I’m sure I wasn’t the only Art student who felt slightly bitter going into the exam centre today to do a two and a half hour written exam in Art. You’d swear we didn’t already do a six hour poster exam, a two and a half hour still life drawing exam and an hour life drawing exam. But we had to get over that, and go and write three essays about Irish Art, European Art and Appreciation of Art.
Overall, it’s clear that elements of the paper were quite challenging. I chose question 2 of the Irish Art section about the Sun Disc and the Fibula. It seemed like an easy question, and perhaps it was just me, but I found the phrasing of the question to be quite poor. There were a few other difficult questions, particularly Question 6, which lists seven artists and asks you to talk about two works by them. Despite so many artists being listed, to my disappointment there was no sign of my beloved Jack B Yeats. Oh woe! Woe is me!
Section 2, European Art was managable. I’m sure many students were delighted to see Caravaggio and Leonardo da Vinci appearing on the paper. I personally died slightly of happiness about Question 13 on Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir, two of my personal favourites. It also allowed room to talk about Edouard Manet or any other Impressionists in the second part of the question.
The Appreciation of Art was quite difficult, in my ever so humble opinion. The vast majority of students were no doubt prepared for the Gallery question, which is usually quite simple – talk about a gallery you visited – but of course, there was a twist on the question. We were asked were galleries central to the appreciation of art because so many works of Art are now available on the internet. We were supposed to take into account a Gallery Visit of our own. It wasn’t a bad question, but I fear many students would have been thrown by it. I certainly was, and there was a bit of bluffing going on.
Luckily, I’m done my exams now. I know. Bizarre, isn’t it? I am now finished the Leaving Cert! Everyone leave comments and tell me your plans for the summer. My first plan is to catch up on the sleep I’ve missed. Good day, pupils. 🙂
The Leaving Cert Diaries 