Art History Internal Assessment Activity
Achievement
Standard:
Strands
90229 (2.3)
Title:
Exploring Techniques in New Zealand
Painting
Version:
2
Curriculum Achievement Objectives Level 7
CI
Students will analyse how meanings are communicated through the construction of art
works.
UC
Students will analyse the influences of contexts on the characteristics and production of art
works.
The values, principles and key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum are the foundation of this
unit of work, with specific focus on:
Values
Innovation, inquiry & curiosity
Students will think critically about the art works selected and reflect on the ways in which meaning is
created with different media and techniques.
Key Competencies
Thinking
Students will critically analyse visual and written information to examine the construction of meaning in
art works.
Using language, symbols & texts
Students will examine the ways in which different media and techniques can be used in visual texts to
communicate information and ideas.
Managing self
Students are expected to work independently and meet assessment deadlines.
Principles
Treaty of Waitangi & Cultural diversity
Students may consider the ways in which the Eurocentric viewpoint affected the ways in which the
New Zealand landscape was framed.
Art History Internal Assessment Task
Exploring Techniques in New Zealand Painting
Achievement Standard 90229 (2.3) version 2
Examine techniques used in art
Teacher Notes
While this task is created for the Art in Aotearoa (nineteenth century to the present) area of
study, and could follow on from student research for AS90231 (2.5), it could easily be adapted
for the Māori Art/Tāonga (traditional and contemporary) area of study.
Although Task One would work well with students annotating images, current New Zealand
copyright law does not appear to allow students to download and reproduce images created by
artists who have died less than 50 years ago without permission. This means that the work of
artists from Christopher Perkins on cannot be used in this way. However, Digistore, which is
accessible through TKI (http://www.tki.org.nz/r/digistore/) with your school password, does
allow images to be downloaded for educational use. If enough appropriate images exist there
for your students, Task One could easily be adapted to allow digital annotation of images for
power points or blogs.
In order to ensure that no infringement of copyright occurs, this activity is written in such a way
that students are not required to use images.
Resources
For information on particular techniques used by artists, students can be directed to:
Artist monographs e.g.
Beaven, Lisa & Banbury, Grant: Landmarks: The Landscape Paintings of Doris Lusk, Robert
McDougall Art Gallery & Hazard Press, Christchurch, 1996, pages 39-41
Wilson, Rodney: Petrus Van der Velden, Reed Ltd, Wellington, 1976, Pages 80 - 83
Gordon, Briar: Charles Heaphy, Pitman Pub. Petone, 1987
Gully, John S: New Zealand’s Romantic Landscape: Paintings by John Gully, Millwood,
Wellington, 1984, pages 100 -102
Websites (these need to be checked as they are often changed) e.g.
www.tate.org/uk/britain/exhibitions/turnercolour and line/room2_watercolour.shtm
www.johnlovett.com/techniq.htm
www.rickmundy.com/Techniques.htm
www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/tech23n.html
Books which describe techniques in simple terms and may be available in your school or
public library e.g.
Balkwill, Ray: Learn to Paint Coastal Landscapes, Collins, London, 2006.
Hayes, Colin (ed): The Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing Techniques and Materials,
Phaidon, Oxford, 1978
Staiger, Kathleen Lochen: The Oil Painting Course You've Always wanted : Guided Lessons
for Beginners and Experienced Artists, Watson-Guptill, New York, 2006.
Tappenden, Curtis, et al: Complete Art Foundation Course, Cassell Illustrated, London, 2006
Art History Internal Assessment Task
Exploring Techniques in New Zealand Painting
Achievement Standard 90229 (2.3) version 2
Examine techniques used in art
Credits: 4
__________________________________________________________________________________
Student Instructions
___________________________________________________________________________________
Introduction
You have been asked to write the information for a simple display of New Zealand landscape painting for
the educational programme of your local art gallery. The display is intended to show how artists’
techniques changed over time in response to their need to communicate changing views of the New
Zealand landscape.
You will need to choose three landscape paintings by different artists who used different techniques and
write your information in three stages.
Conditions
You will have four periods of class time and will complete the activity as homework.
Due Date:
This task is to be handed in for assessment on or before ________________________
Achievement Criteria
Achievement
Achievement with Merit
Achievement with Excellence
• Identify and describe a
range of techniques used in
art.
• Compare the effects of
different techniques.
• Explain how the techniques
create different effects and
convey meaning.
• Describe the effects of a
range of techniques.
Achievement
Task One: Describing techniques and their effects
Choose 3 landscape paintings, each by a different artist, in which different techniques have been
used.
