At James Ruse Agricultural High School, students are provided with exciting opportunities to gain enjoyment from making and appreciating art. Visual Arts is a mandatory subject in Years 7-8, after which students may choose to study elective Visual Arts in Years 9-10, the Preliminary Visual Arts course in Year 11 and Higher School Certificate Visual Arts in Year 12. Students are taught technical skills in a broad range of two and three dimensional media including drawing, painting, printmaking, digital media, photography, ceramics and sculpture and are then encouraged to develop this expertise to a high degree of refinement. Because artmaking can be inspired by understanding the practice of other artists from different times and places, historical and critical study of interesting and unusual artworks is a feature of the Visual Arts courses in all years. Students participate in excursions to art galleries and a variety of other locations to engage with original works of art and stimulate the creation of expressive artworks.

James Ruse has many imaginative and talented visual arts students. The tradition of excellent achievement in the Higher School Certificate Examination is exemplified by the annual nomination of James Ruse student artworks for the prestigious Artexpress exhibition.

To see samples of outstanding student art work, click the desired school year on the left navigation menu.