Visual Arts

Welcome to the Otahuhu College Art Department

Year 9 students will take Art for one term, to get a taste of what it is like to study Art as a specialist subject area. All Year 9 students will be taught skills in painting,

drawing and printmaking. Students will learn how to generate and develop ideas and find personal expression for these.

Art becomes an option choice from Year 10 onwards. Once students reach Year 11, a range of courses are offered. They can branch off into Painting and Printmaking, Creative Communication Design, or Whakairo. All practical courses use drawing of some sort as a central means of developing ideas. In year 12 and 13, students may do Painting, Art Design, Whakairo, or all three of these disciplines.

We are excited about the introduction of Whakairo, Maori carving, into our programme for combined level 1,2 and 3 classes.

Art is an exciting world of learning, thinking and personal development, where students gain expertise in a wide range of disciplines. In a society that is rapidly changing, feeling centred and enriched within our personal cultures, and to think creatively and laterally, is essential.

Results and awards

The Otahuhu College Art Department gets consistently excellent results, with a number of Merit and Excellence endorsements at levels 1,2 and 3 every year.

The excellence folios from 2016 will be on exhibition at the Mangere Arts Centre for the Top Art South show.

We are regularly successful in National Competitions. In 2016, Fahdil Ali won the Waitangi Art Award, and we had two finalists in the Wallace Art Awards. In 2015, we had three finalists in the Wallace Art Awards, and Heilala Vainga came second. In 2014, Diamranase Brown won the Te Tuhi Secondary Schools Art Award, and the same award was won by Nazer Safdari in 2013.

This print by Heilala Vainga came second in the Wallace Secondary School Art Awards.

Art Teachers

Mrs Glenda Pitcher Head of Department

Mr Malcolm McAllister Art teacher

Mr Jay Mason Whakairo teacher

Ms Katie Theunissen Art Teacher

Welcome to Year 9 Art

You will spend an exciting term in a specialist Art room where you will learn many new techniques to use in your work. You will look at the work of well-known artists to help you learn and grow, and make new discoveries about yourself and about Art.

During this term you will:

– learn about drawing

– make a painting or mixed media work

– carve and print a linocut

Welcome to Year 10 Art

In Year 10 you will have the opportunity to take Art as a specialist subject for a whole year of study.

You will begin the year with a large unit called South Auckland Self Portrait. In this, you will learn to express space through linear perspective and to draw and paint figures and faces. You will use paint, dye and collage.

The second project is to create a linocut using a superhero and buildings as the subject matter.

Your final project will be a landscape painting. All of these projects will lead on to your studies at year 11.

Welcome to Whakairo, with Year 11,12 and 13 classes combined

This course was introduced in 2016, and class numbers have more than doubled in 2017. The classes combine Year 11, 12 and 13 students, who all do unit and achievement standards at levels 1,2 and 3. This means that the more experienced carvers are able to help the beginners. Three graduates from the 2016 class are going on to study Whakairo at a tertiary level.

The course offers an introduction to Maori Tikanga (custom) as it relates to Whakairo (carving). Students are exposed to Maori art conventions, designs and practices by creating Whakairo through traditional and modern means. On-going research, interpretation of meaning and the impact of technology on practice and production will be conducted simultaneously.

Welcome to Year 11 Art

In Year 11 Art, you will further develop skills in drawing, painting and printmaking. You will develop your ability to generate and extend ideas, to think laterally, to research, and to problem-solve. You will look at the work of lots of different artists to help you in this process.

Year 11 Art includes two internal assessments and a two-board folio submission moderated by outside markers. You start the year by studying work by artists who paint figures in a landscape. You will visit Mangere Mountain to sketch and take photographs. The subject matter for your drawing, painting and printmaking will be trees, figures and the landscape. Some of the figures will be based on Maori whakairo (carving), and the work of Maori artists.

Welcome to Year 11 CCD

This course is made up of five internally-assessed standards, beginning with the study of established product designers. You will study their work, their inspiration and their philosophy to generate, develop and refine your visual ideas to a final innovative product. The product that you design will be developed with practical design skills such as drawing, rendering and digital design.

You will then promote your own product by designing a poster or website, using digital media. You will learn layout and design principles using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. These skills will be very useful for level 2 and 3 Art Design.

