S2 Unit 3: Exploration & Artist Study
A Level Art & Design · Semester 2 Plan · Unit 3 of 5 · ← Unit 2 | Unit 4 →
What this unit does
This is the exploration and artist-study stage. For AO2 (Explore) you run twelve prescribed media experiments, then make an evidence-based selection, naming the media you reject. AO3 opens in the back half: you study two artists closely — analysis, meaning and context, method, and personal response — until that study visibly changes your own work, and you make a bridge piece and a scale trial. The contextual writing you produce here is the first material of your research paper. The unit closes with A2, marked across AO2 and AO3.
Dates & span
Weeks S6, S8–S9, around the S7 mock (Mon 2027-03-28 → about 2027-04-24), 15 sessions. These spring dates are provisional and may shift when the school publishes the calendar; see the semester plan.
Sequence of work
| Code | Session | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| U3·L1 | Plan the media exploration | Experiments that could fail |
| U3·L2–L4 | Studio: media experiments 1 to 12 (3-day session) | Which media carry the investigation |
| U3·L5 | Keep or change | Evidence-based selection; name your rejections |
| S7 mock | No new content | Independent sketchbook brief if the school permits |
| U3·L6 | Artist 1: choose and analyze | An artist who solves the problem |
| U3·L7 | Meaning and context | First material of the research paper |
| U3·L8 | Method study | Copy to understand, not to own |
| U3·L9 | Studio: personal response | Answer the artist, do not imitate |
| U3·L10 | Studio: influence note and page | Influence shown in the work |
| U3·L11 | Artist 2 analysis and bridge plan | A second angle set against the first |
| U3·L12 | Studio: make the bridge piece | From study into development |
| U3·L13 | Studio: scale trial | Fix what the scale broke |
| U3·L14 | Studio: lay out the Stage 3 pages | Exploration as reasoning |
| U3·L15 | A2: Exploration and artist study | The whole unit, marked together |
Assessment
A2, Fri 2027-04-23 — exploration and artist study (twelve experiments, media selection, artist pages, bridge piece, Stage 3 pages), marked against AO2+AO3.
Coursework tasks:
- CS4, Fri 2027-04-02 — twelve experiments documented
- CS5, Fri 2027-04-16 — artist 1 pages (analysis, method, response); opens the research paper material
See the full register.
Key content
- Your media choices must carry conceptual logic: the selection argument is what earns AO2 at the top band.
- Your artist references must change the work on the page — citation without a response earns nothing.
S7 carries no new content, and the twelve experiments close before the mock window.