The Visual Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum
The visual arts in the New Zealand Curriculum constitute a wide range of fields, including sculpture, painting, printmaking, photography, design, electronic media and film, and the history of art. Students become increasingly literate in the visual arts as they learn from example, practise ways of working, and explore and reflect on the conceptual, perceptual, and practical processes of two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and time-based art.
Students learn in, through, and about the various forms and processes of the visual arts. Through practical work and a study of others' art, they learn to make objects and images, to source and develop ideas, and to communicate and interpret meaning. They come to understand visual art works as social and historical texts as they investigate the contexts in which the visual arts are made, used, and valued.
Education in the visual arts may include the art forms of all cultures, past and present. In Aotearoa New Zealand, all students should have opportunities to learn about traditional and contemporary Māori art forms.
As makers and viewers, students gain knowledge about the content, structure, and meaning of art works and develop visual literacy in their representation and "reading" of the visual world. They develop appropriate critical skills and understandings as they analyse and question the parameters of visual arts practice.
Visual arts
Through engaging in the visual arts, students learn how to discern, participate in, and celebrate their own and others’ visual worlds. Visual arts learning begins with children’s curiosity and delight in their senses and stories and extends to communication of complex ideas and concepts. An understanding of Māori visual culture is achieved through exploration of Māori contexts. The arts of European, Pasifika, Asian, and other cultures add significant dimensions to New Zealand visual culture.
In visual arts education, students develop visual literacy and aesthetic awareness as they manipulate and transform visual, tactile, and spatial ideas to solve problems. They explore experiences, stories, abstract concepts, social issues, and needs, both individually and collaboratively. They experiment with materials, using processes and conventions to develop their visual enquiries and create both static and time-based art works. They view art works, bringing their own experiences, sharing their responses, and generating multiple interpretations. Their meaning making is further informed by investigation of the contexts in which art works are created, used, and valued. As they develop their visual literacy, students are able to engage with a wider range of art experiences in increasingly complex and conscious ways.
The visual arts develop students’ conceptual thinking within a range of practices across drawing, sculpture, design, painting, printmaking, photography, and moving image. Art history may include a study of theories of the arts, architecture, and design. Theoretical investigations also inform practical enquiry. Opportunities to explore and communicate in the visual arts continue to expand as technologies and multi-disciplinary practices evolve.
