Art in Education.

I loved my art education; I do believe this comes from the school that I went to. I know that my school was designed for the arts. And having spoken to other people I know that their school art was not the same as mine. Whereas others had art and design for their art classes mine was in subjects, before choosing my GCSE’s we had a rotation that included, food tec, woodwork, textiles, ceramics, dance, drama, and graphics and then art as a separate subject. I loved being able to experience all the art that was to offer. Then when I chose my subjects I did graphics, fine art, and media.

Then going into A-Levels, I did fine art, graphics, and ceramics. And when I did these subjects, we had a studio space. And I loved the space. I was able to bring in sunflowers and do still life, had room to do A1 sized painting and bigger. We also had space to display are artwork around our area’s.  My school also worked with a gallery in London, it shows secondary schools’ artwork. And one of mine got chosen to be displayed, I loved seeing it displayed on a wall in a gallery.  

I then did a foundation diploma in Art & Design and took photography as my path. I loved it, I was learning new skills that I didn’t get to do in school. This is where I found my love for photography and film cameras and developing pictures in the dark room.

It has only been recent that I have realised how little art in in the national curriculum, it used to shocked me when I spoke to people and they didn’t have the same experience as me in art. But now I understand. The national curriculum is taken up mostly around English, maths and science, and a little space for everything else. Dance is in P.E, drama in English as speaking and listening. And the grade boundaries in art subjects get changed every year and makes it harder to achieve a higher grade.