• Fill in as much of the Plan for Task 1 Sheet as you can to describe the techniques each of the
artists uses in their painting and the effects of those techniques.
• Rewrite your information in paragraph form – one page for each art work.
(‘Techniques’ should only consider the media and process of painting, not the colour, use of
perspective and other devices. Remember though that the media and processes/techniques used
by the artist may have an effect on the resulting colour, sense of space etc.)
Techniques could include:
• Support: canvas, hessian, wooden panel, paper, large, small….
• Media: oil paint, watercolour, gouache, bitumen, tempera, thinned, straight from the
tube, buttery, thick, added wax, collage…..
• Underpainting: this is what the artist first paints the canvas with. The colour they use
has an effect on the final work eg dark underpainting increases dramatic chiaroscuro in
oil whereas a light ground increases luminosity. Not all artists underpaint. Some watercolour
artists begin with a wash.
• Brushstrokes: smoothly applied, loose, energetic, flowing, impastoed, short dabs,
spontaneous, sketchy, dots, follow the form, palette knife, directional, visible, wet on wet,
scumbling, gestural, invisible brushstrokes, flat areas of colour, parallel hatching, washes,
dry brush, scratching out, lifting out, glazing, bleeding…….
Effects could include:
Orderly, firmly outlined, random, spontaneous, sketchy, emotional, soft, immediacy, optical mixing
dissolve form, flattened form, non-naturalistic, luminosity, fleeting light, passion, movement, three
dimensional, realism, polished, depth, leads eye, quick drying, enhances brightness, involves the
viewer, dramatic, chiaroscuro, coloured drawing…..
Merit
Task Two: Compare the effects of the different techniques
(a) Write 2 or 3 paragraphs comparing the effects of the different techniques used in the 2 earlier
paintings you have chosen.
(b) On another page, write 2 or 3 paragraphs comparing the effects of the different techniques
used in the 2 later paintings you have chosen.
(E.g. Whereas ____________has created a _____________ effect in the use of the oil medium,
____________ has created _______________ effects by using __________ .)
Excellence
Task Three: Explain how the techniques create different effects and convey meaning
On a new page, explain how the techniques used in each painting create different effects and
express the artists’ concerns/themes/ideas/intentions.
(Include the aims of the artists and their context. What meaning did they hope to achieve by using
those particular kinds of brushstrokes and effects? E.g. why did Topographic artists like Heaphy
paint in watercolour? What was it about the effects created by that medium that illustrated the way
he saw his new country? Why did van der Velden use oil paint in the way he did?)
Concerns/themes/ideas/intentions could include:
Order, control, logic, Topographic, Romantic restraint, drama, reality, transience, fragility,
modernity, the sublime, turmoil, accuracy, portability, civilisation, progress, nationalism,
Modernism, propaganda, industry…..
AS90229 (2.3) Techniques in New Zealand Painting – Plan for Task 1
artist and title
Techniques used
Support:
Media:
Underpainting:
Brushstrokes:
Support:
Media:
Underpainting:
Brushstrokes:
Support:
Media:
Underpainting:
Brushstrokes:
Effects of those techniques
Assessment schedule
Task
No.
One
Two
Three
Evidence towards Achievement
Each A4 page describes 2 techniques and
effects for each of the three paintings
chosen.
E.g.
McCahon: Northland Panels. Large
unstretched/unframed canvas strips bring the
landscape into the viewer’s space and create
the experience of a journey along the 7
panels as s/he walks along.
Evidence from this task may be used to
provide additional evidence for Achievement.
Art History 90229 (2.3) Techniques in New Zealand Painting
Name ________________________
Evidence towards Achievement with Merit
As for Achievement.
The effects of techniques are compared.
E.g.
As a Topographical painter, John Kinder created
an orderly, crisply detailed view of his new land
in his use of watercolour in Keri Keri Falls 1859.
As a Romantic artist, however, John Gully
created dramatic, stormy effects with his wet in
wet watercolour technique and resulting
dissolved contours in In the Southern Alps 1881.
Evidence towards Achievement with
Excellence
As for Achievement.
As for Merit
An explanation is given of how different
techniques create different effects and
contribute to the meaning of the works and/or
intentions of the artist.
E.g.
As Heaphy was a Topographical painter,
working for the New Zealand Company, he
was concerned with promoting a positive view
of settlement, not with creating dramatic
atmospheric effects. Watercolour on paper
was his preferred medium because it was
portable and dried quickly.
Van der Velden wanted to create Romantic,
sublime effects of God’s might in nature. He
needed oil paint, and even bitumen, to do this
because it would have been impossible to
create large scale, dramatic, dark scenes
such as those at Otira with watercolour.