VCE ART – How to Choose a Theme (and ideas!)
Hellooo VCEarters!!
In this post, I’m going to be discussing the most important decision you’ll ever make throughout your journey in VCE art – your THEME. This theme will form the foundation for the work your create in this subject, and therefore, you should put a lot of thought into deciding the most suitable theme for you.
Helpppp….whats a theme??A theme is the main concept that underpins any creative work you do in VCE Art. Your folio should aim to explore this theme in detail, and your final pieces should reflect aspects of your theme as well.
When do I choose this theme?This theme should be chosen at the beginning of your study of VCE Art. If you are doing Units 1/2, depending on what your teacher prefers, you can do one theme for Unit 1, one theme for Unit 2 etc. You should however have one theme for Units ¾, that you explore for the entire year. However, you can also do the same theme for the entire two years of your study if you prefer, as this will help you really dig deeper into your theme. You can modify aspects of it across the years as well.
But how do I choose one?The theme you choose can be absolutely anything that you can think of. From fairy-tales to animals to sustainability, you can choose anything that catches your eye. You should choose something that you are personally interested in and try and be as unique as possible. For example, if your entire class decides to do portraiture, don’t do the same thing. Instead, choose a theme that will truly make yourself stand out. It is also important that your theme is broad, so you don’t lose interest, but also so you have plenty to discuss in your folio. As an example, don’t make your theme ‘tigers,’ but instead, ‘wild animals,’ or even more broadly speaking, ‘animals.’
But I still don’t know how to choose one….?!If you are absolutely stuck and nothing catches your eye, take a large sheet of paper. On this large sheet of paper, just write down words. Any words that you feel inspire you, you’d like to create, and things you like looking at. Do this for 10-15 minutes, writing down as much as you can for this time period. After the time is up, start linking words together, until you can tie these up into an overall theme. The theme can be a noun, like ‘transport,’ a certain material like ‘gouache,’ or an art style, like ‘Baroque art.’
Your theme most definitely doesn’t need to be stilted across your years. If you decide to do the same theme for all your studies in VCE Art, keep it fluid and modify how you execute it each semester, like this:
Overall theme: PortraitureUnit 1: Portraiture and Impressionism – paints
Unit 2: Portraiture used as an Expressive outlook
Unit 3: Realistic Portraiture – using coloured pencils
Unit 4: Modern Portraiture - multimedia
To conclude this post, I thought I’ll make a list of theme ideas that you can adopt into your own folio. By no means is this an extensive list, it is rather here for you to form your own ideas and get thinking! I’ve broken this list up into broad categories along with some sub-categories. If you’re having trouble choosing a theme or have too many options, think about some meanings or messages you can relate to the themes.
Animals:- Wild animals
- Australian animals
- Farm animals
- Animals and the Zoo
- Pets
- Mythical Creatures
Portraiture:- Influential People
- Family/Friends
- General Portraits
World Issues:- Global Warming
- Social Media
- Mental Health
- Environmental Conservation
- Technology
The Environment/Nature:- Different biomes
- Landforms
Other:- Relationships between people
- Different cultures
- Food
- Family
- Science
- Emotions
- Music
- Sports
- Fantasy
- Books
- Inventions over the years
- Astronomy/Outer-space
- Transport
Mediums:- Photography
- Baking
- Collage
- Sculpture
- Installation Piece
Art Styles:- Cubism
- Impressionism
- Pop Art
- Surrealism
- Realism
- Art Nouveau
- Expressionism
I really hope this post was helpful! VCE Art is such a rewarding subject, and I hope you all enjoy finding passion within a theme and create some awesome art out of it.
If you have any questions, post them below or in the Art Questions thread