Visual ArtsQ&A by dot point

Developing an inquiry: form a specific, generative question that can drive a sustained body of work, and break it into guiding questions that direct practice, experimentation and revision.

Documenting process and decision-making: keep and select process images (sketches, tests, models, stages and failures) so the reader can trace the practice, experimentation and revision behind the work.

Investigating materials, processes and ideas: distinguish the three, and investigate them through deliberate testing so that material and process choices serve the ideas behind the work.

Practice, experimentation and revision: distinguish the three modes of making, and structure a body of work so that the investigation visibly develops over time rather than repeating a single idea.

Skill framework overview: identify the three course skills (inquiry and investigation; making through practice, experimentation and revision; communicating) and the three big ideas (investigate, make, present), and explain how they organize the portfolio.

Sustained Investigation written evidence: answer the two prompts (identify the inquiry; describe development through practice, experimentation and revision) within the 600 character limit so the writing identifies materials, processes and ideas and unlocks the full score range.

Visual relationships in a body of work: create coherence across the Sustained Investigation so that the 15 images read as a connected, developing investigation rather than unrelated pieces, through recurring materials, processes, motifs and an evolving inquiry.

Art and design skills: demonstrate 2-D design, 3-D design or drawing skills through deliberate use of the elements of art and the principles of design, the technical-command criterion scored in both portfolio sections.

Building the Sustained Investigation portfolio: select and sequence 15 images (resolved works, process work and details) plus the two written responses so the body of work evidences inquiry, practice-experimentation-revision, synthesis and skill.

Synthesis of materials, processes and ideas: integrate the three so that material and process choices carry the meaning of the work, the quality assessed in both the Sustained Investigation and Selected Works.

The three portfolios: distinguish AP Drawing, 2-D Art and Design and 3-D Art and Design, understand the shared two-section structure (Sustained Investigation 60 percent, Selected Works 40 percent), and choose the portfolio that fits your work.