Zoe Dawson - Visual Art
Zoe Dawson - Visual Art
What was so important for me about my Extended Essay was finding
and choosing one topic that I truly wanted to know everything about.
From there, reading what seemed like hundreds of books and essays,
making pages of notes, and writing thousands of words, wasn’t a chore
because I cared about the topic I was writing about. Although some
people might see the minute details of these two paintings and what
they meant hundreds of years ago as fairly irrelevant, I think of it as an
incredible insight into the minds of two amazing artists, and am amazed
at the difference 400 years can make between two paintings of identical
subject matter. Therefore, although my Extended Essay was an acquired
taste to read, I can say it was written with the most important thing: real
passion for the subject.
Supervisor: Charley Openshaw
Zoe’s essay blends a personal interest with a ruthlessly analytical art
historian’s eye. She takes two artists’ depictions of the same subject
and considers their merits against a structured set of criteria. The
decisively contrasting approaches disguise hidden links and shared
preoccupations that surprised and challenged assumptions in equal
measure. Whist an analytic Visual Arts essay will necessarily lack the
precision of data collection possible in other subjects, this essay argues
for and successfully implements a rigorous format for assessing evidence
gathered through first-hand observation and a thorough understanding
of historical context. This rigour does not stifle creativity and the structure
provides a launching point for independent insight into visual sources.
Indeed it is hard to read without gaining a sense of the excitement and
intensity with which the investigation was carried out. This enthusiasm
spilled over into Zoe’s own creative practice and her final Visual Art
exhibition drew on many of the themes uncovered and explored within
the essay.
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