NSSCAS Art and Design 8251 case studies
NSSCAS Art and Design 8251 · Put your knowledge to work in context.
NSSCAS Art and Design 8251 is the Advanced Subsidiary qualification in Art and Design within Namibia's senior secondary curriculum. It suits candidates who want to build a portfolio for tertiary art, design or architecture study, or who simply want a rigorous studio and critical-studies grounding. The qualification is assessed through practical work and written analysis rather than a single recall-style paper: a sustained coursework portfolio, an externally set assignment with preparatory studies and a timed outcome, critical and contextual study of artists, designers and cultural contexts, observational drawing and visual research, and demonstrated control of media, techniques and processes. Preparation is studio-led. The NSSCAS Art and Design 8251 case studies are 5 cases and about 3,898 words.
1The Portfolio of Beginnings
At the start of the final term, a candidate has 14 weeks to complete a coursework portfolio on the theme 'market culture'. They have filled 42 sketchbook pages with six separate sub-themes: street food, currency, advertising, crowd movement, waste and family stalls.
795 words, about 4 min2Four Directions, Ten Hours
An externally set assignment paper is released on 1 February. The candidate has eight weeks of preparatory time and a ten-hour supervised timed outcome in April, split over two days of five hours.
773 words, about 4 min3Biography Is Not Analysis
A candidate is drafting a 1,200-word critical and contextual study titled 'Identity in portraiture'. They have chosen two artists: a twentieth-century painter known for self-portraits and a contemporary photographer working with family archives.
763 words, about 4 min4Sixty Photographs, Four Traced Drawings
A candidate is developing a project on 'urban decay' for the drawing and recording component. They have 60 photographs on their phone, all taken at dusk on one street, four small pencil drawings traced from the screen, and no written notes.
778 words, about 4 min5Five Media, Six Weeks, One Ventilation Problem
A candidate is six weeks from submitting a media and techniques sample for a project on 'fragmentation'. They have tested five processes: oil paint on board, spray paint on paper, torn-paper collage, digital pigment print and two-part epoxy resin.
789 words, about 4 min