Visual Arts as a subject provides for various interpretations of the visual arts that are both contemporary and relevant. Visual Arts encompasses the areas of art, craft, photography, design and electronic media.
Fostering interest and enjoyment in the production, consumption and study of art, Visual Arts seeks to build informed citizens and discerning, appreciative art audiences and to raise the standard of cultural awareness in Australia.
Visual Arts builds an understanding of the role of art in contemporary and historical cultures and in the visual world.
Visual Arts places a high regard on how students develop an informed point of view and promotes critical thinking. It encourages tolerance, diversity and empathy between students, teachers and the community through the expression of different points of view.
Visual Arts is of great relevance to students' lives and enables them to gain increasing intellectual autonomy. It rewards individual thinking through the representation of students' ideas both aesthetically and persuasively. Visual Arts offers opportunities to engage in creative and inductive forms of inquiry, allowing students to be assessed on their production of artwork, as well as their ability to write and to talk about art from a critical point of view.
The knowledge, understanding, skills and values gained from Visual Arts assists students in building conceptual and practical skills which can be applied in art, craft, photography, design, electronic media and related careers, as well as other real world contexts.
All students at Pennant Hills High School study Visual Arts (Art) in Year 7 and it is an elective in subsequent years. Media areas include Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Ceramics, Printmaking, Collection of Works, Design, Photography, Computer Generated Art, Digital Media and Video.
Students use the immediate environment and community as a resource to develop their own artwork and to strengthen their understanding of the world. Visual Arts students at Pennant Hills High School have the opportunity to attend excursions to places such as The Australian Museum, Taronga Zoo, Sydney Harbour, The Botanical Gardens, The Art Gallery of NSW, The Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Rocks to inspire their artmaking and studying.
The Visual Arts facilities at Pennant Hills High School include four classrooms, a darkroom, a computer lab and a senior studio. The art building was opened in 2005 and is well equipped to operate with efficiency, catering for all media areas.
The Visual Arts Faculty exhibits student artworks from Years 7 and 12 each August in the school Multi-Purpose Centre (MPC). This provides all art students with the opportunity to showcase their artwork. As a measure of strong programming, Visual Arts HSC students often have their Body of Works selected for Art Express.
