Question 1

What is NCEA AS 91017 about?

Accepted Answer

You need to show you understand how the contexts (historical, social, cultural, political, religious, etc.) that artists lived and worked in shaped the art they made. You'll pick some artworks and explain what was happening in the world around the artist and how that affected what they created and what it means.

Question 2

What do students need to do for AS 91017?

Accepted Answer

1. Identify and describe the relevant context(s) around your chosen artworks — this could be social, historical, cultural, political, religious, economic, geographical, or art movement context 2. Identify specific links between those contexts and visual features or subject matter you can see in the artworks 3. Describe what those contexts meant and how they influenced the creation of the art 4. Use details from the artworks themselves as evidence when explaining the connections between context and art 5. Explain how the artist's circumstances shaped what they made and what their work communicates

Question 3

What's the difference between Achieved, Merit, and Excellence for AS 91017?

Accepted Answer

Achieved: You identify relevant contexts around the artworks and spot basic links between what was happening in the world and what appears in the art. Merit: You describe the contexts in detail and clearly explain the links using specific visual evidence from the artworks to support your points. Excellence: You analyze why and how the contexts shaped the art deeply, explaining the connections with well-chosen evidence from the works and showing sophisticated understanding of cause and effect between context and meaning.

Question 4

What mistakes do students typically make in AS 91017?

Accepted Answer

1. Making only surface-level connections (e.g., 'this painting is from the Renaissance' without explaining how that actually shaped what the artist painted) 2. Describing the context well but forgetting to actually link it back to what you see in the artwork itself 3. Using general statements about historical periods rather than specific evidence from the actual artworks to prove your understanding of the links

Art context links

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Next year — Art History Level 2 · Year 12