WRITING ABOUT ART: PrepARING FOR THE PERSONAL STUDY
This article relates to preparing for the Personal Study, an important aspect of A level Art & Design. It has been written (and updated) with the following intentions:
But a word of caution: this is mostly my take on things - thoughts shaped over time, fuelled by experiences, errors and custard creams. In short: I'm no expert. But I am thinking hard about what may (or may not) be worth a reader's time, which is probably a fair starting point for most writing. That said, I've just finished a great book - First You Write A Sentence, by Joe Moran. I'd certainly recommend a copy for all Year 13 art rooms. The initial tips, below, have been shaped by this.
- To shed some light on what the Personal Study actually is (although the official line from Edexcel can be found here - other exam boards available).
- To provide students with practical advice for writing their essay - developing a theme, planning, structuring, writing a bibliography etc.
But a word of caution: this is mostly my take on things - thoughts shaped over time, fuelled by experiences, errors and custard creams. In short: I'm no expert. But I am thinking hard about what may (or may not) be worth a reader's time, which is probably a fair starting point for most writing. That said, I've just finished a great book - First You Write A Sentence, by Joe Moran. I'd certainly recommend a copy for all Year 13 art rooms. The initial tips, below, have been shaped by this.
Top Tips for students
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What is the Personal Study?
Put simply it’s an essay – continuous prose of at least a 1000 words, worth 12% of your overall A level. In summary the essay should:
- Be no more than 3000 words (short and punchy is better than drawn out and draining).
- Focus on a specific artist/photographer or art movement (or alternatively, a concept or artifact).
- Be related to your own investigations and practical (course)work.
- Include supporting images - from your chosen focus, your own work, and relevant wider connections.
- Include a bibliography (see below).
- Be informative, insightful and provide a personal perspective.
- Be a well-presented labour of love; a pleasure for others to pick up and read.
Preparing for the Personal Study
Obviously writing is a very different skill to, say, drawing, painting or declaring a urinal as art. But don’t underestimate the transferable skills in your creative locker. Being discerning, questioning, managing uncertainties, challenging expectations...These are all qualities that can help. And should you doubt their relevance, look below at the Personal Study descriptors for ‘Exceptional Ability’ (from Edexcel). These could equally describe an artwork.
Obviously writing is a very different skill to, say, drawing, painting or declaring a urinal as art. But don’t underestimate the transferable skills in your creative locker. Being discerning, questioning, managing uncertainties, challenging expectations...These are all qualities that can help. And should you doubt their relevance, look below at the Personal Study descriptors for ‘Exceptional Ability’ (from Edexcel). These could equally describe an artwork.
But we are still dealing with words. Specifically, choosing the right ones and pinning them in the right place, and there is no quick fix for developing knowledge and literacy skills. However, there is something to be said for deliberate practice, and the Personal Study provides a great opportunity for this.
Getting started
Deciding which artist, art movement or theme to base your personal study on should not be a tricky decision. The Personal Study is related to your practical, personal investigations - your key themes and inspirations to date. Your sketchbooks and experiments should point you in the right direction. But it is okay to take a relevant sidestep and use the Personal Study as an excuse to learn more about a connected artist or theme (rather than following a line of enquiry you are already exhausted with).
Give your Personal Study a punchy title
Once decided on your focus, set this out with a concise and ambitious title. A two-part title or question might help. For example:
This might seem pretentious, but don’t worry about it. Devise a relevant title that inspires you to then fill its boots. Exhibition titles are devised with similar intentions. For example, Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory, or Fernand Léger: New Times, New Pleasures.
Deciding which artist, art movement or theme to base your personal study on should not be a tricky decision. The Personal Study is related to your practical, personal investigations - your key themes and inspirations to date. Your sketchbooks and experiments should point you in the right direction. But it is okay to take a relevant sidestep and use the Personal Study as an excuse to learn more about a connected artist or theme (rather than following a line of enquiry you are already exhausted with).
Give your Personal Study a punchy title
Once decided on your focus, set this out with a concise and ambitious title. A two-part title or question might help. For example:
- Liar! Jeff Wall, photography and truth
- Modernism, Abstraction and the work of Barbara Hepworth
- The Human Figure: Sizing up Euan Uglow
This might seem pretentious, but don’t worry about it. Devise a relevant title that inspires you to then fill its boots. Exhibition titles are devised with similar intentions. For example, Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory, or Fernand Léger: New Times, New Pleasures.
Write an introduction that leaves the reader wanting to read more (but doesn't leave you wanting to write less)
Your introduction should tempt the reader in, but not at the cost of a whole week of your life shuffling around sentences. A common mistake is to throw a thesaurus at the opening paragraph until it resembles a download from artybollocks.com (yes, an actual website). Much better to start in a more straightforward way and simply get some initial thoughts down. The introduction can always be revisited and reshaped later, once you've found your writing mojo.
Your introduction might:
- Explain your interest in the subject and the connection that you have to this.
- Set out your intentions clearly.
- Provoke a desire to read on (for example, by using intriguing yet-to-be-answered questions).
- Reference relevant threshold concepts - the big ideas (or transformative knowledge) significant to your focus.
Before you start it might also be worth reflecting on the relationship that you want to establish with the reader. Do you have a deep understanding of the subject that you will share with confidence - an expert sharing insights? Or is this essay an investigation with conclusions yet to be fully formed? If so, how might you tempt the reader to accompany you on this journey (and keep them interested as you travel)?
Regarding matters of tone, perhaps appropriate advice is this: Be yourself with your sentences, but be the very best version of yourself that you can be. Imagine yourself in super clear communication mode - informed, honest, reflective; bossing it.
Below are two examples of Personal Study introductions. The first is more straightforward, the second a little more elaborate:
INTRODUCTION EXAMPLE 1
I am fascinated with themes of identity. In particular I am interested in what 'identity' might mean to a portrait artist, and how they might set out to understand and capture a person's identity. Grayson Perry, contemporary artist, forms a main focus for this essay. His TV documentary "Who Are You?" has been a big influence on my work this year. After watching this series I found myself reflecting on how I might create a portrait that goes beyond simplistic observations to capture a stronger sense of identity.
INTRODUCTION EXAMPLE 2
There’s a common perception that a person’s identity is fixed - a fully-formed pearl found deep inside, resistant to change. But this perception strikes me as absurd. Identity is a far more complex, evolving matter. It can certainly be a struggle to determine one’s own personal identity, let alone identify or reveal someone else's. But this is a challenge every artist faces. Grayson Perry, in his TV documentary “Who Are You?” immersed himself into the lives of his subjects. His aim: to see through cracks of façade; to delve deeper beneath the surface and into the core of a person. Perry considers identity to be a journey, a voyage in pursuit of who we are: “Our identity is an ongoing performance that is changed and adapted by our experiences and circumstances.” This notion interests me. Perry clearly grasps the interchangeability of identity. His documentary sparked my enthusiasm and provoked a question I've been wrestling with ever since: How do I create a portrait that reaches beyond accurate representation to reveal the complexities of an individual identity?
There’s a common perception that a person’s identity is fixed - a fully-formed pearl found deep inside, resistant to change. But this perception strikes me as absurd. Identity is a far more complex, evolving matter. It can certainly be a struggle to determine one’s own personal identity, let alone identify or reveal someone else's. But this is a challenge every artist faces. Grayson Perry, in his TV documentary “Who Are You?” immersed himself into the lives of his subjects. His aim: to see through cracks of façade; to delve deeper beneath the surface and into the core of a person. Perry considers identity to be a journey, a voyage in pursuit of who we are: “Our identity is an ongoing performance that is changed and adapted by our experiences and circumstances.” This notion interests me. Perry clearly grasps the interchangeability of identity. His documentary sparked my enthusiasm and provoked a question I've been wrestling with ever since: How do I create a portrait that reaches beyond accurate representation to reveal the complexities of an individual identity?
The following sentence starters seem to fit with the style of example 1, above:
I am choosing to focus on… (Artist / art movement) because…/ It astounds me how…/ I find it fascinating that…/ I found myself reflecting upon.../ I’m curious to know why…/I hope to...show, share, highlight, discover…
These provide a sound enough framework to begin with, but perhaps lack the descriptive verve of Example 2.
Example 2 uses a more elaborate style that incorporates a creative metaphor (identity as a pearl inside us all) and also a direct quote from the artist. Confident statements provide a greater sense of authority ("this strikes me as absurd", "Perry grasps the interchangeability of identity"), but also - importantly - the writer is not setting themselves up as an absolute expert. There remains a a reflective tone ("a question I've been wrestling with is...").
The meat in the sandwich
With a word limit of 3000 words (and advice to aim for less) there's good reason to be concise. Short and punchy is best. You need to move quickly to the main content of your essay - the meat in the sandwich. And this should certainly give the reader something to chew on. Frankly, on behalf of all teachers who have to digest these servings, the more flavour the better.
Flavour might come in the form of:
Writing your thoughts
Personal thoughts should be carefully considered, honest and insightful. Be wary of superficial or obvious statements.
Consider the progression in the approaches below:
With a word limit of 3000 words (and advice to aim for less) there's good reason to be concise. Short and punchy is best. You need to move quickly to the main content of your essay - the meat in the sandwich. And this should certainly give the reader something to chew on. Frankly, on behalf of all teachers who have to digest these servings, the more flavour the better.
Flavour might come in the form of:
- Revealing insights to specific artwork(s) – descriptive writing incorporating lesser-known facts; wider contextual connections; personal insights - perhaps in relation to your own practical work and experiences. But don't dismiss how an artwork makes you feel or impacts upon your senses. (Refer to Threshold Concept #6). Be sensitive to your intuition and honest in accounting this.
- Imaginative leaps and connections – this might include linking an artwork or idea to another work or idea, or perhaps a significant moment in time. Connections might be made between styles, techniques or ideologies; moments of personal, historical or cultural significance can be linked with thoughtful insights or questions. (Refer to Threshold Concept #7).
- Narrowing your focus – when the possibilities seem endless, narrowing your focus might help. For example, if referencing a particular artwork, consider focusing on one of these 4 aspects: TECHNICAL, VISUAL, CONTEXTUAL and CONCEPTUAL. Do you want to provide technical insights (the type of materials used, the technical skills involved etc.), or perhaps a visual analysis is more fitting (of subject matter, composition etc.)? All essays should demonstrate contextual understanding, and reveal concepts and ideas, but this might not be necessary for every artwork referenced. (Refer to Threshold Concept #3).
- Accompanying images/illustrations – Your Personal Study should be accompanied with relevant images/illustrations, but there is no set way to do this. Most students opt to embed these alongside their writing for ease of reference. Alternatively, they might be included as an appendix - a page at the end of the essay. Either way, think carefully about the relevance, order, scale and placement of images, and reference them consistently within your text. You can do this in a couple of ways, e.g:
- “An example of this expressive technique can be seen in Figure 1."
- “This technique was very expressive (Figure 1) and...”
Writing your thoughts
Personal thoughts should be carefully considered, honest and insightful. Be wary of superficial or obvious statements.
Consider the progression in the approaches below:
- Your initial reaction – informed by instinct, intuition, emotional response, existing knowledge etc.
This is appropriate when your initial reactions are justified e.g. “I'm intrigued by this because…”; "when I first encountered the work I was taken by surprise because..." But if what follows is a basic and superficial understanding of wider contexts then, well, that might just make your teacher cry. “I’m interested in Cubism because I like how Picasso’s artworks are made up of cube-like shapes”; or “Pop Art appeals because it uses bright colours and film stars”. Whether your teacher cries tears of despair or laughter will depend on your relationship with them, or perhaps their performance management targets. But they won't be tears of joy. - Based on a deeper understanding/complex grasp of wider contexts – demonstrating a confident stance; justified, informed opinions; an ability to make imaginative connections etc.
Compare these improved examples to the previous tear-inducing responses:“I’m interested in Cubism, particularly how the concept of recording multiple viewpoints evolved through experimenting with - and challenging - traditional methods of depiction..."; “I’m interested in how Pop Art emerged as a response to Abstract Expressionism. It strikes me as a mischievous movement; an antidote to the excessive chin-holding culture which pervaded galleries at that time…”
- From an alternative perspective – demonstrating an awareness that art is not fixed in meaning but subject to interpretation; that the opinions of others can provide alternative perspectives 0r counter-balance an argument etc.
Placing yourself in someone else’s shoes can demonstrate a deeper awareness of the capacity of art to evoke various opinions and responses. For example, consider the perspective of a feminist, a modernist, or a post-modernist. “Rothko may have set out to provoke a sense of claustrophobia with his Seagram Restaurant commission, but I can imagine a dining capitalist might have been less sensitive to the colour fields on the wall, and more preoccupied with the greenbacks in hand…”
Concluding your essay
This is an opportunity to summarise your study and reward the reader for staying with you. You might:
Including a bibliography
A bibliography is an essential requirement. This lists the resources that you have used for your essay (books, websites, articles, videos etc.). Try to keep track as you go, rather than having to revisit once the essay is completed. Set it out like this:
For websites the format is similar, and the author should be included if known. For example:
Jonathan Jones, 'Feeding Fury', The Guardian (December 20o2), https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2002/dec/07/artsfeatures
This is an opportunity to summarise your study and reward the reader for staying with you. You might:
- Revisit the aims or investigative questions set out at the start. You do not need to have definitive answers though. Sensitive and honest reflections, or even new, increasingly complex questions are fine.
- Summarise key thoughts that have arisen from your study.
- Offer reflective, personal opinions on your research, and how this has shaped - or will shape - your own practical work.
- Share thoughts on potential opportunities for future exploration, if given more time.
- Include a short reflection on the process of the study itself – the research and thinking skills that you've developed along the way.
Including a bibliography
A bibliography is an essential requirement. This lists the resources that you have used for your essay (books, websites, articles, videos etc.). Try to keep track as you go, rather than having to revisit once the essay is completed. Set it out like this:
- Author – put the last name first.
- Title – this should be underlined or in quotation marks.
- Publisher - in a book this is usually located on one of the first few pages.
- Date – the date/year the book/article was published.
For websites the format is similar, and the author should be included if known. For example:
Jonathan Jones, 'Feeding Fury', The Guardian (December 20o2), https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2002/dec/07/artsfeatures
Shall I put a bow on it? How best to present your essay
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Additional resources
For Photography students there are plenty of fantastic resources available on the PhotoPedagogy website.
These include: And here are further reading suggestions:
For Photography students there are plenty of fantastic resources available on the PhotoPedagogy website.
These include: And here are further reading suggestions:
- Andrew Graham-Dixon History of British Art (Although pretty much any book, article or TV series from AGD is a good bet. The Art of Germany being my absolute favourite).
- Mathew Collings This is Modern Art
- The Penguin book of Art Writing
- Whitney Chadwick - a range of titles available