An Introduction to the Conceptual Framework

1. An Introduction to the Conceptual Framework

2. Conceptual Framework • This refers to a visual model of a concept or idea. • It allows complex ideas to be shown in a simple diagram or model. • The Conceptual Framework of the artworld shows how the key agencies (or components) relate and are linked to one another.

3. The agencies of the artworld World Artwork Audience Artist The Conceptual Framework used in Visual Arts.

4. World • The Conceptual Framework helps us to understand how interests in the world are represented in art. • We need to consider how art is affected by and represents experience, class, ideology, age and significant historical events. • This agency also encompasses the cultural setting in which the art is made, and the changing social values within and outside that culture.

5. Artwork • Artworks include art, craft and design as two- and three-dimensional works (including architecture), and four-dimensional and time-based works. • Artworks represent ideas. They reflect personal responses, cultural views and symbolic interpretations. • An artwork can also present a critical reinterpretation of another idea.

6. Artist • The Conceptual Framework encourages us to consider the role of the artist: who they are, what they do, and how and why they do it. • Artists include painters, photographers, sculptors, craftspeople, designers and architects. • The artist is commonly thought of as an individual but can also be viewed as, for example, a group or movement.

7. Audience • We need to consider how art critics, historians, collectors, patrons (benefactors) and the general public respond to art. • Different audiences will experience, understand and value artworks differently. • As a Visual Arts student you are also represented here.

8. Using the Conceptual Framework • In Visual Arts, you can use the conceptual framework to arrange your research, notes and ideas. • It will help you to consider the relevance of the information you gather. • When making your own artwork, you can use the framework to develop a deeper understanding of the artworks you create.

9. Using the Conceptual Framework • World: consider what events and artists have influenced you. • Artwork: think about artworks that have resonated with you. You may draw creative influences from these. • Artist: think about the artists that inspire you – who they are, what they do and why they do it. • Audience: consider how various people will experience your artworks.

10. What art means to you • Developing an understanding of what art is to you will shape your artmaking practice. • Consider how art has explored and reflected the world, how universal human themes have inspired artists to create throughout history. • Consider your own experiences and how you can share these with others through your art.

11. You as the artist • As an art student you are part of the art world: you are connected with artists of the past and present. • As an artist you are now a part of the Conceptual Framework in which you are working. • The Conceptual Framework helps show the relationship you have with the culture and tradition that surrounds you, even the historical period in which your artworks are created.

12. Creating and using original source material • When you begin your research it is a good idea to start by collecting images of work and information about the artist. • The material you source can be sorted and filed under each agency of the conceptual framework. • For example, the images of artworks will be filed under the agency ‘artwork’, while information about the artist is filed under ‘artist’. • Eventually, you will be able to see the various views expressed about the artist and their works by different sections of the audience. Sample of the Conceptual Framework drawn in a student’s VAPD.

13. Summary • The Conceptual Framework is a system that allows you to understand an artwork as well as the artist who made the work, the time and place in which the work was created, and audience responses towards the work. • Each agency of the Conceptual Framework is interrelated. • The four agencies of the Conceptual Framework can be used to categorise information you gather about artists and artworks so that they can be analysed and evaluated.