Art Department Mission Statement

At Tarbert Comprehensive School Art Department we strive to support and encourage each individual within the School Community to reach his and her full potential in a caring environment.

As Art Teachers, we endeavour to nurture students’ creative imagination. Our common goal, as a department, is to teach artistic skills that allow students to express themselves through a variety of media whilst engaging with history, culture and their immediate environment.

SUBJECT AIMS

As appropriate, the aims and objectives of the Art Department relate directly to those of the School, and to the requirements of the Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle Curriculum as set out by the DES and NCCA. To be consistent with the conception employed in the Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle documentation from the DES and NCCA, Art should be interpreted here as Art, Craft and Design.

Tarbert Comprehensive Schools Art Department fosters the pursuit of knowledge and understanding in the area of Art History and Studio Art Practices. We are committed to creating an atmosphere tolerant of diverse views in which personal direction, pertinent technical skills, and critical thinking may converge. Intellectual inquiry and aesthetic expression are pursued through a multidisciplinary curriculum. It is the department’s goal to develop the student’s ability to think critically, communicate effectively, to be competent with new technologies and to work cooperatively for the benefit of the school community.

Subject Objectives

Encourage a student’s personal response to an idea or experience.
Work from imagination, memory and direct observation.
Use drawing for observation, recording and analysis as a means of thinking, communication and expression.
Use core two-dimensional processes in making, manipulating and developing imagery in expressive and communicative modes.
Use three-dimensional processes of additive, reductive, and constructional form making in expressive and functional modes.
Use and understand Art and Design principles and fundamentals.
Use a variety of materials, media, tools and equipment.
Use an appropriate working vocabulary.
Understand relevant scientific, mathematical and technological aspects of Art, Craft and Design.

Sustain projects from conception to realisation.
Students Appraise and evaluate their own work in progress and on completion.
Develop an awareness of the historical, social and economic role of Art, Craft and Design; including all aspects of contemporary culture and mass media.
Promote self-esteem and confidence in students by encouraging each stage of development.
Integrate ICT into as many schemes of work as possible.
Maintain our inclusivity as a department by catering for students with SENs, students with EAL and students who are advanced and gifted.
Actively engage with the national Literacy and Numeracy challenge by maintaining and developing a greater focus on the development of these aspects of learning through this subject.
Deliver a balanced art curriculum to all levels drawing on the established syllabi and thereby preparing all students adequately for state examinations.

Tarbert Comprehensive Art Gallery

Programme and Levels

Junior Cycle, Art Craft and Design to Higher Level.(Introduction of New junior Cycle Visual Art)
Junior Cert Schools Programme
Leaving Cert Art to Higher Level. (Introduction of New Leaving Cert Curriculum in progress)
Transition Year Art Programme.
Leaving Cert Applied Visual Art
Leaving Cert Applied Craft and Design.

FAQ's

A very big welcome to the Art Department in Tarbert Comprehensive!

Your son or daughter will soon be choosing his or her subjects for fifth year. In order to help them to make an informed decision I would like to outline a few points.

The new assessment framework for the Leaving Cert Art course (first assessed in 2018) provides an exciting opportunity for the student to engage with their own environments in the context of art, craft and design work.

A few questions answered…

Why should my son or daughter consider taking art for their Leaving Cert?

The broad course offers a unique opportunity for students to become immersed within a studio environment benefitting from the parallel learning styles inherent in a studio setting. During their studies, the student will have access to a wide range of learning styles and materials.

The curriculum and new assessment framework encourage:

expansive thinking, critical reflection, research, visual awareness in terms of creation and consumption, design development and the creation of unique artifacts borne from a rigorous design process.

The art history and appreciation course contextualizes the practical work within the historical narrative and informs a greater understanding of our visual world and its relation to its own ancestry. This course will help the student to understand and decode the visual world in which they live with greater depth.

What do we hope to achieve together?

The promotion of a well-balanced visual thinker who is dexterous in visual media. The promotion of the personal attitudes and interests within each student in the process of their own artistic work.
The promotion of a balance between introspection and extrospection in both the analysis and creation of artworks.

How is it assessed?

A 10 week project (after Christmas in 6^th year) inspired by a theme will account for 50% of the marks. During this process, the students will be expected to unpack the theme and to respond conceptually and visually. The students will be expected to draw from primary source materials which will then lead to design development and final proposals. These proposals will then be realized during this process. Half of the marks will be for a craftwork such as a poster, piece of sculpture, pottery, batik, block print, calligraphy, puppet etc. and half will be for the creation of a still life or imagined scene.
Following the project, students will sit a life drawing exam where they will be expected to draw the complete human figure and a half figure/full figure option. This will account for 12.5% of the marks.
In June, during the rest of the examinations, students will take an Art History and Appreciation exam that will account for 37.5% of the marks. This exam explores Irish and European art history alongside general art appreciation.

Is it difficult to get good marks?

Yes and No. To achieve the highest grades, students must achieve well in all areas of the course. However, this has a flip side. The students have the opportunity to achieve 50% of their marks through project work and there will be four components assessed which helps to pull up marks if students achieve below their expectation in one.

Does my son or daughter have to be great at drawing to do Art?

No. Drawing is a process which grows with the student in time. It is an activity available and accessible to everybody. Students will progress from where they are at their own rate.

Are the subject aims geared towards teaching students who plan to take art in college?

No. Of course students considering careers in visual art should consider taking art but they are only one cohort within the art class. In fact the reasons for the inclusion of Art in almost every school in the country (primary and secondary) relate to the values and mindsets nurtured within the subject that are of course applicable to a career in the arts, but equally to the pursuit of a career in any field. A quick look at the aims of the subject within the school might help to highlight this:

To promote in the student an informed, critical and inquiring attitude to their environment
To develop a sense of self-esteem and confidence in the student through practical achievement, positive, constructive criticism and encouragement
To develop and enhance the student’s ability to appreciate, respond, enjoy, value, create and communicate through visual art and design
To develop in the student an understanding of art in a variety of contexts; historical, cultural, economic, social and personal
To develop in the student a discriminating attitude for his own environment through informed knowledge of historical developments in Art, Craft and Design
To develop in the student the ability to apply evaluative criteria to his own work
To promote in the student general visual and design problem solving skills
To develop in the student through structured practical work qualities of imagination, creativity, originality and individuality

We look forward to learning and teaching in the coming years with your son and daughter and of course getting to know them better. If you have any further queries, don’t hesitate to ask.