Japan 中学3年 Fine Arts
Chapters: 4
1. Expression: ideas and plans
Painting and sculpture from feelings and imagination · Design and crafts for purpose and function
- Painting and Sculpture from Feelings and Imagination – Artists can start from a feeling or an idea in the mind. They find a theme, plan the colour, shapes and layout (composition), and then paint or build a sculpture. Cool blue feels calm, yellow feels happy, red spikes feel angry, small dark shapes feel sad. The same feeling can be shown in a picture or in 3D.
- What Is Design? Fields, Form and Function, and Design for Everyone – Design is planning something on purpose so that it does a job for people. It has many fields: product, graphic, fashion and textile, interior, landscape, architecture and digital (UX) design. Good design joins form (shape, colour, material) and function (the job it does): "form follows function". Designers use elements and principles, fit objects to the human body (ergonomics), and try to make things that work for everyone (inclusive design) and do less harm to the planet (sustainable design).
2. Expression: skills
Using materials and tools creatively · Planning order of work
- Art Materials and Techniques: Choosing the Right Media – Artists choose materials (media) for the look they want. Every paint is pigment (coloured powder) mixed with a binder that sticks it to the surface: oil for oil paint, gum arabic for watercolour, acrylic resin for acrylic, egg for tempera. Dry media include graphite pencils (H = hard and light, B = soft and dark), charcoal, pastels and coloured pencils. Wet media include ink, watercolour, gouache, acrylic and oil. Transparent media let light and lower layers show through; opaque media cover them. The support is the surface: paper (with different weights and textures), canvas, wood panel, walls. 3D processes include modelling clay, carving, construction and casting; printmaking makes many copies from one block, plate or screen. Digital media add tablets, photo and video. Good artists test materials, refine work by experimenting, and use them safely and sustainably.
- Managing an Art Project: From Idea to Review – An art project moves through stages: idea, research, plan, make, show and review. Good management means choosing one idea, planning tasks and time, sharing work in a team, recording every step, showing the result and learning from it.
3. Appreciation
Artworks · Role of art in life and art culture
- Art and Society: How Art Shapes the World Around Us – Art is not only something to hang on a wall. It is a language of feelings that people use to express what words cannot say. It can be individual, one person's view, or collective, made by and for a group, carrying a community's memory and identity through murals, folk art, songs and festivals. Art can point at problems and push for change, which is why it has often been censored; freedom of expression and its limits are still debated. Art also shows who holds power: who gets to make it, who is shown, and whether stereotypes are repeated or broken. Finally, art connects with every other field, from science and technology to music, dance and town planning. To understand a work in its society, ask: who made it, for whom, why, and what did it change?
4. Common items
Form, colour, material, light and their effects · Seeing overall character and style
- Elements of Art and Principles of Design – The elements of art are the building blocks an artist uses: line, shape, form, colour, value, texture and space (many teachers also add the point). The principles of design are the rules for arranging those blocks: balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, rhythm and pattern, proportion and scale, and unity with variety. Knowing both helps you make art on purpose and talk about any artwork clearly.
- Material, Form and Colour in Crafts – Every craft is shaped by three choices. Material decides the texture, weight and feel. Form (shape) decides how it stands, holds and looks. Colour decides the mood. A good maker picks all three to suit the job and the user.
- Overall Image and Style in Art – The overall image is the feeling and general impression you get when you look at the whole artwork first. Style is the way an artist, a group or a time keeps making the same kinds of choices about colour, shape, line, detail and subject. Spot the repeated choices and you can name the style and the mood.