Arts Award Gold Qualification Specification Checklist – Melanie will up
- identification of a main art form/practice and development of skills within a new art form – DONE
- ◗ development of new arts pathways
- ◗ understanding of the relationship of their own arts activity to current arts practice
- ◗ a new piece of art work or arts practice
- ◗ sharing the new work
- ◗ how to collect feedback and evaluate their overall development
This could include:
- ◗ details of their main art form/practice – DONE
- ◗ details of the new art form/practice and why they have chosen it
- ◗ a skills development plan
- ◗ evidence of working with a practitioner experienced within the new art form or arts practice – DONE
- ◗ evidence of progress
- ◗ evidence of the new work
- ◗ evidence of sharing the new work
- ◗ feedback from others
- ◗ a final review, including reflection on the new skills developed and the influence they have had on their main art form/practice
My art form
My main art form is Photography.
My new art form will be Surrealism.
______
Introduction
My Strengths and Weaknesses
My strengths
Fine Detailed Work – A student at my school held a drawing contest and I ended up winning. I submitted a picture of two dogs and a toad. The organiser of the competition noted that I had paid attention to detail.
My winning picture My runner up picture
Telling a story with art work – When I visited the Tate Modern, I felt inspired by Olafur Eliasson’s tunnel of fog which led me to make a mood board which conveyed a story from pictures I found of the exhibition.

Expressing emotion – In GCSE media studies, I made an advert about old age and loneliness, and how it could be prevented. In the advert, I took a picture of a dim empty cup with a black background and a faint hand holding the cup, saying the percentage of seniors who feel they have no one to talk to.

Creating abstract or surreal art – In my Philosophy lessons I like to use surreal artwork to aid my work. I have made several revision posters using surrealist drawings.

My weaknesses
I would like to develop these skills in my Gold Arts Award project
- Using studio equipment independently
- Using Photoshop independently
- Understanding light and shadow
- Working in black and white and using contrast
- Choosing the right materials
- Being free and experimental
How my project will help me to achieve my goals
Using studio equipment independently – I will have to practice this in order to take my photos.
Using Photoshop independently – I Will be editing my pictures so I will pick up what different features are which.
Understanding light and shadow –
Working in black and white and using contrast –
Choosing the right materials –
Being free and experimental –
Evidence of Progress
Working with a practitioner: Melanie Jones, abstract photographer.
About Melanie
Melanie Jones is…
Pictures from Melanie’s website
The first picture I have chosen shows surrealism a lot, because a ladder would normally not be seen on a beach, it feels out of place. I like how the background is misty, it gives off slightly eerie vibes which often goes hand in hand with surreal photography. I hope to learn how to create different feelings in my photos, like Melanie has with the mist. I have included some other photos I like that demonstrate Melanie’s ability with abstract photos.


About the project
Melanie gave me a brief that would help me to learn new surrealism skills:
BRIEF PHOTO
For this project I used photography to capture pictures and Photoshop to edit the pictures to get the desired surrealist effects I wanted. I researched beforehand into different surrealist photography to give me an idea of what i’m doing and to also to get inspiration.
Learning how to use the studio equipment and camera
My school received new studio equipment and camera which I took part off setting up almost completely independently, this was a useful experience and a good lesson to learn, navigating around problems that I encountered helped me learn to adapt and learn more about the equipment itself.
I took pictures of Aiden to practice different types of lighting. In particular I was focusing on 3 point lighting. I also watched other students use different types of lighting so I picked up on quite a few different types of lighting, and how to set the lights themself up.
YOU COULD EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF LIGHTING YOU LEARNT:
One point lighting –
Three Point Lighting –
Backlighting –
Three point lighting with hair lighting –

Planning my mini-project
Put your lighting diagrams for your Kristin shoot here and describe how you got the plague mask. Explain why you chose to use a three point lighting set up.
Taking the images
We can add a gallery of the unedited images here. You should also describe the process of taking the pictures a little.
Editing the images
Describe how you edited the pictures. We can also put a couple of screenshots of you editing the work in Photoshop.
The final images from this mini project
Put a gallery of the final images here.
Feedback from Melanie
I will write some feedback on your project here and explain how you met the brief.
How this project helped me to achieve my goals
Using studio equipment independently –
Using Photoshop independently –
Understanding light and shadow –
Working in black and white and using contrast –
Choosing the right materials –
Being free and experimental –
Preparing for the New Work
Generating Ideas
My project plan
To collect research I will:
- List
- List
- List
- List
To plan, practise, and prepare for my project I will:
- List
- List
- List
- List
To create my project I will:
- List
- List
- List
- List
To evaluate the success of my project I will:
- List
- List
- List
- List
How my project will use my strengths
Fine Detailed Work –
This will make sure I pay close attention to all the small details, which then adds up into the bigger picture.
Telling a story with art work –
Expressing emotion –
Creating abstract or surreal art –
As I am doing surreal photography, this will come in handy as i already have some previous experience with it.
Specific research and planning – Learning new skills
Shopping / Visits / gathering materials etc.
The Plans
Creating The New Work
Creation and ongoing evaluation
Overcoming Challenges
Editing / Post Production
Photographing the Work
Click here to see my online exhibition!
Feedback
Feedback surveys and reaction from others
My Evaluation of this project
How I used my strengths
How I improved on my weaknesses
Unit 1 – Part B
Back to the start