Top Arts 2022 – Amy Pham

Amy started her process by exploring her interests with a comprehensive mindmap. She then narrowed this down slightly to the concepts of ‘Identity’ and ‘Women’. By brainstorming ideas she was able to establish a broad range of options without initially evaluating them or being limited by what she thought she could represent visually.

After settling on the central idea of ‘Identity’ the exploration of personal responses continues and includes the artistic influence. Amy began to explore how other artists have represented identity in their painting as a means of gaining inspiration. She uses annotation to note things of interest that she might explore later. She establishes potential subject matter with a focus on portraiture.

While a Statement of Intention is not a requirement of the study, Amy has included a statement in which she clarifies the idea that she has decided to explore through her art in Unit 3. This allows her to order her thoughts and explain how she is wanting to proceed. While this is beneficial, it is recommended that this is less formal than Amy’s title suggests. It would be advisable to title this as ‘Introducing my Concept/Ideas’ if you choose to do this.

Amy has chosen to focus on the artform of painting to explore the subject matter of portraiture. She now begins to explore and experiment with acrylics and oil paints as she develops an understanding of the characteristics of the materials and techniques in applying them. She begins to apply critical annotation to her experimentation and identifies things she needs to work on to. She considers how the qualities of the materials, effects that she can achieve through techniques and imagery might be relevant to her intentions. She is learning new techniques and considering the impact of this on her visual language.

We see images from her making process alongside further inspirational material as Amy explores composition and further experimentation with materials, techniques, processes and art forms, relevant to better convey her personal ideas. She uses drawing to resolve concerns that she has identified in her work.

Amy continues to experiment with her selected materials and techniques in an attempt to find the best way of achieving her intention.

Amy continues to experiment with her media and techniques throughout the art process, applying these to sourced images. She continues learning through first-hand experimentation.

Not only does Amy experiment with the media she is painting with, but also the surface materials she paints on. Each has its own characteristics that achieves a different result.

Her critical annotations reflect on her experimentations and inform her decisions.

Amy uses her annotation to effectively communicate her personal ideas and concepts, throughout the art process. She establishes how she will move forward and what she needs to do so, such as a series of reference photographs to choose from.

Amy has used a heading to indicate her application of the framework in her Visual Diary annotations.

While Amy uses the Analytical Frameworks throughout the Art Process this should be explicit with clearly identified frameworks in order to demonstrate a successful use of the language and construct of the framework.

Amy explores concept trials and aspects she wants to include. She begins to establish her visual language and annotates the meaning she believes the introduction of multiple hands introduces. She is making decisions about how to best communicate her personal ideas and concepts using the selected materials and techniques.

Having established that she would paint a self portrait with multiple hands reaching for her, Amy uses concept sketches to develop her composition, visual language and artworks relevant to her intentions.

Amy refines her image to best communicate her personal ideas and concepts using digital photography.

In combination with Amy’s art process the final work demonstrates the progression and resolution from the initial exploration, through the refinement of skills, techniques and imagery to best communicate her personal ideas and concepts. The final work is highly successful and is documented at the end of the process.

Amy begins her Unit 4 art process by revisiting her concept of Identity. Using a mind map and research of related artworks by a range of artists she considers a range of possible approaches she can take that are relevant to her personal concepts and the directions she intends to pursue.

Amy clarifies her thinking and the chosen direction for Unit 4. Her annotation outlines her idea and the process she is planning to follow.

Further targeted research and analysis helps Amy to establish the direction she will take in Unit 4.

As in Unit 3, Amy conveys her intention by writing a statement. She then begins to explore imagery and continue investigating and experimenting with the materials, techniques and processes she initiated in Unit 3.

Amy is able to quickly develop her application of her selected materials, techniques and processes to a new idea based on the strong foundation she established in Unit 3. She uses photography again to explore her intended subject matter and composition, providing clear reference from which to paint. This helps her to quickly refine her concept.

Critical and creative thinking has supported Amy’s artistic practice. She uses sources of inspiration, photography, media trials as well as working on detailed areas of her composition like the flowers and later fabric, that she has not previously trialled, in order to refine and realise her personal ideas and concepts.

Amy uses research to investigate possible solutions to deal with painting areas of her image, like the hair. Using this research, she carries out trials in the application of her media and different techniques to achieve her intention.

Amy established a personal visual language in Unit 3 and continues to develop and refine this in Unit 4. She uses sources of inspiration, sketches and annotation to further explore and refine her visual language resolving into finished artworks that successfully capture her personal ideas.

Amy resolves her personal ideas and skills throughout her visual diary through exploratory trials and her finished work. She demonstrates a consistent level of skill and, as seen in on these pages, she constantly challenges herself in an attempt to find the best resolution. Her ideas and concepts are consistent and show a clear development towards the final resolution.

Amy resolves her personal ideas and skills in her final artwork that demonstrates how she has benefitted from the extensive trials throughout her body of work in both Unit 3 and Unit 4. She demonstrates a high level of consistent skill and she successfully resolves her intention in the final painting.

Throughout both Units Amy has used the different frameworks but in Unit 4 made use of coloured dots to mark the selected frameworks. This is evident in her final evaluation of her painting and throughout her Unit 4 exploration. She has consistently applied art terminology along with her use of the frameworks to evaluate, reflect, and explain her artmaking.

It is important to note that annotations should be done in real time to clearly indicate how your thinking and working practices align with the analytical frameworks throughout the process. It is important that the application of the frameworks is explicit. While the use of a colour key identifies when frameworks are used, it is recommended that the frameworks are identified in writing. This allows you to consider the language of each framework before you use it.