Advice for developing the BoW and use of the VAPD

The body of work

The external HSC examination in visual arts consists of the written examination, and the body of work submission, which are both worth 50 marks.

Important information

The body of work is about demonstrating what students know and can do in the practice of artmaking.
Artwork/s are created over the duration of the Year 12 course.
Over time, the kind of work that students usually submit has evolved to reflect contemporary trends and practice in the artworld.
The selection of works for submission allows students to demonstrate critical judgement.
Works are curated to reflect a coherent point of view and communicate to audiences the student’s intentions, conceptual strength and meaning, and technical resolution.
The inclusion of more than one work can allow for meaning to be extended within and between works.
An individual work can be submitted but should show sustained investigation into materials and ideas.

Successful bodies of work

Successful bodies of work is an interactive resource for students to familiarise themselves with the requirements of the body of work, explore high-quality examples and interviews with past students, and develop ideas for their body of work.

Students complete 4 sequences:

qualities of successful bodies of work
student experiences
ARTEXPRESS
start the body of work.

Suggested teaching activities

The timetable below may be used to inform teaching and learning activities to support the development of the body of work.

Teachers should differentiate accordingly, and establish procedures for feedback and reflection with students throughout their artmaking in the HSC course.

Term 4

Students complete activities from the Successful bodies of work website to:

familiarise themselves with the assessment guidelines, requirements and limitations of the body of work as a practical examination
learn about the qualities of successful student practice, referring to videos of past students discussing their body of work, and reviewing examples of outstanding bodies of work using the Inside ARTEXPRESS website.
consider the steps they will need to take to initiate their own artmaking practice and begin to develop their ideas and intentions for the body of work.

Students begin concept mapping, initial research and working through ideas.

Student ideas are refined and developed through research into the practice of significant artists when making connections which inform their own artmaking experiments and development.

Students should situate their investigations within one or more of the frames (subjective, structural, cultural or postmodern), consider relationships within the agencies of the artworld (artist, artwork, world and audience), and reflect on their own developing practice. Students might refer to scaffolds for artmaking practice (PDF 654KB), the conceptual framework (PDF 146 KB), and the frames (PDF 5.8MB) as they develop their ideas and experiments.

Students use their visual arts process diaries (VAPDs) to plan and record evidence of their material and conceptual experiments and preliminary artmaking.

Students may develop a detailed proposal to plan their artmaking and outline key ideas to explore, including material and conceptual intentions.

Teachers lead demonstrations of artmaking techniques and practices to support student technical skill building in specific areas, guided by student need. For example, the teacher might lead a painting workshop with a group of students who are investigating painting practices as part of their body of work development, demonstrating wet on wet, blending and a range of other specific techniques.

Term 1

Students transition away from working in their VAPDs, towards more considered preliminary artmaking as they further develop and refine their ideas and concepts, use of materials, and begin to make artworks that may form the basis of their body of work submission.

The VAPD is used by students to:

continually document their progress, ideas, intentions, choices and actions
keep records of their self-reflection and evaluation of preliminary artmaking
document teacher feedback and communication
conduct additional artist research.

Teachers regularly engage students in goal setting and feedback sessions to guide the development of ideas, give advice that enables students to strengthen their material and conceptual practice, and suggest additional artist references relevant to student practice. These sessions might be organised as scheduled check-ins with the teacher rotating through the class, or initiated by the teacher or students as needed.

Structured peer feedback sessions may also be developed, with students giving updates and responses in pairs, small groups, or as a whole-class activity.

Teachers continue to lead demonstrations of artmaking practice in relevant expressive forms with students in individual and small group workshops.

April, or late Term 1, represents the halfway point of time allowed for the body of work, and teachers might use this milestone to engage students in a structured reflection of their progress so far, and review their goals for the completion of the body of work.

Term 2

Students begin to look towards resolution of the body of work. They start to moderate, refine, layer and extend their ideas, methods and techniques. Students start to consider what ideas and components to include or reject from the body of work.

Students should not make major changes to their concept, but look for opportunities to further develop areas of material and conceptual strength in the body of work.

Students make plans for how they will complete the body of work, and the classroom is focused on building understanding, solving problems and refining artmaking to achieve this.

Students continue to record evidence of their progress, research, and teacher feedback in their VAPD.

Teachers continue to provide regular individual feedback and support students by providing advice and guidance on their material and conceptual choices.

Teachers continue to lead demonstrations of artmaking practice with students based on their individual requirements. At this stage demonstrations and explanations might focus on resolution, such as a photographic workshop looking at the qualities of different printing papers, or a ceramic workshop exploring surface treatments.

