Arts

Student Artwork 2021

The arts are powerful forms of expression that recognise, value, and contribute to the unique bicultural and multicultural character of Aotearoa New Zealand, enriching the lives of all New Zealanders. The arts have their own distinct languages that use both verbal and non-verbal conventions, mediated by selected processes and technologies. Through movement, sound, and image, the arts transforms creative ideas into expressive works that communicate layered meanings.

Music

Music is a rich part of the diverse cultures of Aotearoa New Zealand. It is a vital part of life for many communities, as an art form that can be used to express histories, knowledge bases, local contexts, language, and aspirations.

Through music, ākonga can develop a deeper understanding of themselves, and explore different contexts and kaupapa. Music can be a waka for learners to connect with their whakapapa and engage with contexts, spirituality, emotions, and ideas of others. They can build confidence in their value as artists that bring their own experiences and culture to musical works, and explore how music relates to their sense of identity.

Visual Arts

The visual arts comprise a broad range of conceptual, material, and dimensional forms through which we communicate, learn about ourselves, and make meaning of the world. They involve people in making objects and images through which ideas, experiences, and feelings are made tangible. The visual arts link social, cultural, and spiritual action and belief and inform our relationships with other people and our environment.

Much of our experience of the world is visual. Visual experiences promote a variety of ways of describing and responding to the world and involve people in investigating, making, and interpreting art. People use the visual arts for particular aesthetic, spiritual, and practical purposes – for example, to construct and decorate their environments and to comment on their beliefs and values.

The visual arts stimulate our thinking and feeling. They are characterised by established conventions and methods of inquiry that are founded on the traditions of the past. They can also reflect the innovations of contemporary times by communicating information, promoting inquiry, expressing ideas, and presenting us with challenges to evolve new art forms and technologies.

Painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, photography, film and video, computer-generated art, performance art, and combinations of these forms are some of the visual arts that reflect the traditions and modern-day expressions of cultures and societies. Their forms and processes enable us to tell stories about ourselves, to express our personal and collective identities, and to participate in the local and global community. 

Painting Folios

Photography Folios

• Grid
• List

Courses in this Learning Area

Animator/Digital Artist, Graphic Designer, Signmaker, Exhibition Technician, Artist, Photographer, Body Artist, Florist, Screen Printer, Game Developer, Web Developer, Actor, Artist Director, Sound Technician, Lighting Technician, Radio Presenter, Art Director, Make-up Artist, Curator, Music Producer, Sound Engineer, Promotion Manager, Concert Promoter,