Visual art is the ultimate expression of who we are as a human race. We can use a variety of art materials and employ artistic techniques in order to create images and objects. Visual art is expressive and emotive, and it communicates in a unique and creative manner our ideas of who we are and what we are feeling. Fundamentally, art can be considered as mimetic of life because it represents aspects of life and how we, as artists, experience it.

Studying visual arts is not solely based around your art practice and the creation of aesthetically pleasing artefacts. More importantly, it also offers you the opportunity to explore the concepts, ideas, emotions and beliefs of others. Not only can you investigate the artistic choices of materials, colour, techniques, overall quality and symbolism used, you can also examine and question the artist’s intent and consider if the artist was motivated by politics, religion or by the beauty of the environment. Think about for whom the work was intended. How did these people react? How do people react now? What is your reaction to the work? Does the message and meaning of the work change when you place it in a different context?

While studying Visual Arts opens up myriad possibilities to scrutinise life, Art and Me: Senior Visual Arts Stage 6 offers you new insight into life as it is experienced by others. It provides case studies to practise and offers tools to interrogate artistic meaning and intent. This text is written with the NSW Stage 6 Syllabus in mind and you will recognise the use of Frames and the Conceptual Framework throughout the book.

(Marianne Hulsbosch, vi, Art and Me: Senior Visual Arts Stage 6, 2014).

(Image: Roa, A Bilby in Pilbara, 2011. Spray paint on metal. Western Australia)

More about the textbook

Art and Me will inspire Stage 6 Visual Arts students with its stunning design and fresh format that reflects and frames the artworks within, new topics that engage with contemporary art trends and innovative interactive digital resources that bring the study of art to life.

New case studies include: