AS 91441 Annotated exemplars

This annotated exemplar is intended for teacher use only. Annotated exemplars are extracts of student evidence, with commentary, that explain key parts of a standard. These help teachers make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

Download all exemplars and commentary [PDF, 9.2 MB]

TKI Visual Arts assessment resources (external link)

For Excellence, the student needs to critically analyse methods and ideas from established painting practice.

This involves:

• explaining the significance of how and why art works are made, viewed, and valued
• explaining complex relationships between selected approaches
• placing these relationships within a wider social, political, geographic, or historical context
• providing evidence of independent research from a wide range of sources where personal insight, evaluation, and conclusions are presented with supporting arguments.

This student has undertaken the sustained analysis and comparative evaluation of three artists: Camille Rose Garcia, John Tenniel and Tanya Thompson.

The initial analysis of formal elements (colour, line, form, tone, composition) consistently focuses on the effects created (1) rather than simply describing features. This is built upon in the following what/how/why section where the non-traditional depiction of Alice in Wonderland is explained (3). 

The explanations are well supported with information from appropriate research sources. Relevant biographical information is used to provide insight into the ideas and approaches undertaken by each artist (4).

For a more secure Excellence, the student could include relevant quotes from the artists or authoritative commentators to support their explanations. For example, in the 2007 The Big Idea interview, Tania Thompson describes her art as ‘dainty and pretty with murderous sharp things’. This phrase could be directly related to the work being analysed.

The student could also move beyond generic pictorial intelligence to explain specific aspects of particular works. For example, rather than summarising an obvious colour/spatial effect (2) the student could explore the spatial ambiguities created by the colour and tonal choices.

For Merit, the student needs to analyse, in depth, methods and ideas from established painting practice.

This involves:

• purposefully identifying key information related to methods and ideas
• gathering information from a range of sources
• using specific examples to support the student’s discussion of particular methods and ideas.

This student has demonstrated in-depth analysis in the explanation of how and why David’s painting Death of Marat differs from conventional depictions of death (2). This is supported by relevant information from appropriate research sources (1).

Understanding of a wider artistic context is shown by linking Death of Marat with Michelangelo’s Pieta and Caravaggio’s Entombment of Christ (3)

The student makes reference to how specific features, such as the vertical lines in Amanda Clyne’s Twisted (6), are used to support particular ideas.

Information has been gathered from a range of sources as demonstrated by the regular use of quotes to support the explanations (5) (7) (8).  

To reach Excellence, the student could provide more sustained explanations of how artists differ in their approaches to technique and subject matter. For example, the student could explain the similarities and differences between Clyne and Caravaggio’s use of a ‘reflecting connection’ (4).

A consistently critical analysis would also apply the biographic and socio/historical contexts used in the David analysis to the discussion of the other two artists.

For Merit, the student needs to analyse, in depth, methods and ideas from established painting practice.

This involves:

• purposefully identifying key information related to methods and ideas
• gathering information from a range of sources
• using specific examples to support the student’s discussion of particular methods and ideas.

This student has made clear links between visual features and symbolic ideas, for example Bill Hammond’s use of simplified and idealised form to create a dream-like quality (2).

Research from a range of sources has enabled the student to place art works within a wider cultural, historical and artistic context. References to Hammond’s Auckland Islands visit (3) and Egyptian art (6) add depth to the analysis. The explanations are supported by appropriate quotations from the research sources (4) (7).

The final paragraph of the Hammond analysis (8) attempts to summarise the theme of the work. The cultural reading (New Zealand Maori) differs from conventional conservation interpretations of this work, which shows the student offering an independent view based on their research.

For a more secure Merit, the student could build upon the descriptive passages (1) to explain the effects of these features, for example that the cold dark colours contribute to the sense of pathos present in Placemakers.

An in-depth discussion of Placemakers would typically include reference to the irony of Sir Walter Buller’s collecting of bird specimen, which is considered key to the work. The student should also provide personal explanations for how selected quotes (5) relate to the specific paintings being discussed.

For Achieved, the student needs to analyse methods and ideas from established painting practice.

This involves:

• identifying, describing, and examining features of art works
• identifying information related to methods and ideas
• explaining how and why art works are made, viewed, and valued
• distinguishing similarities and differences between approaches to making art
• research into the established practice of at least three artists from at least two sources.

This student has provided thorough explanations of technical and pictorial aspects of images using correct terminology (2). The responses to paintings by Francisco de Zurbaran and Euan Macleod include direct links between pictorial features and a specific communicative intention (1) (3).

The student demonstrates a high level of pictorial intelligence in the consistent explanations of how technical features are used to create specific effects (4) (5).

To reach Merit, the student could include explicit references from research sources to support the explanations of thematic ideas. Quotes from the artist and/or authoritative sources, or salient biographical information, would provide opportunity for more in-depth analysis. For example, the name and narrative of the saint in the Zurbaran painting is critical for understanding this particular work.

An in-depth analysis could also place the work within wider historical, social and artistic contexts. For example, a comparison of the Zurbaran painting with earlier depictions of martyred saints would show how revolutionary the image was.

The student could build upon the simple cause effect description. For example, the “rough, scratchy effect” (5) could be connected to masculine antipodean values of independence and outdoor adventure.

For Achieved, the student needs to analyse methods and ideas from established painting practice.

This involves:

• identifying, describing, and examining features of art works
• identifying information related to methods and ideas
• explaining how and why art works are made, viewed, and valued
• distinguishing similarities and differences between approaches to making art
• research into the established practice of at least three artists from at least two sources.

This student has identified and described technical and pictorial features (2) (4) of a piece by Banksy and an image from Roy of the Rovers. They have also provided an explanation of the communicative intention underpinning specific art works (1).

In some places the student begins to explain how visual features create particular effects, for example the use of yellow and red to ‘create a happy and exciting emotional response’ (3).

For a more secure Achieved, the student could move beyond the largely descriptive responses. The student needs to more regularly explain how artists use visual and technical features to create effects and communicate ideas. For example, the student could explain the use of comic styling in Roy of the Rovers (5) to evoke a sense of boyhood nostalgia in the viewer.

A more secure Achieved would also be supported by research from appropriate sources. For example, the Banksy analysis should include easily accessible information about stencil street art preserving the artist’s anonymity, and the subverting of appropriated images to make a political point.

A comparison of similarities and differences between the art works could also provide opportunity for a fuller understanding of each approach.

For Achieved, the student needs to analyse methods and ideas from established painting practice.

This involves:

• identifying, describing, and examining features of art works
• identifying information related to methods and ideas
• explaining how and why art works are made, viewed, and valued
• distinguishing similarities and differences between approaches to making art
• research into the established practice of at least three artists from at least two sources.

This student has begun to identify and describe the visual features of art works by Merlin Carpenter and Rangi Kipa (1). In some passages the student describes the effects created by the visual feature (3).

In the Rangi Kipa page, the student identifies the cultural context (4) which provides opportunity for a discussion of how the work is made, viewed and valued.

To reach Achieved, the student could make more regular and specific connections between methods and ideas. The Rangi Kipa discussion could include information about how traditional and contemporary features are adapted to define the artists’ cultural identity as a contemporary Maori.

The responses need to be supported by information from appropriate research sources. For example, the main concern of Merlin Carpenter is that of contemporary pop culture and consumerism rather than faces representing a generalised ‘meaning of life’ (2). 

Both Kipa and Carpenter have strong cultural influences underpinning their work.  Identifying how these cultural influences have affected the artists is essential for Achieved at Level 3.