Unit 3 Outcome 1: collecting inspirations and influences in the Visual Arts journal (VCE Art Making and Exhibiting)

1. Annotated images of the artist's works, identifying their use of art elements, principles and materials.
2. Material and technique experiments trying the artist's approach (for example layered glazes), with notes on the results.
3. Idea development pages showing how a specific quality of the artist's work (a colour palette, a composition, a theme) shaped your own sketches.

Marking guide: 1 mark per relevant evidence type linked to developing ideas.

Any one of: a personal memory or experience, a meaningful object, a place, or a context personal to the artist, such as their family, community or cultural background. In the study design, influences include artists and artworks, while inspiration is broader and includes objects, memories and contexts personal to the artist.

Marking guide: 1 mark for a relevant source of inspiration.

• Analyse, not collect: annotate each image, identifying and evaluating how the artist uses art elements, art principles, aesthetic qualities and visual language.
• Experiment: test the artist's materials and techniques, documenting and evaluating results.
• Connect: explain links between the artist's influence, other sources of inspiration and personal experiences.
• Develop: show subject matter and ideas evolving into plans for their own artworks, with reasons for decisions, using art terminology.

Marking guide: 1 mark per specific improvement linked to key skills.

A high-level response:

• Names the artist, the art form and specific artworks studied.
• Identifies precisely what was taken from the artist (for example, the artist's use of fragmented, overlapping imagery to represent memory).
• Explains how this influenced the student's subject matter (family photographs), ideas (memory and loss) and visual language (layering, faded palette, torn edges).
• Refers to experiments with materials, techniques and processes (image transfer, collage, wax) and evaluates what worked.
• Uses accurate art terminology (art elements, art principles, aesthetic qualities) throughout.

Marking guide: 1 mark for identifying the artist and works, 3 marks for explaining influence on subject matter, ideas and visual language, 1 mark for materials and techniques, 1 mark for terminology and evaluation.

A strong response:

• Names the art form and its materials precisely (for example painting in oil on linen, ceramics in stoneware, single-channel digital video), because materials, techniques and processes belong to an art form.
• Identifies the materials and their properties, the techniques (how tools and equipment manipulate the materials) and the processes (the activities and procedures the artist works through, from preparation to finishing), described in sequence.
• For each choice, discusses the effect on visual language: the art elements and principles it creates, and the ideas, mood or meaning this communicates to the audience.
• Refers to specific parts of the artwork as evidence.

Example of the depth expected (an oil portrait): the artist builds the shadows with thin, translucent glazes over a toned ground, which gives the dark tones a deep glow, then applies thick impasto to the highlights so the paint catches the light. The contrast between smooth glazes and raised brushwork draws the eye to the face and makes the sitter feel physically present, supporting the painting's focus on the dignity of an older worker.

Marking guide: 1 mark for identifying the art form and materials precisely, 2 marks for describing specific techniques and processes, 3 marks for discussing how they develop visual language and communicate meaning, with evidence from the artwork. Listing materials without discussing their effect earns few marks.

A strong response:

• Uses the two terms accurately: influences are other artists and artworks the artist responds to; inspiration is broader and includes objects, places, memories and contexts personal to the artist, such as their community or cultural background.
• Names the artist and at least one specific artwork, with its art form.
• Identifies at least one influence and explains what it contributed, such as a way of composing, a technique, a style or a type of subject matter.
• Identifies at least one source of inspiration and explains how it shaped the subject matter and ideas.
• Analyses how the two combine in the artwork, pointing to visual evidence (for example, a composition adapted from an earlier painting but filled with imagery from the artist's own neighbourhood), rather than retelling the artist's life story.
• Supports its points with research, such as artist statements, interviews or exhibition texts, and uses art terminology.

Marking guide: 1 mark for using influence and inspiration correctly, 2 marks for a specific influence and its effect, 2 marks for a specific source of inspiration and its effect, 2 marks for analysing how they shape the subject matter and ideas of the artwork with visual evidence, 1 mark for terminology. Biography that is not linked to the artwork earns few marks.