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Lesson 3 of 8
  • Year 11

Selecting work and considering the audience

I can select and present my work so it connects to my theme and engages the audience.

Lesson 3 of 8
New
New
  • Year 11

Selecting work and considering the audience

I can select and present my work so it connects to my theme and engages the audience.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Every artwork in an exhibition must reinforce the central theme or concept.
  2. The best selections engage the audience and communicate something meaningful.
  3. A strong exhibition feels unified because each piece complements the others.

Keywords

  • Context - the ideas, theme, and background behind the artwork

  • Cohesive - when parts go well together well to make a clear, connected whole

Common misconception

The most technically perfect pieces should always be selected for exhibitions.

An exhibition’s power lies in how the works connect thematically, emotionally, and conceptually, not only in technical skill.


To help you plan your year 11 art and design lesson on: Selecting work and considering the audience, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Encourage pupils to be ruthless but reflective; sometimes their personal favourite isn’t the best fit for the exhibition. Encourage pupils to explain their curatorial choices.
Teacher tip

Equipment

A range of pupils' work to selct from, pens, pencils, paper, or they could make notes in their sketch books.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

Download quiz pdf

6 Questions

Q1.
What does the word context mean when talking about an artwork?

The materials used to make the artwork
Correct answer: The background, setting, or circumstances in which the artwork was created
The personal taste of the curator
The colours used in the artwork

Q2.
True or false? All artworks in an exhibition must look exactly the same to create coherence.

true
Correct answer: false

Q3.
Which of these best describes “audience impact”?

The grade the examiner gives the student
The number of people who attend the exhibition
Correct answer: How the audience experiences and responds to the exhibition
The way an artist makes their artwork in the studio

Q4.
Why might a curator consider the audience when selecting artworks?

Correct answer: To make sure the audience understands and connects with the exhibition
To only choose artworks the curator personally likes
To avoid including artworks from different artists
To reduce the amount of work needed

Q5.
Match the key word to the correct definition:

Correct Answer:Theme,The general topic or subject area

The general topic or subject area

Correct Answer:Concept,The individual artist’s personal idea within the theme

The individual artist’s personal idea within the theme

Q6.
Match the exhibition example with its method of creating cohesion:

Correct Answer:Cornelia Parker - Cold Dark Matter,Cohesion through destruction and transformation

Cohesion through destruction and transformation

Correct Answer:Robert Therrien’s - Red Room,Cohesion through scale and repetition

Cohesion through scale and repetition

Additional material

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