techniques used by an artist deepens our understanding of art.

By studying the work of other artists, artists enrich their art and develop their own artistic voice.

Inspirational art can be found in many places, offering diverse opportunities for research and discovery.

Artist research can be recorded visually and with annotations.

Well done on completing the lesson today.

I bet your artist research pages are looking fantastic.