This course will also be useful for those students who wish to study Architecture or any of the branches of Design at a tertiary level.

Welcome to Year 12 painting

This year’s course requires you to develop your own personal theme, with the portrait as a starting point. You will visit Auckland Museum to draw from Maori and Pasifika taonga, and the Wintergardens to draw plants. This is only the starting point and the nature of your theme can take a number of forms and may change as the year progresses. The concepts that you explore may centre on you own personal interest. Within this programme of study, students will be introduced to a wide range of artists who will inform their work and thinking. It will involve students generating and developing ideas based on two internal assessments and one external assessment, based on the portfolio.

Achievement Standard 2.2: This involves using drawing methods to apply knowledge of conventions appropriate to painting

Achievement Standard 2.3: This involves developing ideas in a related series of drawings appropriate to established painting practice

Achievement Standard 2.4: This is the external component of the course. For this you will need to complete two folio boards based on your theme. The folio board will be worked on throughout the year with various formative assessment points scheduled until all work is completed and handed in during week 1 of term 4.

Welcome to Year 12 Art Design

This year’s course involves the study of different forms of design including Logo Design, Typography (Lettering) and Layout Design (e.g. Magazines, Books, Brochures, Tickets and Posters). Level 2 Art Design develops practical design skills, using drawing and computers. You will learn to use Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator.

You will work on a series of related briefs, which can take a number of forms. Concepts may centre on own personal interest (music, film, dance, fashion, sport, computer games, art), topical issues, your place in society, your own culture, or the future. You will be introduced to a wide range of artists/designers who will inform your work and thinking. Skills that are essential for tertiary study — critical, reflective and creative thinking skills, independent approaches to problem solving and self-directed learning — are promoted and developed.

This programme will involve students generating and developing ideas based on the following areas:

Achievement Standard 2.2: Generate and develop ideas using drawing processes and procedures in design practice.

Achievement Standard 2.3: Produce a body of work within Design to show understanding of art-making methods and ideas

Achievement Standard 2.4: This is the external component of the course. For this you will need to complete two folio boards based on your company name and theme. The folio boards will be worked on throughout the year with various formative assessment points scheduled until all work is completed and handed in at the beginning of term 4. The folio board will be worked on throughout the year with various formative assessment points scheduled until all work is completed and handed in during week 1 of Term 4.

Welcome to Year 13 Painting

This year’s course requires you to develop your own independent theme. It is important to find a theme which you are interested in, that you have some knowledge of, as you will need ready access to objects, information and images (not only from the net). As stated in the explanatory notes: “Students are encouraged to explore work relating to their own cultural milieu and interests”.

This programme will involve students generating and developing ideas based on the following assessed areas:

Achievement Standard 3.2: Use drawing to demonstrate understanding of conventions appropriate to painting.

Achievement Standard 3.3: Systematically clarify ideas using drawing informed by established painting practice.

Achievement Standard 3.4: Produce a systematic body of work that integrates convections and regenerates ideas within painting practice. This is the external component of the course. For this you will need to complete three folio boards based on your theme. The folio boards will be worked on throughout the year with various formative assessment points scheduled until all work is completed and handed in near the beginning of term 4.

Welcome to Year 13 Art Design

This year’s course requires you to develop your own independent theme. It is important to find a theme with which you have an interest or current knowledge as you will need ready access to objects, information and images which are not only from the net. As stated in the explanatory notes, “Students are encouraged to explore work relating to their own cultural milieu and interests”.

Within this programme of study, students will build on their already wide range of artists/designers who inform their work and thinking. Also, students will learn new design skills and concepts. They will have the opportunity to use handmade processes as well as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to impact on their final designs. The three folio boards will be worked on throughout the year with various formative assessment points scheduled until all work is completed and handed in at approximately week 1 of term 4.

Achievement Standard 3.2: Use drawing to demonstrate understanding of conventions appropriate to design.

Achievement Standard 3.3: Systematically clarify ideas using drawing informed by established design practice.

Achievement Standard 3.4: Produce a systematic body of work that integrates convections and regenerates ideas within design practice. This is the external component of the course. For this you will need to complete three folio boards based on your company name and theme. The folio boards will be worked on throughout the year with various formative assessment points scheduled until all work is completed and handed in at the beginning of term 4.