Materials, Techniques, and Media
Know your materials by behaviour
This domain rewards precise knowledge of how media behave. Be able to match a material to its properties: oil paint (slow drying, flexible, layered wet-in-wet or glazed), acrylic (fast drying, plastic film, useful for masking), watercolour (transparent, unforgiving of correction), gouache (opaque, re-wettable), tempera (rapid setting, hatched strokes). In sculpture, distinguish additive (casting, assemblage), subtractive (carving), and constructive (welding, fabrication) approaches.
New media and hybrid practice
Contemporary questions often involve photography, video, sound, installation, and digital fabrication. Understand that inkjet and chromogenic prints differ in process and longevity; that video works are typically editioned with defined display specifications; and that 3D printing is additive. Time-based media raise conservation questions - format migration, playback equipment, and artist instructions - which examiners like to test.
Traps
- Assuming a medium is fixed by tradition. Contemporary practice frequently repurposes commercial or industrial materials.
- Confusing editions with unique works. A photographic edition of five is still an edition.
- Mixing up supports and grounds: canvas is a support; gesso is a ground.
Worked example
A stem describes an artist who brushes pigment onto a surface and then removes it before it sets, revealing the weave. The answer is dry-brush or scumbling with subtractive wiping, not impasto. Rule of thumb: if material is taken away, the technique is subtractive regardless of medium.