News & Events
AS LEVEL ART ACHIEVEMENT
Hereford Cathedral School friends Christine Batchelor, from Breinton, and Pia Dowse, from Monmouth, both obtained 100% in their AS Art examination. This is an outstanding national achievement as Art examinations very rarely award full marks. What makes this really remarkable is that the same pair of friends last year also achieved the distinction of being the country’s top GCSE English Literature students.
Christine’s portfolio consisted of three projects including an analysis of different artists’ work and experimented in different styles and techniques. Her large scale abstract composition inspired by the patterns inside of a shell was in total contrast to her intricate oil studies of petals and flowers.
Pia’s portfolio mainly concentrated on the human form with a project focusing on self portraiture after attending the voluntary ‘life drawing’ classes arranged by the Art Department for all sixth form artists at the school. Her second project examined movement and structure in the human body.
Both students’ third projects explored the architecture of Hereford Cathedral using digital imagery to obtain atmospheric and dramatic interpretations of the building. This was inspired in part by the study of architecture in the History of Art AS level IN which both friends also gained A grades. Christine and Pia studied this subject outside the school’s curriculum with the help of Colin Wilkes, Head of Art at HCS.
Christine also achieved A grades in her other three AS subjects, Maths, English and in Geography where she achieved a mark 99%. Christine is intending to apply to Cambridge University this year to read Geography where her observational skills will be applied to environmental issues.
Pia achieved A grades in her other two AS levels, History and Religious Studies. Pia wants to follow her father’s profession and be a professional artist and is intending to apply to Oxford University to read Fine Art after a foundation art year.
