Section II response confusion

[dcesaona]

Hello! I'm a bit confused as to how to structure a band 6 Visual Arts long response. I have 2 case studies so far (Gordon Bennett and Edward Hopper) and I'm going to write a generic essay for my upcoming exam to memorise and become 'familiar' with so I can easily adapt it to one of the questions on the day. Is that a good way of studying for it?

Anyways, I guess my two general concerns are:
- How should my essay be structured?
- What is a method of studying for the exam?

Any opinions would be great, thanks! 

[beatroot]

Hello! I'm a bit confused as to how to structure a band 6 Visual Arts long response. I have 2 case studies so far (Gordon Bennett and Edward Hopper) and I'm going to write a generic essay for my upcoming exam to memorise and become 'familiar' with so I can easily adapt it to one of the questions on the day. Is that a good way of studying for it?

Anyways, I guess my two general concerns are:
- How should my essay be structured?
- What is a method of studying for the exam?

Any opinions would be great, thanks! 

Hey there! To check out some Band 6 VA essays, you can check out the notes section of the site Think there's currently four essays up that you can check. The way you would structure your essay would be:

Intro
First artist
Second artist
Third artist
Fourth artist (optional- though it is recommended to have at least four)
Conclusion

As for the structure for each of your body paragraphs, I would suggest this;

Intro sentence (mention your artist and how they relate to your thesis)
Historical and/or cultural context of the artist
Introduce artwork
Analyse work (at least three techniques/aspects of the work)
A HUGE statement saying why the artist's work was so groundbreaking
Quote from an art critic (that supports your argument)
Linking sentence

For example, I had this body paragraph for my trial essay

The found object however developed into the readymade, as evident by Duchamp’s groundbreaking practice. Marcel Duchamp, a French and DADA artist introduces the readymade by submitting a signed urinal, under the alias R. Mutt, to the Society of Independence Exhibition, wanting to comment on the Salon’s traditional selection process of artworks. The artist also wanted to introduce the practice of using ready made objects that was deemed controversial to the Salon whom only perceived works made in the traditional sense can be considered as art. Duchamp wanted to encourage the idea that industrial products such as this untouched and somewhat pathetic urinal can be deemed as art too. Why should artists limit themselves in creating art within the traditional, conventional borders? Furthermore, Duchamp also introduced the idea that the conceptual ideas of an artists and intentioned were more important than the outcome and effort put into their artwork. The banal object of this urinal was definitely a symbol of artistic revolution during Duchamp’s time and certainly inspired later artists. Critic Wood comments ‘He chose it. He created a meaning for the object’, perfectly capturing the essence of Duchamp’s readymade movement and the uprising of the DADA artists during their time. It can be seen through ‘Fountain’ that Marcel Duchamp breaks the boundaries of conventional art practice and displays his capacity to push the limits of their thought and practice.

Personally, I memorised the same essay for my half yearlies, trials and HSC because the questions for Visual Arts are quite flexible (especially with six different questions to choose from, there's a good chance of a suitable question for you to do!) By doing this method, you're continually improving your essay and learning how to adapt it to different essay questions.

Besides memorising your essay, the other study method is just to KNOW YOUR FACTS! You're not given ANY plates in Section II therefore everything is based upon your own knowledge! Know the artist and their context. Why the work was made and what was it about? Why the artwork is conceptually provocative? What do art critics think about it?

Hope this helps

[dcesaona]

That helps sooo much, thank you! For my upcoming exam, my teacher told us that we only need to talk about 2 artists in it. In the HSC exam however, I am going to do what you said and talk about 4 artists in the exam! I have another question though. In regards to the artists that we choose, does there have to be a common theme that kind of links them together? For instance, I have completed case study scaffolds on both Gordon Bennett and Edward Hopper thus far. Their styles are completely different and they lived in two different time periods. BUT, I was thinking, as I recently came across the quote "art for life's sake", meaning art's purpose is for the betterment of society (which is kind of what both Bennett and Hopper accomplish in a way), could that "theme" kind of be the approach/thesis of my essays?? Sorry for so many questions, unfortunately my teacher focuses more on the practical side of visual arts rather than the theory so we all have to figure it out ourselves. Thanks! 

[beatroot]

That helps sooo much, thank you! For my upcoming exam, my teacher told us that we only need to talk about 2 artists in it. In the HSC exam however, I am going to do what you said and talk about 4 artists in the exam! I have another question though. In regards to the artists that we choose, does there have to be a common theme that kind of links them together? For instance, I have completed case study scaffolds on both Gordon Bennett and Edward Hopper thus far. Their styles are completely different and they lived in two different time periods. BUT, I was thinking, as I recently came across the quote "art for life's sake", meaning art's purpose is for the betterment of society (which is kind of what both Bennett and Hopper accomplish in a way), could that "theme" kind of be the approach/thesis of my essays?? Sorry for so many questions, unfortunately my teacher focuses more on the practical side of visual arts rather than the theory so we all have to figure it out ourselves. Thanks! 

(Again coming from personal experience) I do pick artists who have a common theme between them, but you can technically still do artists who are completely different from one another for your essay As long as you link them back to your essay question, you should be fine. Your analysis for their artworks need to be strong and you need to find appropriate quotes from art critics to back you up. For the quote that you mentioned, that could definitely be your approach/thesis for your essay because it does create a common theme between your artists.

Feel free to ask any questions anytime