Term 3

Teacher provides guidance and feedback for final resolution. Teacher may facilitate feedback processes that includes other visual arts teachers with their faculty or network, and/or peer feedback involving the rest of the class.

Students respond to timely feedback and apply final curation and moderation of the body of work as they prepare for submission for external assessment.

Students should develop a clear and relevant title for their body work.

In discussion with their teacher, if recommended, students may record a brief artist statement in their VAPD.

Artist statements are not required for submission of the body of work and the decision whether or not to include an artist statement in the body of work submission should be made very carefully. Submitting an artist statement should only be considered if it is deemed absolutely necessary, as an artist statement may limit a marker’s understanding of the work rather than support it. Artist statements may play a role in local exhibitions or be requested if the work is selected for ArtExpress.

Students make final decisions about moderation and curation of the body of work, and develop an installation diagram that clearly communicates their specifications for setting up and viewing the body of work.

Teachers work with students to ensure that all assessment requirements are adhered to prior to submission, and establish clear procedures for the final submission of the bodies of work. Teachers make provisions for secure storage of bodies of work and VAPDs, and make appropriate arrangements for corporate and itinerant marking.

The Visual Arts Process Diary (VAPD)

Students are required to keep a Visual Arts Process Diary (VAPD) as a personal record of their ideas and intentions in artmaking. The VAPD should provide a record of research, investigations into subject matter, development of technical skills and process, reflection and directions for further development and refinement.

Assessment and reporting | NSW Education Standards © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2020

What is the VAPD for?

The VAPD is a tool for students to record evidence of their artmaking practice – their intentions, choices and actions – throughout the planning, development and resolution of the body of work. The VAPD is also used as evidence of a student’s progress and authorship of the body of work.

The VAPD is not externally assessed as part of the body of work submission, however markers may request access to the VAPD if the body of work needs verification or further evidence of a candidate’s work is required, and in cases of appeals. The VAPD must be retained by the school until the conclusion of the visual arts written HSC examination.

The VAPD must be used to inform school-based assessment tasks related to the body of work. For example, artmaking tasks may refer to the VAPD to assess an artmaking proposal or statement of intent, or evidence of progress or resolution of the body of work.

The VAPD is often presented as a sketchbook or folder, however, the syllabus also suggests that a container for 3D works or a collection of digital files can form part of the VAPD. It is recommended that the VAPD be kept well organised, and a digital document scaffold (PPTX 157.7KB) could be used to organise and collate material in the VAPD.

Teachers and students should recognise that a diary is not a necessary condition of artmaking as a practice. However, it plays a highly significant role in the art classroom as a means of developing students’ understanding and judgement. Keeping a diary should not necessarily be viewed by teachers and students as a way towards guaranteed success in the practice of artmaking. It is highly recommended that teachers do not encourage students to use their diaries as ends in themselves, nor for them to have a ‘life of their own’. The diary must not be used as a substitute for the making of a body of work.

Visual Arts Stage 6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2016

What should go in the VAPD?

The VAPD should be used by students to thoroughly document their processes and practices as they work towards resolution of the body of work. This includes work that occurs directly in the VAPD, such as concept maps, preliminary sketches, planning notes, artist research, and students’ reflections on their progress. It also includes documentation of the body of work as it is developed and resolved, such as progress photographs of student artmaking.

VAPD entries should be dated and include annotations that reflect on, explain, or evaluate their work. The teacher should also date and sign student work, and may record annotations or notes in the VAPD to give feedback.

Students should document a broad range of artmaking activities and supporting material in their VAPD.

Copies of documentation such as school-based assessment schedules, assessment tasks, and relevant information from the NESA Assessment and reporting in Visual Arts Stage 6 website.
Development of initial ideas, intentions, and proposals for the body of work.
Preliminary and experimental artmaking that explores material practices and processes.
Concept mapping that explores the subject matter, interests, issues, and conceptual challenges that will be represented in the body of work. This should be informed by the student’s understanding of practice, the conceptual framework, and one or more frames.
Research into the world and artworld that may inform development of ideas for the body of work, including investigations of practices of relevant artists, curators, critics and/or historians.
Planning for artmaking activities that might form the basis of the body of work, such as a preliminary sketch for a sculpture, or a small study for a larger painting.
Documentation of work in progress, such as photographs of a drawing, or screenshots from image editing software.
Students’ evaluations and reflections on their artmaking choices, processes and actions. These may be accompanied by recorded feedback from the teacher.
Setup diagram, title, and an artist statement should be recorded in the VAPD. These elements might change in the leadup to the final submission after teacher and peer feedback.